Jammu-and-Cashmere - SpeedyLook encyclopedia

History

See detailed article: History of the Cashmere

The Jammu-and-Cashmere one of old the princely States of the Indies, is directed by a mahârâja Hindou until in 1947, but whose population was and remains mainly Musulman E. At the time of the Partition, the mahârâja Hari Singh refused to join India as well as Pakistan and chooses to remain independent, which was an option then possible. Warriors Pathans, encouraged by government Pakistan board penetrated then on territory Kashmiri what involved the mahârâja to require the assistance of the India, which pushed back the invasion, and consequently obtained its partial integration in the federal republic.

This one was not done however without sorrow. In 1950, article 370 of the Indian Constitution grants at the Indian State of the Jammu-and-Cashmere a relative autonomy with respect to the central capacity. It indeed limits its fields of intervention to the questions raising at the same time of competences of the Indian Union and the federate State " provided that the government of the State is of accord". Nevertheless federal operation itself moderates this resolution since the governor is named by New Delhi. The range of the initial article is decreased as of the agreement of 1975 between Indira Gandhi and the leader of the regional party Sheik Abdullah. Moreover, the emergency provisions of the Indian Constitution are often convened in the event of disorders. The President' S rule , emergency regulation making it possible to entrust the management of a State of the Union to the central capacity, weighs thus like a sword of Damocles during the various negotiations.

Since then, India and Pakistan clash on the problem of the administration of the Jammu-and-Cashmere, that the two nations claim in its entirety. India manages currently a little more half of the territory, Pakistan a little less than half and China an any small portion, the Aksai Chin, itself consisted of a zone occupied since the Guerre sino-Indian of 1962 and another with Beijing by Pakistan.

India and Pakistan clashed during three wars in the area (1947 - 1948, 1965, 1971) and a conflict of less scale to the Kargil in 1999.

Geography

The Jammu-and-Cashmere is bordered in the west and north by the Pakistan, in north and the east by the China, in the south by the Himachal Pradesh and the Penjab. An important part of the State is asserted by the Pakistan, another is occupied by the China mainly in the the Himalayas. This area culminates with four tops which culminate with more than 8000 meters. It consists of three principal zones: the Jammu, the valley of the Cashmere (Kashmir) and the Ladakh.

The old princely state is shared today in three areas managed by the India, the Pakistan and, for a small portion by the China. India affirms that the totality of the territory kashmiri belongs to India, thus forming its most septentrional State, including the part today (2005) managed by Pakistan which is called Pakistan Occupied Kashmir or POK . Pakistan, as for him, does not recognize the sovereignty of India on the area and names the part under Indian administration, the Occupied Kashmir , while the area which it control is called the Azad Cachemire i.e. the “free Cashmere”, except for a separately managed part and forming the Pakistan Northern Areas.

The Indian government prohibited any publication presenting this zone as a disputed territory what led to the import ban of the version on cédérom of the Encyclopædia Britannica since 1998.

Economy

Principal cities: Srinagar, Jammu

Cycle wars

Introduction

Presentation of the conflict

The area of the Cashmere (the most militarized area world) is the theater of a conflict opposing three nations having the nuclear weapon (India, Pakistan and China), among which both the most populated in the world (India and China). This conflict begins in 1947 when London grants its independence to the British Indies. Remainders of the British empire will be born India and Pakistan but a question was posed then: what to make princely states not managed directly by the British? It is proposed in these states to choose to which of the two countries they wish to be attached. Only one of these states will not manage to decide: cashmere.

Geography of the Cashmere

The Cashmere is a mountainous region of Asia, rich in water, located at the intersection of India (in the south), of Pakistan (in the west), Afghanistan (in north) and China (in north and the east). This area belongs to the Himalayan chain; its relief is very variable since the valley is located at 305 m of altitude whereas its more high summit comes very close to eight thousand meters. The Cashmere is sprinkled by many lakes and rivers and has the largest glacier in the world after those of the north pole and the south pole. The surface of the Indian Cashmere is of: 92437 km ², that of the Pakistani cashmere of: 78114 km ² and that of the Chinese Cashmere of: 42685 km ², are on the whole: 222236 km ². The population of the Cashmere borders the eight million inhabitants, of which a Moslem majority. Cashmere with the characteristic to have two capitals: one in summer, Srinagar; and one in winter, Jammu.

The problem

Situation problem

India, China, and Pakistan occupy each one part of the Cashmere whereas its population, mainly Moslem, would wish to be only attached to Pakistan.

Why this problem

Assumption 1: Historical Politico During the dissolution of the British empire, it is decided to attach the Cashmere to India. China, as for it, benefits from the conflict indopakistanais to adapt part of this territory. Today the governments cannot move back any more under penalty of losing the face.

Assumption 2: Economic China and India occupy the Cashmere because this area is rich in oil, water and invaluable ores. These two nations have infrastructures to exploit these resources and neither the resources nor the infrastructures with the Pakistani intend to leave.

