tag:theconversation.com,2011:/africa/topics/kashmir-9419/articlesKashmir – The Conversation2024-01-17T19:24:20Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2209022024-01-17T19:24:20Z2024-01-17T19:24:20ZIndia seeks stronger ties with South Asian governments, snubbing ethnic minorities again<p>India’s regional politics are shifting. It is seeking to strengthen ties with South Asian ruling elites, including in Nepal and Sri Lanka, while ignoring ongoing ethnic uprisings in those countries in the hopes of securing its geopolitical interests. </p>
<p>The Indian government’s opposition to ethnic rights within its own borders is well-documented. In 2019, for example, Narendra Modi’s government decided to revoke Jammu and Kashmir’s special status as an autonomous region, a move <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/12/11/whats-article-370-what-to-know-about-india-top-court-verdict-on-kashmir">recently upheld by India’s Supreme Court</a>.</p>
<p>Jammu and Kashmir lost their constitution, flag and criminal code, and has been turned into <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/india/what-led-kashmir-decision-by-indias-top-court-2023-12-11/">two federally administered territories</a>. India <a href="https://minorityrights.org/2006/12/14/india-has-failed-to-replicate-success-in-tamil-nadu-to-halt-other-ethnic-conflicts/">has also failed</a> to manage ethnic conflicts in other territories, including Tamil Nadu, Punjab and Nagaland. </p>
<h2>Indian hypocrisy</h2>
<p>Ironically, the Indian government backs ethnic movements in other South Asian countries. It supports or has supported the <a href="https://elibrary.tucl.edu.np/handle/123456789/19418">Madheshi movement</a> in Nepal, the <a href="https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/citations/ADA624018">Bengali liberation war</a> in Pakistan and <a href="https://www.firstpost.com/world/indira-gandhi-helped-train-tamil-rebels-and-reaped-whirlwind-13913.html">Tamils in Sri Lanka</a>.</p>
<p>Because of its <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/india/us-report-lists-significant-human-rights-abuses-india-2023-03-20/">domestic record on ethnic rights</a>, however, India lacks any moral authority to support them elsewhere. Instead, it’s now pursuing a policy of pleasing the ruling elites in its neighbourhood, which it hopes will serve its national aspirations to become a regional powerhouse like China.</p>
<p>So far, that policy has had a limited payoff.</p>
<p>India has been making amends to Nepal since 2015, when it imposed a blockade and obstructed the transportation of petroleum products to Nepal. It wanted to force the Nepalese government to incorporate Madheshi demands in the Nepali constitution. </p>
<p>Nepal refused and, instead, tabled its constitution without addressing Madheshi concerns. It also signed trade and transit agreements with China to minimize Nepal’s dependence on India. </p>
<p>In response, India quietly withdrew its sanctions, and has <a href="https://thewire.in/external-affairs/madhes-violence-nepal-india">since
refrained</a> from pressuring Nepalese authorities. The ruling elites and Madheshi leaders <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09700161.2011.576099">were critical</a> of India’s interference.</p>
<p>In short, India paid a high <a href="https://elibrary.tucl.edu.np/handle/123456789/11340">strategic price</a> for the blockade.</p>
<h2>Past Indian missteps</h2>
<p>India has had similar missteps in the past. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1163/15718060120849189">It involved itself</a> in the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka in the early 1980s, irritating both government officials and insurgents. India ultimately stepped aside, and Sri Lanka overcame its ethnic strife with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0009445514523646">Chinese military and financial assistance</a>. </p>
<p>In 1971, India intervened in the ethnic conflict in Pakistan when Bengali Muslims pursued <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0021909609340062">independent statehood</a> to become modern-day Bangladesh. This support escalated already tense Indian-Pakistani relations. </p>
<p>Even after Bangladesh’s independence, ethnic tensions persisted. Jumma peoples fought against the Bangladesh government’s decision <a href="https://jnu.ac.bd/journal/assets/pdf/3_2_34.pdf">to transfer</a> Bengali Muslims to the Chittagong Hill Tracts, the contested homeland of Indigenous minorities. India supported their struggle by <a href="https://peaceaccords.nd.edu/provision/refugees-chittagong-hill-tracts-peace-accord-cht#:%7E:text=Approximately%2070%2C000%20indigenous%20people%20fled,internally%20displaced%20persons%20within%20Bangladesh.">providing refuge</a> to the displaced Jumma people in its Tripura state. </p>
<p>All of these efforts — past and present — to support ethnic movements in neighbouring countries have failed to help India achieve major player status in the region. Instead, they resulted in tense relations with ruling governments for years.</p>
<h2>Appeasement efforts</h2>
<p>That’s why India is in the process of mending ties with the ruling elites in South Asia. Its support for the governments of Sri Lanka and Nepal gives some hints about its future direction. </p>
<p>Sri Lanka has been facing <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0043887119000182">global criticism</a> for failing to prosecute war crimes and human rights violations that occurred during 25 years of ethnic conflict. <a href="https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cdp-2023-0217/#:%7E:text=A%20report%20of%20the%20United,%2C%20reconciliation%20and%20human%20rights%E2%80%9D.">The United Nations Human Rights Council demanded</a> in 2023 that the government act promptly to address gross human rights violations. </p>
<p>While India supported previous UN resolutions on this issue in 2012 and 2013, it <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/09749284211068161">consecutively abstained</a> from supporting the last two resolutions, indicating a shift in the Indian approach towards Sri Lanka’s ethnic tensions.</p>
<p>Likewise, India has <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/14687968221135943">stayed silent</a> about the Madheshi demands in Nepal since 2015, and <a href="https://thewire.in/diplomacy/india-nepal-kalapani-dialogue-ultra-nationalism">Indian parliament has passed resolutions that focus on mending ties with Nepal</a>. </p>
<p>These gestures are part of an Indian policy to <a href="https://ecfr.eu/special/what_does_india_think/analysis/modis_approach_to_india_and_pakistan">prioritize the neighbourhood</a> in its foreign relations. Based on this policy, India can be expected to seek stronger ties with other neighbouring countries too.</p>
<h2>India’s gains, minorities’ losses?</h2>
<p>These initiatives may help India minimize China’s influence in the region, but minorities will lose global backing.</p>
<p>South Asian ethnic movements have not received significant international attention and support. </p>
<p>In the past, most of the support was coming from India. In the absence of Indian backing, ethnic minorities lack substantive global allies, which their governments can capitalize upon to further ignore or oppress them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220902/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hari Har Jnawali does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>India is pursuing a policy of pleasing the ruling elites in its neighbourhood, which it hopes will serve its national aspirations to become a regional powerhouse like China.Hari Har Jnawali, Instructor, Global Governance, Wilfrid Laurier UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2155242023-10-13T03:33:39Z2023-10-13T03:33:39ZCelebrated novelist Arundhati Roy faces prosecution in India – for a speech she gave in 2010<p>Booker Prize-winning writer Arundhati Roy, author of <a href="https://www.harpercollins.com.au/9780006550686/the-god-of-small-things/">The God of Small Things</a>, has been charged, along with retired law professor <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheikh_Showkat_Hussain">Sheikh Showkat Hussain</a>, for allegedly seditious comments supporting the separation of Kashmir from India. </p>
<p>They were speaking at a 2010 Delhi conference, the same year right-wing activist Sushil Pandit <a href="https://thewire.in/rights/why-is-the-indian-state-reigniting-a-13-year-old-case-against-arundhati-roy">filed the complaint</a> on which these latest charges draw.</p>
