1947: Kashmir Dispute Begins
What we often call Kashmir is actually Jammu and Kashmir, a majority Muslim Indian area between India and Pakistan. The Kashmir dispute began in 1947, when India was divided into a Hindu state and a Muslim state (Pakistan and East Pakistan, now Bangladesh).
Both India and Pakistan laid claim to Kashmir. Many Kashmiris wanted independence. However, when Pakistani Pashtun tribes invaded, Kashmir's leader requested Indian help. India sent troops to Kashmir to eject the Pashtun tribes, and Pakistan responded by sending in its military. In 1949, a ceasefire agreement, known as the Karachi Agreement, divided Kashmir between India and Pakistan.
1965: Kashmir's First Militants
The competition between India and Pakistan for Kashmir, and the disinterest in either of supporting its independence, set the stage for the evolution of independence groups that would ultimately turn violent.
The first and most primary militarized group in Kashmir was the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), formed in 1965. JKLF was an anti-India, pro-independence political party. It drew membership from both the Indian and Pakistani sides of the ceasefire line.
Learn more: 1971 Kashmir Hijacking
1970s: Islamist Sentiment in Kashmir Expands
The original basis for an independent Kashmir was a Kashmiri identity that would be neither exclusively Muslim nor Hindu. This secular national identity was increasingly replaced with an Islamic identity in the 1980s. According to at 2003 International Crisis Group report, Kashmir: Learning from the Past, several reasons account for the shift:
- "Islamic political revivalism" following the Iranian revolution"
- "The rise of Muslim educational facilities … within Indian-administered Kashmir"
- "A decline in employment prospects for Kashmiri youth and a growing sense that the mainstream secular leadership had failed"
- Farooq Abdullah, a Kashmiri leader, manipulated Muslim sentiment to gain advantage in elections.
1970s-1980s: Pakistan Gets Involved in Promoting Religious Conflict
Pakistan played a role in promoting militant Islamic groups in Kashmir in the 1970s and 1980s. Substantial evidence exists that Zia-ul-Haq, Pakistan's Prime Minister from 1977 until 1988, used militant groups to encourage the idea that Kashmir represented a religious conflict, in which Muslims were oppressed by Hindus.
Some organizations turned Kashmir into a religious-political issue by promoting the idea that battle in Kashmir against Indian forces is holy. These groups, such as Lashkar-e-Tayyba and Jayish-e-Mohammad, were founded in Pakistani religious schools. It should be remembered, however, that this political and militant view of Islam, and its promotion in Kashmir, does not represent most Pakistani Sunnis' Islam.
1990s: India Responds to Pakistani Militancy in Kashmir
India responded dramatically to Pakistan-sponsored militancy in Kashmir. The Terrorism and Disruptive Activities Prevention Act (TADA) led to the arrest of over 76,000 individuals. Various anti-terrorism measures were notable for their violations of human rights. The record of human rights abuses in the name of countering terrorism has not abated. According to the 2003 International Crisis Group Report, Learning from the Past, " … in March 2002, the Indian parliament … passed a draconian anti-terrorism bill that was denounced by its own Human Rights Commission."
Indian excesses and militant responses by Muslim groups have created a vicious circle of responsive violence that has proven impossible to halt.
1999: Pakistan Crosses the Line in the Kargil Conflict
In 1999, Pakistan-sponsored militants, as well as Pakistani forces, violated the LOC (line of control) between India and Pakistan administered Kashmir. India's efforts to oust the troops were unsuccessful and the situation was resolved with U.S. diplomatic intervention. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif agreed to withdraw regular troops and militants from the Indian side of Kashmir, which averted a potential war between India and Pakistan. One of the results of the Kargil conflict was domestic conflict in Pakistan between the Sharif administration and the military, then headed by Chief of Army Staff Pervez Musharraf. Musharraf was installed as president in a military coup in October.
2001: Pakistan and Kashmir following September 11 and the War on Terror
Pakistan's emergence as a partner in the United States' "war on terror" following September 11 has had a number of implications for Kashmir.
President Musharraf's pledge to crack down on Islamists led to the banning of groups that had been operating in Kashmir, among them the Lashkar-e-Tayyiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad. According to the International Crisis Group, these groups renamed themselves and continued their activities, after which they were banned again.
Following President Musharraf's resignation in 2008, accusations that he had supported the development of jihadist groups to serve strategy in Kashmir came from a number of directions, including US based analysts.
2004 and Beyond: Steps Toward Resolution?
Despite some hopeful signs in the mid-2000s, including a peace process initiated in 2004, the possibility of a peaceful conclusion to the standoff in Kashmir remains a distant hope. Militancy has not much abated, and a cycle of terrorist attacks and military responses by India has not been broken. In April 2005, President Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh concluded a summit at which both pledged to continue the peace process. There were new links between Indian and Pakistani Kashmir, including a bus service between their respective capitals.
These hopeful signs appeared as if they may have been dashed in 2008, when violence again surged among Muslims in Indian Jammu & Kashmir.
2008: Tensions Rise Again in Kashmir, Pakistan is Accused of Fueling
Tensions rose again in 2008, following a government decision on the Indian side to lease land used for a Hindu pilgrimage to a Hindu religious organization. The decision led to violent clashes between Muslim protesters and police. When the government rescinded the lease offer, Hindus protested, at which point violent clashes between Hindu protesters and police broke out. The violence was uneasily quelled with the imposition of a curfew at the end of August.
Indian authorities at various points in the dispute charged that Pakistan, or Pakistan-backed jihadi groups, were ready to exploit or even foment tensions.
Learn more: Pilgrimage Land Dispute Collapses Kashmir Government