Checking of the assumptions

Some important dates

1947 : Dissolution of the British empire of the Indies and first war of the Cashmere.
1949: Delimitation of the Pakistani cashmere and Indian.
1962: Chinese invasion of Indian territory.
1964: China becomes a nuclear power.
1965: Second war of the Cashmere.
1971: Independence of Eastern Pakistan.
1974: India becomes nuclear power
1980: Pakistan is suspecté to have the atomic weapon.
1989: Dissolution of the institutions of Jammu and Cachemire and deployment of the Indian troops to the Cashmere.
1996: Elections with the Cashmere.
1998: Nuclear proliferation moving.
1999: Third war of the Cashmere, avoided little.
2000: Recrudescence of terrorist acts.
2002: New climbing in violence.

Caricature

We can see on the caricature the Moslem majority of the Cashmere whose voice does not have any weight. They wish to be attached to Pakistan, of Moslem confession, just like them. However, the maharaja, representing the minority but having the capacity, “wishes” the fastening of the Cashmere in India. As one can note it, the voice of the minority overrides that of the majority. This caricature of course shows the situation which proceeded at the time of the bursting of the British empire of the Indies in 1947 when the maharaja adopted the Indian Union to be protected from the Pakistani threat.

Detail of the events

1947 : during the dissolution of the British empire of the Indies, the population of the Cashmere was mainly Moslem but the maharaja leader this territory was Hindu of confession. Cashmere, not managing to choose which country to which to be attached, is attacked by Pakistan which tries a takeover by force: in October 1947, it sends troops to the Cashmere not leaving with the maharaja any choice. This one called upon the military aid of New Delhi and the war started between the two nations.
1949: in January, UNO obtains a cease-fire and a provisional line of demarcation is traced. This one divides the Cashmere into two: 37% of the territory are given to Pakistan (Azad Cachemire) and 63% to India (Jammu and Cachemire) while waiting for the organization of a referendum having for object the independence of the Cashmere. But India, conscious of an ensured defeat, puts all works about it to ruin it. Of dimensioned sound, Pakistan cannot adapt the aforementioned territory by the force. This same year, China enters the play: it disputes the borders of the Cashmere affirming that they were imposed to him. This situation led to the conflict between India and China of 1962.
1962: China launches an offensive on the part is of Jammu and Cachemire. After a lightning war inflicting a defeat cuisante in India, China baptizes the conquered territory “Aksai Chin” or “the desert of the white stones”. This area of the Cashmere is a vast plate located at more than five thousand meters of altitude. The following year, Pakistan offers part of its territory cachemiri.
1964: in 1960, the Russian experts carrying out of research on the atomic bomb in China are repatriated and of the document concerning to its development are found by the Chinese government. It will take then four years for China to manage to build its own atomic bomb.
1965: September 5th, Pakistan, wanting to adapt the area of Rann de Kutch (Indian province), starts a second conflict which extends to the Cashmere. A Soviet mediation leads to a cease-fire on August 8th of this same year. This war made five thousand victims, including four thousand Pakistani.
1971: Eastern Pakistan revolts, claiming its independence. India supports this insurrection because this one weakens considerably the Pakistani army, which must thus fight on two faces: that of Eastern Pakistan and that of the Cashmere. India, supported by Russia, gains the victory. The agreements of Simla (signed in 1972) stipulate that the two countries must from now on solve their disagreements by diplomatic channel. That particularly obstructs Pakistan which wishes an internationalization of the conflict. This defeat plunges Pakistan in a deep state of shock which will put it out of state to be opposed to India.
1974: ten years after China, India becomes in its turn nuclear power thanks to technologies and with the plutonium provided by the Western great powers (Canada, France, the United States, England, and Germany). As from this year, the race with the nuclear armament between India and Pakistan, technological late, begins.
1980: Pakistan, helped by China obtains to him also the atomic bomb. India and Pakistan intend themselves to sign a treaty of non-aggression of their respective nuclear bases but do not sign therefore the nuclear treaty of non-proliferation. The conflict of the Cashmere involves this proliferation because Pakistan is opposed to the Indian nuclear power. India arms itself vis-a-vis the Chinese nuclear power and China prepares against the Soviet nuclear threat.
1989: after having left a certain autonomy to the part of the Cashmere which it controls, India, in 1982, again tries to exert its control on Jammu and Cachemire but part of the population rises against this attempt at takeover and is combined with separatist bunches. It is into 1989 that the first attacks take place. Following that, New Delhi dissolves the institutions of Jammu and Cachemire, there deploys its soldiers, and imposes his capacity on the area.
1996: India organizes (under military high surveillance) elections with the Cashmere this year. The high participation of 58%, taking into account the context and of the situation forces presents at this time, expresses a certain lassitude on behalf of population vis-a-vis the political dead end and the economic difficulties caused per so many years of war.
1998: in July, an attempt at reconciliation between India and Pakistan could have led to talks if Pakistan had not proceeded to a series of nuclear tests which of this fact prevent any negotiation. This same year, India and Pakistan have officially access to the nuclear weapon, that is to say ten after semi-official obtaining the bomb for Pakistan and sixteen years for India. This officialization does not seem to call in question the agreements of Simla: India and Pakistan affirm that the detention of the nuclear weapon is only dissuasive, this in order to avoid the generalization of the conflict as in 1965.
1999: troops of combatants supported by Pakistan seize strategic positions at the northern border of the Cashmere. The engagements last nearly six weeks. Fortunately, the pressures of the United States and UNO make it possible to avoid in extremis a third war of the Cashmere.
2000: the terrorist acts in Jammu and Cachemire multiply. Obvious bonds between terrorisms Afghan and cachemiri are discovered. The tension increases between New Delhi and Islamabad: those mutually show terrorism and of non-observance of the Human rights. Engagements burst with along the line of demarcation separating the territory cachemiri into two. Many soldiers are mobilized and the tension is with its paroxysm.
2001: October 1st, 2001, a suicide bombing strikes the Parliament of the Jammu-and-Cashmere with Srinagar, making 38 dead.
2002: violence continues its rise, it reaches tops this year: India and Pakistan are again at the edge of the war. Nearly a million soldiers are mobilized on both sides line of demarcation. The government announces with its troops that it is time to use of their atomic weapon. Pakistan declares that the Moslems will not let themselves make. The nuclear threat is taken very with serious by the Occident: the embassy of Great Britain with New Delhi is evacuated. The United States puts Pakistan under pressure and this last will affirm that it will prevent the infiltration of groups armed with the Cashmere. But this speech will have only little effect on the terrorist activities.