<p>Nearly 13 years later, on October 10, Delhi’s lieutenant governor V.K. Saxena, with the approval of <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-man-who-dines-alone-26758">Narendra Modi’s government</a>, sanctioned the <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/delhi-lg-approves-prosecution-of-arundhati-roy-kashmir-professor-in-2010-provocative-speeches-case/article67403942.ece">prosecution</a>. Roy and Hussain are accused of making statements promoting social enmity, prejudicing national integration and inciting offences against the state and public tranquillity.</p>
<p>It’s the latest in a series of prosecutions and arrests using India’s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unlawful_Activities_(Prevention)_Act">Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act</a>, which was amended in 2019 to allow the government to designate individuals as terrorists, without following any formal judicial process.</p>
<p>Roy and Hussain are not being prosecuted under sedition law, though. (In May 2022, the Indian Supreme Court <a href="https://www.livelaw.in/top-stories/breaking-supreme-court-urges-centre-states-to-refrain-from-registering-firs-invoking-section-124a-ipc-198810">ordered</a> a hold on prosecuting such cases, while the Indian government reviews the colonial-era sedition law.)</p>
<p>As India hurtles toward the 2024 national election, liberal-left civil society and independent media have become prime targets of the Modi government.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/novelist-arundhati-roy-and-her-mission-to-inspire-in-the-ministry-of-utmost-happiness-80344">Novelist Arundhati Roy and her mission to inspire in the Ministry of Utmost Happiness</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>A ‘dangerous time’ for minorities</h2>
<p>A strident critic of Modi’s ruling <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bharatiya_Janata_Party">Bharatiya Janata Party</a>, Roy used her September <a href="https://scroll.in/article/1055943/arundhati-roy-the-dismantling-of-democracy-in-india-will-affect-the-whole-world">acceptance speech</a> for the European Essay Prize to further condemn his government. </p>
<p>She criticised its normalisation of Hindu supremacism in public life and institutions, its crony capitalism, and India’s burgeoning economic inequality. She noted: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>elections are a season of murder, lynching and dog-whistling – the most dangerous time for India’s minorities, Muslims and Christians in particular. </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>The ‘Maoist conspiracy’ case</h2>
<p>On October 2, India’s National Investigative Authority conducted <a href="https://thewire.in/rights/nia-raids-62-andhra-pradesh-telangana-maoist">coordinated raids</a> against human rights activists in the states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, related to the “Maoist conspiracy” case in the village of Munchingiputtu. </p>
<p>TV journalist Pangi Nagannna <a href="https://menafn.com/1107181625/NIA-Arrests-Andhra-Pradesh-Resident-In-Connection-With-Munchingiputtu-Maoist-Conspiracy">had been arrested</a> by Munchingiputtu police in November 2020 for allegedly acting as a Maoist “courier”.</p>
<p>He was charged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (and various sections of the Indian Penal Code), along with 63 others. He then reportedly named several activists associated with organisations linked to the outlawed <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_Party_of_India_(Maoist)">Communist Party of India (Maoist) </a> – thus revealing a conspiracy to aid a Maoist insurgency.</p>
<p>These raids involve the confiscation of electronic devices vital to activists’ work. They are designed to intimidate and suppress advocacy.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/india-elections-who-are-narendra-modis-main-rivals-and-can-they-beat-him-114525">India elections: who are Narendra Modi's main rivals – and can they beat him?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Newsclick raids</h2>
<p>On October 3, Prabir Purkayastha and Amit Chakravarty, of the news organisation <a href="https://www.newsclick.in/">Newsclick</a>, were subjected to <a href="https://thewire.in/media/delhi-police-conducts-early-morning-raids-at-houses-of-journalists-satirists">police raids</a>. So were 50 other journalists and contributors – including historians, activists and satirists.</p>
<p>Purkayastha and Chakravarty were charged under the the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, as well as with criminal conspiracy and promoting social enmity.</p>
<p>The basis appeared to be a two-month-old <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/05/world/europe/neville-roy-singham-china-propaganda.html">New York Times report</a> that alleged, with <a href="https://scroll.in/article/1057147/nyts-report-has-been-weaponised-against-indian-journalists-i-had-warned-the-paper-about-it">weak evidence</a>, that Newsclick had received funds from an American, Neville Roy Singham, to “sprinkle” its coverage with “Chinese government talking points”. </p>
<p>Since 2010, <a href="https://thewire.in/media/16-indian-journalists-have-been-charged-under-uapa-7-are-currently-behind-bars">16 journalists</a> have been charged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. Most of these arrests have been in the Modi era. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/divided-indian-diaspora-in-australia-tops-concerns-for-narendra-modi-visit-205993">Divided Indian diaspora in Australia tops concerns for Narendra Modi visit</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>An alleged conspiracy and a ‘puppet’</h2>
<p>In August, Bharatiya Janata Party politicians and ministers Nishikant Dubey, Anuraj Thakur and Rajeev Chandrasekhar used the New York Times report to <a href="https://thewire.in/politics/bjp-mp-nishikant-dubey-rahul-gandhi-newsclick-independent-journalists-chinese-links-nyt-report">allege a conspiracy</a> between the opposition Congress Party and Rahul Gandhi, Newsclick and the Chinese government, to “break India” and prevent “India’s rise”. </p>
<p>The Bharatiya Janata Party has also claimed Rahul Gandhi is a <a href="https://twitter.com/BJP4India/status/1709819569450471817?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1709819569450471817%7Ctwgr%5E5c6f952b45acfff22946e46aab6e999906ebc58d%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.businesstoday.in%2Flatest%2Fpolitics%2Fstory%2Frahul-gandhi-as-new-age-ravan-pm-modi-as-adani-puppet-poster-war-erupts-between-bjp-congress-401027-2023-10-06">puppet</a> of billionaire investor George Soros.</p>
<p>In March, Gandhi had been convicted over his comments that “all thieves have Modi as [their] common surname”, which were deemed insulting to the prime minister. He was sentenced to two years’ jail, meaning he lost his parliamentary seat. An appeal to the Supreme Court saw his <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/aug/04/rahul-gandhi-wins-supreme-court-appeal-against-defamation-conviction">conviction suspended</a> on August 4 (the day before the New York Times report), allowing him to return to parliament and contest next year’s national elections.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-modis-india-has-become-a-dangerous-place-for-muslims-132591">Why Modi's India has become a dangerous place for Muslims</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Dissent shrinking under ‘flawed democracy’</h2>
<p>As Roy has long pointed out, India has always been a <a href="https://www.penguin.co.in/book/broken-republic-2/">flawed democracy</a> with overly centralised <a href="https://journalofdemocracy.org/articles/the-authoritarian-roots-of-indias-democracy/">governance</a> structures that breed discontent, a <a href="https://scroll.in/article/951661/is-there-a-hindu-bias-in-indias-secular-constitution-a-2005-academic-paper-suggests-as-much">constitution</a> with elements favouring the Hindu majority, and laws that stifle free speech. </p>
<p>However, the space for dissent has dramatically shrunk in the past decade under Modi’s authoritarian populist leadership. </p>
<p>The government’s new information technology <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/global-net-freedom-on-the-decline-indias-censorship-regime-creating-uneven-playing-field-freedom-house-report/article67384799.ece">rules</a> require social media companies to use AI moderation to identify and remove fake, false or misleading news related to the government. In 2020, the government issued more than 9,800 take-down orders.</p>
<p>The subjects of these <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/6k-social-media-content-takedown-orders-this-year-101623014539309.html">orders</a> have included a <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0dkb144">BBC documentary that was critical of Modi</a>, criticism of the government’s COVID policies, and support of farmer protests against India’s agricultural policies. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Mxrl-ovDz3Y?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The Indian government’s social media take-down orders included a BBC documentary critival of Modi.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The government has used <a href="https://scroll.in/article/897932/income-tax-raids-on-raghav-bahl-quint-and-news-minute-raise-questions-of-media-intimidation">tax investigations</a>, <a href="https://theintercept.com/2023/08/06/umar-khalid-india-modi/">accusations of terrorism</a> and <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/8/4/indias-supreme-court-suspends-rahul-gandhis-defamation-conviction">criminal defamation cases</a> against its critics and opponents. </p>
<p>Courts often <a href="https://www.hrw.org/report/2016/05/25/stifling-dissent/criminalization-peaceful-expression-india">dismiss cases</a> (like Rahul Gandhi’s) based on laws that criminalise peaceful expression. But their record is patchy, and the drawn-out legal process imposes heavy financial and personal penalties on the accused. This leads many to withdraw comments – with chilling effects on free speech. </p>
<p>Hailed as the world’s largest democracy, India risks becoming the world’s largest autocracy, with consequences for the whole world.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215524/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Priya Chacko receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>Arundhati Roy’s prosecution is just one of a series of actions by Narendra Modi’s government against its opponents – including journalists, activists, students and opposing politicians.Priya Chacko, Senior Lecturer in International Politics, University of AdelaideLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2051662023-05-16T21:17:26Z2023-05-16T21:17:26ZIndia is using the G20 summit to further its settler-colonial ambitions in Kashmir<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526021/original/file-20230514-23610-wsa3ch.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=64%2C64%2C4730%2C3127&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The 2023 G20 logo on display in New Delhi, India. By attending events in Kashmir, G20 delegates are tacitly condoning India's colonial control of the region. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In September, India will host the 2023 Group of 20 (G20) summit in the capital, New Delhi. Events and meetings are already taking place in other venues around the country. Under its <a href="https://www.economist.com/asia/2023/02/28/indias-g20-presidency-will-be-a-win-for-narendra-modi">G20 presidency</a>, India will host a <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/g20-tourism-working-group-set-to-finalise-ministerial-communique-at-meeting-in-srinagar-101682417087282.html">Tourism Working Group meeting</a> in Srinagar, in Indian-administered Kashmir, in late May.</p>
<p>New Delhi wants to show the world that <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/04/13/india-kashmir-g20-meeting-autonomy-repression-elections/">normalcy has returned</a> to the picturesque, <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/india-mixed-reactions-to-major-lithium-discovery/a-65016836">resource-rich</a> region and that the disputed territory is <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/india/g20-meet-in-kashmir-inside-indias-plan-to-pitch-jk-as-a-tourist-destination-again/articleshow/99344682.cms">open to visitors</a> and <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/india/indias-jammu-kashmir-gets-first-foreign-investment-dubais-emaar-2023-03-20/">investors</a>. </p>
<p>The iconic <a href="https://kashmirreader.com/2023/05/10/dal-lake-cleaning-on-in-double-shifts-for-g20-meeting-in-srinagar-officials/">Dal Lake will form the backdrop for the meeting</a>. International delegates will also visit <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/03/20/693517010/surrounded-by-military-barracks-skiers-shred-the-himalayan-slopes-of-indian-kash">Gulmarg</a>, a popular winter destination, under <a href="https://sundayguardianlive.com/news/security-increased-in-jk-ahead-of-srinagar-g20-meet">tight security provided by India’s Ministry of Home Affairs</a>.</p>
<p>The route to Gulmarg is lined with barbed wire. Armed soldiers keep watch from fortified bunkers. The resort town is near the <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/BL-263B-8246">Line of Control</a> that <a href="https://politicalandlegalanthro.org/2020/07/30/which-kashmir-pakistan-wala-ya-india-konsa-kashmir-pakistans-or-indias/">bifurcates Kashmir</a> into Indian-held and Pakistani-held areas. </p>
<p>Hosting G20 delegates in Srinagar is a step towards normalizing India’s occupation of Kashmir internationally. But Kashmiris continue to demand their right to self-determination in accordance with <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/declaration-granting-independence-colonial-countries-and-peoples">international law</a> and <a href="http://unscr.com/en/resolutions/47">United Nations resolutions</a>. </p>
<p>International attendance of the meeting will seriously undermine their efforts.</p>
<p>In Canada, the NDP has called on the federal government to <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/ndp-wants-boycott-of-g20-events-in-india-s-kashmir-region-citing-human-rights-issues-1.6177173">boycott any G20 meetings that take place in Kashmir</a>, citing the Indian government’s human rights abuses. However, the Trudeau government has reportedly <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/canada-trudeau-led-govt-pushes-back-against-pressure-from-key-political-ally-to-boycott-g20-events-in-india-101670217416714.html">ignored those calls</a>.</p>
<h2>Normalizing occupation</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/chandigarh-news/srinagars-lal-chowk-readies-for-g20-summit-with-smart-city-project-officials-set-10-day-deadline-for-completion-of-works-101681367122782.html">Beautification projects</a> are underway in Srinagar on an industrial scale. These revitalization campaigns are designed to <a href="http://risingkashmir.com/kashmir-getting-ready-to-showcase-its-beauty-to-g20-delegates">create a sanitized image of Kashmir</a> for foreign delegates. The region remains troubled by <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/7/8/un-report-on-kashmir-calls-for-probe-into-human-rights-violations">violence and human rights abuses</a>, as well as <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/press-freedom-chilled-kashmir-reporting-criminalized-rcna35132">draconian media restrictions</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/3/21/kashmiri-journalist-irfan-mehraj-arrested-under-terrorism-charges">Human rights activists and journalists are being arrested</a> and there have been reports of hundreds of <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/chandigarh-news/former-j-k-cm-mehbooba-mufti-alleges-youth-arrests-ahead-of-g20-meeting-in-srinagar-questions-security-lapses-and-civilian-deaths-in-custody-101682795937372.html">young people being detained</a> by security forces. </p>