Nowadays

India and Pakistan try to develop friendly bonds within the framework of the Asian southern Association of regional co-operation (saarc) and New Delhi recently granted some tariff advantages to Islamabad. Lastly, the United States does not have any interest in the release of an armed conflict between Pakistan and India since this one remains their ally in Afghanistan and Central Asia.

India, on its side, became a business partner of size.

No military solution not being possible, only the revolution of the people is able to resolve the situation. Since the Cachemirie population expresses the will to be attached to Pakistan, Islamabad cannot post weak point, under penalty of disappointing the population and not to be any more in its regard.

At the beginning of the month of June 2002, Russia then the United States made it possible to restore the dialog and to alleviate the tensions with the Cashmere. India reopened its airspace after having noted a strong reduction in the infiltrations of Pakistani separatist troops. These first signs remain however very fragile and will have to be reaffirmed, all new attack which can involve a renewal of tension, even a regional flashover.

India must make evolve/move the current location: it must make so that the population of the Cashmere is ready to accept a solution of “replacement” not being other than the gift of an autonomy to the Cashmere within the Indian Union. China and India started into 2005 of the talks on their frontier quarrels, the nuclear proliferation of the weapons and other questions of security regional. A beginning of appeasing of the tensions concerning the Cashmere seems to settle. However, no solution seems to emerge short-term: the two nations remain, in spite of the reduction in the tensions, fixed on their respective positions, asserting each one entirety of the Cashmere. India avoids any international mediation on the subject while basing itself on the agreement of Simla of 1972. The assumption of an international mediation at several times drawn aside by India whereas Pakistan always emphasizes this option to testify to its good will to solve the conflict according to the rules of the international law (by the diplomatic channel).

The solution with the problem of the Cashmere would be to grant its independence to him. However, this solution does not appear to satisfy any of the three nations implied in this conflict.

In 2004, India and Pakistan set up a cease-fire concerning the Cashmere but of the arguments persist in connection with the division of water of Indus.

Economy of the Cashmere

The principal economic situation of the Cashmere is not, as one could it believe, the richness of his basement (although one suspects the existence of great gas reserves and oil as well as ores), but well the immense richness that the mountain can offer: water. Indeed, Jinnah (at the origin of the creation of Pakistan in 1947) declared that “the Cashmere is the jugular vein of Pakistan”, from where the importance which Pakistan grants to this area. The partition of 1947 deprived Pakistan of the five rivers of Penjab (area of frontier India in Pakistan). However, these rivers, whose sources are at the Cashmere are vital with the economy of Pakistan. The basin of Indus, where concentrate the main part of the richnesses of the country, is indeed supplied by the five rivers of Penjab: Jelhum, Chenab, Charmed, Beas, and Sutlej. Moreover, during the dissolution of the British empire, the northern part of the geography of the Cashmere was ignored and of important glaciers were forgotten. However, water is more than essential to these areas where it rains as much as in the Sahara.

The independent source of incomes of the Cashmere was tourism. Indeed, the Cashmere often was described the such paradise on ground and attracted many tourists. Since the middle of the years 1980, tourism in the area of the Cashmere is disadvised and new violences of 1999 and the attacks of 2000 did not arrange anything: the area is deserted and its benefit tumble down.

Culture

Religion

The Indian Jammu-and-Cashmere State is in a general way mainly Musulman. But the geographical variations of the religious distribution are important there. One can thus distinguish the valley, Moslem woman with 96%, of the area of Jammu, Hindu woman with 87% with a minority Sikh of 8% and only 5% of Moslems. Finally the Ladakh has the appearance of an exception, with majority Bouddhiste (81%) with a strong Moslem minority (15%).

Tourism

Tourism, important resource of the Cashmere, is strongly disadvised since the medium of the Années 1980.

See too

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