<p>Urban renewal in Srinagar is a tool of displacement and dislocation. I spoke with Asghar, a long-time Kashmiri resident of Srinagar, over the phone earlier this month. He described how urban redevelopment projects are changing certain sections of the city entirely. This, coupled with the government’s <a href="https://thewire.in/government/kashmir-name-changing">name-changing spree</a>, is creating a sense of alienation for locals who feel out of place in their own homeland.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526598/original/file-20230516-23757-xyaqib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A town on the banks of a lake with light blue waters. Green mountains are seen in the background." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526598/original/file-20230516-23757-xyaqib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526598/original/file-20230516-23757-xyaqib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526598/original/file-20230516-23757-xyaqib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526598/original/file-20230516-23757-xyaqib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526598/original/file-20230516-23757-xyaqib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526598/original/file-20230516-23757-xyaqib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526598/original/file-20230516-23757-xyaqib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Kashmir’s iconic Dal Lake will form the backdrop for the upcoming meeting of the G20’s Tourism Working Group.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Indian government is planning to temporarily minimize the visible presence of troops in <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/explained-kashmir-the-most-militarised-zone-in-the-world/z9s3tx5cq">the heavily militarized region</a> by building <a href="https://www.news9live.com/india/j-k-smart-bunkers-to-be-constructed-in-srinagar-ahin9-2111941">“smart bunkers.”</a> These are bunkers painted in pastel tones and subtly positioned so they remain unnoticed by foreign visitors.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjxq9fD6Oz-AhWLFFkFHX9yCLYQFnoECAoQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fkashmircentral.in%2Fa-gift-of-smart-policing%2F&usg=AOvVaw3rHMSokt7ZZNdMAsoCifpq">“Smart policing”</a> is also underway. This includes security agencies monitoring social media, gathering local intelligence, and <a href="https://www.greaterkashmir.com/todays-paper/front-page/new-surveillance-system-in-offing-as-police-eye-major-reforms">surveillance through CCTV cameras and aerial drones</a>.</p>
<p>Police officers handling foreign delegates are being <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/smart-policing-slick-bunkers-for-upcoming-g-20-meeting-in-srinagar/article66759927.ece">trained to display a softer and more polite image</a>. This is in sharp contrast to the <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/asa20/1874/2015/en/">treatment of Kashmiris by Indian security personnel</a>.</p>
<h2>G20 and tourism</h2>
<p>Founded in 2020, the G20’s <a href="https://www.g20.org/en/workstreams/sherpa-track/">Tourism Working Group</a> guides the development of local and global tourism among G20 countries with an eye to achieving the UN’s <a href="https://tourism4sdgs.org/tourism-for-sdgs/tourism-and-sdgs/">2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development</a>.</p>
<p>The G20 meeting is the first global event to be held in the Kashmir valley since India unilaterally removed the region’s <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/08/05/indias-settler-colonial-project-kashmir-takes-disturbing-turn/">semi-autonomous status in 2019</a>. Since then, the region has undergone significant <a href="https://scroll.in/article/946888/under-presidents-rule-jammu-kashmir-is-axing-1471-trees-in-designated-forests">rezoning and re-districting</a>.</p>
<p>Semi-autonomous status <a href="https://time.com/5644356/india-kashmir-article-370/">granted Kashmiris some territorial and cultural rights</a> while living under Indian rule. The designation recognized that India was only a <a href="https://adimagazine.com/articles/kashmir-a-historical-timeline/">temporary administrator of Kashmir</a>. And that <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/kashmir-in-the-aftermath-of-partition/idea-of-plebiscite-discontent-and-regional-dissidence/C848022634E0E26F304F22B0546DAD27">Kashmiris had the right to ultimately decide their own future</a>.</p>
<p>Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu nationalist <a href="https://carnegieendowment.org/2018/10/11/what-is-secret-to-success-of-india-s-bharatiya-janata-party-bjp-pub-77477">Bharatiya Janata Party</a> (BJP) long opposed Kashmir’s special status. Revoking it was in the party’s <a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/elections/lok-sabha-2019/story/bjp-top-promises-1496617-2019-04-08">2019 election manifesto</a>.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1k7gGTGuQsw?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Kashmir is divided by the Line of Control that separates the Indian- and Pakistani-controlled areas. It is one of the world’s most militarized regions.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Tourism is big business</h2>
<p>India is seeking <a href="https://www.ceicdata.com/en/indicator/india/tourism-revenue">to capitalize</a> on the scenic beauty of the Kashmir valley that it illegally occupies. Domestic tourists from India visited Kashmir in <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/india/indias-jammu-kashmir-receives-most-tourists-75-years-2022-10-07/">record numbers last year</a>. </p>
<p>Since coming into power in 2014, Modi’s government has also <a href="https://www.trtworld.com/opinion/is-india-trying-to-subdue-kashmir-through-religious-tourism--18963">heavily promoted religious tourism</a> in the disputed territory. Last year an estimated one million people from all over India <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/6/30/amarnath-yatra-pilgrimage-begins-amid-heavy-security-in-kashmir">attended the annual Amarnath Yatra</a>, a 43-day Hindu pilgrimage, amid heavy security.</p>
<p>With the return of <a href="http://risingkashmir.com/srinagarsharjah-direct-flight-a-runaway-success-for-economy-of-jk">direct international air travel to Indian-administered Kashmir</a> and the construction of railway infrastructure that <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/india-worlds-highest-railway-bridge-intl-hnk/index.html">connects the region to India</a>, the Indian government is determined to <a href="https://www.dailyexcelsior.com/this-village-in-jk-has-indias-biggest-international-yoga-centre/">open Kashmir to the world</a>.</p>
<p>On the other hand, the mobility of <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/8/13/kashmir-srinagar-a-maze-of-razor-wires-and-steel-barriers">local Kashmiris</a> remains severely restricted. Ultimately, we must question what kind of <a href="https://jnp.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/default/article/view/85/86">connectivity is desired, by whom and for what purpose</a>.</p>
<h2>Tourism and settler-colonialism</h2>
<p>The Indian government sees Kashmir as an <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/jk-was-is-and-shall-forever-remain-its-integral-part-india-tells-pakistan-at-unhrc-meeting/articleshow/74318873.cms">“integral part”</a> of the country and wants to make its occupation permanent. Tourism plays a direct role in legitimizing and expanding the Indian control of Kashmiri lands.</p>
<p>Kashmir scholar <a href="https://www.unco.edu/news/newsroom/expert/ather-zia.aspx">Ather Zia</a> cautions against <a href="https://doi.org/10.1057/s41301-020-00234-4">uncritically accepting tourism as a form of development</a>. Tourism in settler-colonial contexts is an extension of imperial politics. It is the process by which colonized lands are absorbed by a hegemonic state. </p>
<p>This is achieved by fostering a sense of attachment for those with little or no connection to occupied lands. The Indian government has <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/services/property-/-cstruction/all-you-need-to-know-about-buying-property-in-jammu-kashmir/articleshow/70695987.cms?from=mdr">weaponized the law</a> to make it easier for Indians to visit and settle in Kashmir, disavowing and erasing Indigenous Kashmiri claims to the same lands.</p>
<p>The Indian government also aims to <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/08/16/new-delhis-demographic-designs-in-kashmir/?link_id=25&can_id=ef6e9f45e275fbd2fe97ce05c408ec57&source=email-take-action-tell-ontario-ndp-to-apologize-to-sarah-jama-and-stand-in-solidarity-with-detained-palestinians&email_referrer=email_1911306&email_subject=take-action-canada-must-withdraw-from-the-g20-meetings-in-indian-occupied-kashmir">change the demographics</a> in the Muslim-majority region in favor of Hindus.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526020/original/file-20230513-99298-1vu8dp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A young woman wearing a white hijab waving a small banner with the G20 logo on it." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526020/original/file-20230513-99298-1vu8dp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526020/original/file-20230513-99298-1vu8dp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526020/original/file-20230513-99298-1vu8dp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526020/original/file-20230513-99298-1vu8dp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526020/original/file-20230513-99298-1vu8dp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526020/original/file-20230513-99298-1vu8dp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526020/original/file-20230513-99298-1vu8dp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Kashmiri students participate in an event ahead of the G20 Tourism Working Group meeting that will be held from May 22-24 in Srinagar, Indian-administered Kashmir.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Decolonizing tourism</h2>
<p>All of this raises questions about the ethics of tourism in occupied territories.</p>
<p>Indigenous governance and Native Hawaiian scholar <a href="https://www.uvic.ca/hsd/igov/people/faculty/h%C5%8Dk%C5%ABlani--h%C5%8Dk%C5%ABlani.php">Hōkūlani K. Aikau</a> and <a href="https://manoa.hawaii.edu/undergrad/honors/3980-2/">Vernadette Vicuña Gonzalez</a> argue that
colonialism is the <a href="https://read.dukeupress.edu/books/book/2667/DetoursA-Decolonial-Guide-to-Hawai-i">ultimate breach of guest protocol that violates a welcome that was never extended</a>. By visiting areas under occupation, tourists, unknowingly or knowingly, reproduce the violent colonization of peoples and places.</p>
<p>Those visiting Kashmir must first learn about the <a href="https://standwithkashmir.org/the-kashmir-syllabus/">decolonial history of the region</a>, one that honours Kashmiri calls for self-determination and sovereignty. They must follow the principle of <a href="https://bdsmovement.net/pacbi/ethical-tourism">do no harm</a> by not visiting tourist sites or using tour operators run by Indian authorities. They should support local Kashmiri-run businesses as much as possible.</p>
<p>There is no simple resolution for tourism on occupied lands. Tourism amid settler-colonialism manifests in exploitation, dispossession, commodification and other injustices and inequities. The goal of <a href="https://floridaseminoletourism.com/centering-anti-colonial-travel/">ethical travel</a> is not immediate perfection or self-exoneration. It is an invitation to think about our own actions and complicity.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205166/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Omer Aijazi receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) to conduct research in Kashmir and Northern Pakistan.</span></em></p>In Indian-administered Kashmir, the Indian government is using tourism as a tactic to strengthen its colonial control of the region.Omer Aijazi, Visiting Researcher in Anthropology, University of VictoriaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1859322022-08-08T12:19:37Z2022-08-08T12:19:37Z75 years ago, Britain’s plan for Pakistani and Indian independence left unresolved conflicts on both sides – especially when it comes to Kashmir<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475023/original/file-20220720-13-79gmsh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=15%2C1%2C1007%2C579&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Leaders in New Delhi agree on the plan to partition India: From left, Jawaharlal Nehru, Hastings Ismay, Louis Mountbatten and Ali Jinnah.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/during-an-historic-conference-in-new-delhi-lord-mountbatten-news-photo/104401851?adppopup=true">Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In 1947, the United Kingdom was exhausted. World War II had ravaged its military and economy, and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230117389_12">anti-colonial movements</a> had begun to challenge empires. Within the Indian subcontinent, the U.K. faced two powerful, seemingly irreconcilable nationalist movements: one calling for the creation of Pakistan, a homeland for the Muslims of South Asia; the other for India, a pluralist democracy.</p>
<p>The U.K. chose to partition the region and withdraw. Under the terms of the <a href="https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/evolutionofparliament/legislativescrutiny/parliament-and-empire/collections1/collections2/1947-indian-independence-act/">Indian Independence Act</a>, the subcontinent was formally divided into two new dominions at midnight of Aug. 14, 1947 – <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/partition-of-india/oclc/311769360">75 years ago this month</a>. </p>
<hr>
<iframe id="noa-web-audio-player" style="border: none" src="https://embed-player.newsoveraudio.com/v4?key=x84olp&id=https://theconversation.com/75-years-ago-britains-plan-for-pakistani-and-indian-independence-left-unresolved-conflicts-on-both-sides-especially-when-it-comes-to-kashmir-185932&bgColor=F5F5F5&color=D8352A&playColor=D8352A" width="100%" height="110px"></iframe>
<p><em>You can listen to more articles from The Conversation, <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/audio-narrated-99682">narrated by Noa</a>.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>Dividing a diverse land of hundreds of millions of people was far messier than the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-a-british-royals-monumental-errors-made-indias-partition-more-painful-81657">Partition plan itself</a>. Around 1 million people died, and more than 12 million were displaced, by the <a href="https://www.dukeupress.edu/the-other-side-of-silence">mass violence that broke out immediately afterward</a>.</p>
<p>One particularly complicated piece of this history, which I have written about in my work as <a href="https://polisci.indiana.edu/about/faculty/ganguly-sumit.html">a scholar of Indian politics</a>, is the fate of the regions known as “princely states,” which had some autonomy under the British. This dilemma still shapes the region, especially in Jammu and Kashmir, which has been ridden with conflict ever since.</p>
<h2>Time to choose</h2>
<p>Under British rule there had been two classes of states. One set of states, those of British India, were directly ruled from London. The other, the “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511583292">princely states</a>,” were nominally independent as long as their rulers recognized the “paramountcy” of the British Crown.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A black and white map shows India before independence from the United Kingdom." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475026/original/file-20220720-20-x38x1u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475026/original/file-20220720-20-x38x1u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475026/original/file-20220720-20-x38x1u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475026/original/file-20220720-20-x38x1u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475026/original/file-20220720-20-x38x1u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=681&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475026/original/file-20220720-20-x38x1u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=681&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475026/original/file-20220720-20-x38x1u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=681&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A map of India before the Partition shows the areas considered ‘British India’ and the ‘princely states,’ also called ‘Indian states.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/map-of-india-before-the-partition-of-the-british-indian-news-photo/1216140133?adppopup=true">Photo 12/Universal Images Group via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Under the terms of this doctrine, these “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/CHOL9780521267274">princely states</a>” could largely manage their internal affairs but had to defer to Britain on three critical policy issues: defense, foreign affairs and communications. Around the time of independence and Partition there were approximately 562 such states, many of them quite small.</p>
<p>As the British prepared to depart, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/03086539308582896">Lord Louis Mountbatten</a>, the last British viceroy – the British monarch’s representative in India – decreed that the rulers of the princely states had a choice: They could join either India or Pakistan. Independence, as an option, was effectively ruled out.</p>
<p>Moreover, Mountbatten added two important stipulations: that the states could be merged with India or Pakistan on the basis of demographic features and their geographic location. Accordingly, predominantly Muslim states would go to Pakistan and others to India. Finally, he also stipulated that states that were geographically situated inside the borders of one of the two emergent countries, regardless of their demographic composition, had to join that particular country.</p>
<h2>Dragging their heels</h2>
<p>The vast majority of the rulers of the princely states, despite harboring reservations about this plan, recognized that they had little or no choice and <a href="https://www.panmacmillan.com/authors/ramachandra-guha/india-after-gandhi/9781447281887">acceded to either India or Pakistan</a>, though a few did have to be prodded or cajoled. However, a small number of them, for a variety of complex reasons, were reluctant to agree to the terms that Mountbatten had spelled out.</p>
<p>Three of them proved to be especially trying. The first of these was the monarch of Jammu and Kashmir, in the northwest. <a href="https://doi.org/10.7765/9781526156167.00011">Maharaja Hari Singh</a> was a Hindu ruling over a predominantly Muslim population. To compound matters, his state lay between the two emergent countries of India and Pakistan. </p>
<p>India, which was created as a secular state, wanted to incorporate Kashmir to demonstrate that a predominantly Muslim region could thrive in a Hindu-majority country committed to secularism. Pakistan, on the other hand, sought Kashmir because of its physical proximity and Muslim majority.</p>
<p>Singh was unwilling to cast his lot with either of the two states. He did not wish to join India because he was aware that India’s principal nationalist leader, Jawaharlal Nehru, had socialist leanings and would likely induce him to dispense with his vast landed estates. Simultaneously, he was averse to joining Pakistan because he was mostly at odds with <a href="https://www.wilsoncenter.org/book/the-crisis-kashmir-portents-war-hopes-peace">his predominantly Muslim subjects</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="A black and white photo of a formal portrait of a man with a mustache and a headwrap with a feather." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475027/original/file-20220720-12-lvvdju.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475027/original/file-20220720-12-lvvdju.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=808&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475027/original/file-20220720-12-lvvdju.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=808&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475027/original/file-20220720-12-lvvdju.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=808&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475027/original/file-20220720-12-lvvdju.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1016&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475027/original/file-20220720-12-lvvdju.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1016&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475027/original/file-20220720-12-lvvdju.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1016&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Portrait of the Maharaja of Kashmir, Hari Singh.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/portrait-of-maharaja-of-kashmir-hari-singh-circa-1920-1939-news-photo/104416016?adppopup=true">Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Even after the independence of Pakistan and India was declared, Singh <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Great_Divide.html?id=OJygzgEACAAJ">vacillated about which country to join</a>. In October of 1947 a tribal rebellion broke out in Poonch, a district of Jammu and Kashmir. As his troops sought to quell the rebellion, the insurgents quickly found military support from Pakistan.</p>
<p>As the rebels approached his capital, Srinagar, Singh appealed to India for military assistance. Nehru, India’s first prime minister, agreed to provide assistance as long as two conditions were met. Singh would have to obtain the support of Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, the leader of the largest popular and secular political party in the state, and he would have to formally sign <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520076655/war-and-secession">the Instrument of Accession to India</a>.</p>
<p>After Singh agreed to the conditions, India sent troops into the state, leading to a <a href="http://cup.columbia.edu/book/conflict-unending/9780231123693">war with Pakistan</a> – the first of four between the two countries, the most recent in 1999. The first conflict came to a close in 1948 with Pakistan gaining control over a third of Kashmir.</p>
<p>Neither country has wholly reconciled itself to Kashmir’s status. India claims the state in its entirety, as it became a part of its territory legally. Pakistan, however, has historically held the view that Kashmir was ceded to India by a ruler who did not represent its majority Muslim population. Indeed, this dispute between two nuclear-armed powers remains a potential global flashpoint.</p>
<h2>Consequential choices</h2>
<p>Another contentious case involved the Muslim ruler of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/001946460704400404">the state of Hyderabad</a>, well inside central India, who did not wish to join India. Nehru initially sought to negotiate an end to this impasse. However, when the ruler, the Nizam Mir Osman Ali Khan, proved resistant to his requests, Nehru authorized the use of force to ensure the state’s integration into India.</p>
<p>Finally, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0019464616651167">a third difficult case was Junagadh</a>, a princely state in western India. The ruler, the Nawab Muhammad Mahabat Khan Babi III, acceded to Pakistan despite its predominantly Hindu population. Unhappy with <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9780230277519_3">his decision</a>, which defied the directive that states located within the new dominion of India should accede to it, India’s leaders sent in troops to reverse the outcome. To legitimize the decision, the government held a referendum in 1948, in which over 90% of the citizenry voted in favor of the accession.</p>
<p>The departure of the British from their Indian colony left a host of unresolved issues, ranging from the traumas of the Partition to the ongoing dispute over Kashmir. These consequences still shape geopolitics in the region, and beyond.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/185932/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sumit Ganguly has received funding from the Smith Richardson Foundation and the US Department of State.</span></em></p>The fate of the so-called princely states was a particularly contentious issue during India’s Partition, which killed about 1 million people and left millions more displaced.Sumit Ganguly, Distinguished Professor of Political Science and the Tagore Chair in Indian Cultures and Civilizations, Indiana UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1813852022-04-21T12:57:06Z2022-04-21T12:57:06ZKashmir: what happens after Imran Khan’s downfall?<p>Since Imran Khan was ousted as prime minister of Pakistan <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/09/pakistan-on-brink-of-crisis-as-imran-khan-blocks-no-confidence-vote">on April 9</a>, the future of the long disputed and war-torn Kashmir region, on the borders of India and Pakistan, is at the forefront of many minds.</p>
<p>Khan had made little headway in resolving the Kashmir conflict, despite <a href="https://moderndiplomacy.eu/2020/04/10/imran-khan-speech-in-un-general-assembly-and-kashmir-conundrum/">his ambition</a> to do so. Under the partition plan provided by the Indian Independence Act in 1947, Kashmir was given the right to accede to either <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10537286">India or Pakistan</a>. <a href="https://www.manchesterhive.com/view/9781526156167/9781526156167.xml">The region</a> has been a source of tension between India and Pakistan since even before both countries became independent in 1947. </p>
<p>Significantly, Pakistan’s newly appointed prime minister Shehbaz Sharif raised Kashmir in his <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/4/11/shehbaz-sharif-elected-as-pakistans-new-prime-minister-2">first speech</a> and urged India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, to join him in addressing this issue. Sharif said that a peaceful settlement was <a href="https://twitter.com/CMShehbaz/status/1513802562520367105?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1513802562520367105%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.aljazeera.com%2Fnews%2F2022%2F4%2F13%2Fpakistan-pm-shehbaz-sharif-peaceful-settlement-kashmir-dispute-indispensable">“indispensable”</a>. </p>
<p>He said it was Kashmiris who are suffering the most and that the Kashmir Valley “<a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/new-pak-pm-shehbaz-sharif-puts-kashmir-as-condition-to-have-good-ties-with-india-101649689282629.html">is red with their blood</a>”. </p>
<p>It is unlikely this is a meaningful pledge but more of a standard narrative of prime ministers in Pakistan. Perhaps Sharif wants to get the difficult conversation out of the way in order to focus on reducing <a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/south-asia/article/3163919/imran-khans-future-doubt-pakistanis-crumble-under-inflations">inflation</a> rates and improving the unemployment situation – which he blames on Khan’s leadership. Unemployment rates have continued <a href="https://www.newindianexpress.com/world/2021/sep/28/unemployment-rate-rises-relentlessly-in-pakistan-as-15-million-people-apply-for-peons-post-2364892.html">to rise</a> in Pakistan since Khan came to power in 2018. For many Khan has failed to live up to his promises of a <em>Naya</em> (new) Pakistan.</p>
<h2>Kashmir’s conflicted past</h2>
<p>After partition, there was an expectation that there would be a referendum to enable the people of Kashmir to decide <a href="https://www.epoch-magazine.com/post/contested-kashmir-a-brief-history">on the future</a> of the state. This never took place. Since then, India and Pakistan have gone to war over Kashmir in 1965 and 1971 – and came close to nuclear war in 1999. Kashmir has experienced multiple waves of violence, predominantly in the Kashmir Valley, including attacks by militant organisations and <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09584930903108911?journalCode=ccsa20">human rights abuses</a> by Indian security forces. </p>
<p>On August 5 2019, India revoked <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/world/asia/india-pakistan-crisis.html">Article 370</a>, stripping Kashmir of the special status it has held for the past 70 years, giving it relative autonomy over its own affairs. Telephone networks and the internet were turned off for some weeks and Indian troops were sent into the region. This put the New Delhi government in direct control of the territory. After the <a href="https://uk.sagepub.com/en-gb/eur/kashmir-after-2019/book280990">revocation</a> of Article 370, Pakistan suspended trade, prevented travel to India and expelled the Indian High Commissioner.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/india-revokes-kashmirs-autonomy-risking-yet-another-war-with-pakistan-121485">India revokes Kashmir’s autonomy, risking yet another war with Pakistan</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Khan spoke openly against Modi’s administration, accusing him of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/30/opinion/imran-khan-kashmir-pakistan.html">violating</a> the constitution and comparing the situation to the second world war.</p>
<p>The former cricketer and political outsider had also made a <a href="https://pmo.gov.pk/news_details.php?news_id=864">pledge</a> that he would root out “corruption, providing swift justice, reviving economy and supremacy of the law, [and] to materialize his dream of a welfare state like that of Madina”. However, he has been criticised for the ways in which he has <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/7/26/pakistans-imran-khan-leads-polls-as-rivals-cry-foul">failed</a> to end the corruption of previous governments, mishandled the pandemic and overseen rising inflation.</p>
<h2>Upcoming election</h2>
<p>At this stage with Sharif’s status uncertain it is unlikely that Modi will open serious negotiations. A Pakistan election is likely to take place in <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/fresh-elections-pakistan-be-held-90-days-says-state-minister-information-2022-04-03/">July</a>, so Sharif may not be the prime minister for very long. </p>
<p>The Sharif family has built good relations with Modi, to the extent that Modi attended a Sharif family wedding in Pakistan and the current prime minister’s brother (and former prime minister) Nawaz Sharif was invited to Modi’s <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/48551484?refreqid=excelsior%3A08e9f8b6e2e2b1a59ef3e2a16a6e71a9">inauguration ceremony</a>. Sharif may be cautious of rocking the boat too much, if he wants to remain in power.</p>
<p>Kashmiris saw Khan as an <a href="https://twitter.com/sanasaeed/status/1513234607591899138?s=21&t=Hnp_XDYtyUMT4_U5TQ3ouQ">ally</a> in their struggle for autonomy. They may now be concerned that a Sharif and Modi relationship would allow Modi’s grip on Kashmir to become even tighter, reducing the autonomy of Kashmir further.</p>
<p>Kashmiris may be reassured by Sharif’s new promises of reconciliation, reviving the economy and speeding up <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/4/11/pakistan-live-updates-parliament-set-to-elect-new-pm-liveblog">China-funded</a> projects. They may also believe that Sharif will be sympathetic towards Kashmir because he himself comes from a Kashmiri family.</p>
<p>It’s difficult to predict what the new government will do in Kashmir. But, a report from a <a href="https://www.greaterkashmir.com/kashmir/govt-change-in-pakistan-wont-impact-loc-situation-says-army-commander">Kashmiri newspaper</a> details the opinion of an Indian army commander who argues that despite the leadership crisis in Pakistan, the security situation will not change across the <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/2347797015626045">line of control</a> , the de facto border between the Indian-administered and Pakistan-administered parts of Kashmir. It acts as a ceasefire line between the two powers. The commander said that the troops were in full control of the situation. This may be true for now, but if tensions continue to rise, things may change rapidly.</p>
<p>The upcoming election will decide if Sharif remains prime minister, but it could cause huge <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-going-on-in-pakistan-and-why-has-the-us-been-dragged-into-it-180731">political unrest</a> in the country. But no matter who wins, the Kashmir conflict will need to be addressed.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/181385/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Leoni Connah does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Pakistan’s new prime minister has already spoken about the Kashmir conflict.Leoni Connah, Lecturer in Politics, University of ManchesterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1811332022-04-14T17:55:50Z2022-04-14T17:55:50ZWant to know why India has been soft on Russia? Take a look at its military, diplomatic and energy ties<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458180/original/file-20220414-12-8s11rq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C68%2C3494%2C2347&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A close relationship based on strategic needs.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/russian-president-vladimir-putin-and-indian-prime-minister-news-photo/1165923211?adppopup=true">Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As global democracies <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/04/04/1090746192/russia-has-drawn-international-condemnation-for-alleged-war-crimes">lined up to condemn</a> the actions of Russia in Ukraine, one country was less forthcoming in its criticism – and it was the <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/04/11/india-russia-ukraine-war-diplomacy/">largest democracy of them all: India</a>.</p>
<p>Throughout the ongoing crisis, the government in India has carefully avoided taking an unequivocal position. It has <a href="https://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/india-abstains-6th-7th-time-in-un-vote-on-ukraine-crisis-resolution-122032401586_1.html">abstained on every United Nations resolution</a> dealing with the matter and refused to join the international community in economic measures against Moscow, prompting a <a href="https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2022/mar/31/lavrovs-india-visit-us-warns-against-circumventing-sanctions-against-russia-uk-puts-emphasis-on-i-2436416.html">warning from the U.S.</a> over potentially circumventing sanctions. Even statements from India condemning the reported mass killing of Ukrainian civilians <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-61006169">stopped short of apportioning blame</a> on any party, instead calling for an impartial investigation.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://polisci.indiana.edu/about/faculty/ganguly-sumit.html">scholar of Indian foreign and security policy</a>, I know that understanding India’s stance on the war in Ukraine is complex. In considerable part, India’s decision to avoid taking a clear-cut position stems from a dependence on Russia on a host of issues – diplomatic, military and energy-related.</p>
<h2>Moscow as strategic partner</h2>
<p>This stance is not entirely new. On a range of fraught global issues, India has long avoided adopting a firm position based on its <a href="https://mea.gov.in/in-focus-article.htm?20349/History+and+Evolution+of+NonAligned+Movement">status as a nonaligned state</a> – one of a number of countries that is <a href="https://mea.gov.in/in-focus-article.htm?20349/History+and+Evolution+of+NonAligned+Movement">not formally allied to any power bloc</a>.</p>
<p>From a strategic standpoint today, decision-makers in New Delhi believe that they can ill afford to alienate Russia because they count on Moscow to veto any adverse United Nations Security Council resolution on the <a href="https://cup.columbia.edu/book/conflict-unending/9780231123693">fraught question of the disputed region of Kashmir</a>. Since the partition of the subcontinent in 1947, India and Pakistan have fought <a href="https://theconversation.com/india-and-pakistan-fought-3-wars-over-kashmir-heres-why-international-law-falls-short-to-solve-this-territorial-dispute-164672#:%7E:text=India%20and%20Pakistan%20fought%20the,line%20went%20right%20through%20Kashmir.">three wars over Kashmir</a>, and the region continues to be a source of tension.</p>
<p>Harking back to the days of the Soviet Union, India has <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/six-times-when-the-soviet-veto-came-to-indias-rescue/articleshow/89941338.cms">relied on Russia’s veto</a> at the U.N. to protect itself from any adverse statement on Kashmir. For example, during the East Pakistani crisis of 1971 – which led to the creation of Bangladesh – the <a href="https://hindustannewshub.com/india-news/1957-to-1971-russia-imposed-veto-power-6-times-in-the-security-council-for-india-america-protested-every-time/">Soviets protected India from censure</a> at the U.N., vetoing a resolution demanding the withdrawal of troops from the disputed region.</p>
<p>In all, the Soviets and Russia have used their veto power <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/six-times-when-the-soviet-veto-came-to-indias-rescue/articleshow/89941338.cms">six times to protect India</a>. India has not had to rely on Russia for a veto since the end of the Cold War. But with tension over Kashmir still high amid sporadic fighting, New Delhi will want to ensure that Moscow is on its side should it come before the Security Council again.</p>
<p>In large part, India’s close relationship with Russia stems from Cold War allegiances. India drifted into the Soviet orbit mostly as a counter to <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/1901531">America’s strategic alliance with Pakistan</a>, India’s subcontinental adversary. </p>
<p>India is also hopeful of Russian support – or at least neutrality – in its <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/vikrammittal/2022/02/21/the--lesser-known-border-disputechina-and-india/?sh=70567797192d">long-standing border dispute</a> with the People’s Republic of China. India and China share a border of more than 2,000 miles (near 3,500 km), the location of which has been contested for 80 years, including during <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2020/06/17/as-india-and-china-clash-jfks-forgotten-crisis-is-back/">a war in 1962</a> that failed to settle the matter.</p>
<p>Above all, India does not want Russia to side with China should there be further clashes in the Himalayas, especially since the border dispute has <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/3/25/china-fm-india-surprise-trip-first-since-2020-border-clashes">again come to the fore since 2020</a>, with significant skirmishes between the Indian Army and China’s People’s Liberation Army. </p>
<h2>Russia as supplier of weapons</h2>
<p>India is also acutely dependent on Russia for a range of weaponry. In fact, 60% to 70% of India’s conventional arsenal is of <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/defence/more-than-60-70-of-india-armed-forces-equipped-with-russian-origin-weapons-indian-envoy/articleshow/76903811.cms?from=mdr">either Soviet or Russian origin</a>.</p>
<p>Over the past decade, New Delhi has sought to significantly <a href="https://thediplomat.com/2014/08/india-diversifying-arms-purchases/">diversify its weapons acquisitions</a>. To that end, it has purchased more than <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/defence/us-looking-to-ramp-up-arms-sales-to-india-including-heavy-lifting-drones-report/articleshow/77363224.cms?from=mdr">US$20 billion worth of military equipment from the U.S.</a> over the past decade or so. Nevertheless, it is still in no position to walk away from Russia as far as weapons sales are concerned. </p>
<p>To compound matters, Russia and India have developed close military manufacturing ties. For nearly two decades, the two countries have <a href="https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/2021/12/new-brahmos-manufacturing-center-in-india-to-produce-up-to-100-cruise-missiles-per-year/">co-produced the highly versatile BrahMos missile</a>, which can be fired from ships, aircraft or land.</p>
<p>India recently received its <a href="https://www.defensenews.com/global/asia-pacific/2022/01/28/philippines-signs-deal-for-brahmos-supersonic-anti-ship-missile/">first export order for the missile</a>, from the Philippines. This defense link with Russia could be severed only at considerable financial and strategic cost to India. </p>
<p>Also, Russia, unlike any Western country including the United States, has been willing to share certain forms of weapons technology with India. For example, Russia has <a href="https://www.defensenews.com/global/asia-pacific/2019/03/08/india-signs-3-billion-contract-with-russia-for-lease-of-a-nuclear-submarine/">leased an Akula-class nuclear submarine to India</a>. No other country has been willing to offer India equivalent weaponry, in part over concerns that the technology will be shared with Russia. </p>
<p>In any case, Russia is able to provide India with high-technology weaponry at prices significantly lower than any Western supplier. Not surprisingly, despite significant American opposition, India <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2018/10/5/india-signs-s-400-deal-with-russia-sidestepping-us-opposition">chose to acquire</a> the Russian S-400 missile defense battery.</p>
<h2>Energy reliance</h2>
<p>It isn’t just India’s defense industry that is reliant on Moscow. India’s energy sector is also inextricably tied to Russia.</p>
<p>Since the George W. Bush administration <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/jul/23/india.nuclear">ended India’s status as a nuclear pariah</a> – a designation it had held for testing nuclear weapons outside the ambit of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty – India has developed a civilian nuclear program.</p>
<p>Although the sector <a href="https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/country-profiles/countries-g-n/india.aspx">remains relatively small</a> in terms of total energy production, it is growing – and Russia has emerged as a key partner. After the U.S.-India civilian nuclear agreement of 2008 allowed India to participate in normal civilian nuclear commerce, Russia quickly signed an agreement to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-russia-nuclear/russia-signs-pact-for-six-nuclear-reactors-on-new-site-in-india-idUSKCN1MF217">build six nuclear reactors in the country</a>.</p>
<p>Neither <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/why-is-indiainvesting-in-nuclear-energy-when-the-whole-world-is-experiencing-a-nuclearmeltdown/articleshow/58094501.cms">the U.S. nor any other Western country</a> has proved willing to invest in India’s civilian nuclear energy sector because of a rather restrictive nuclear liability law, which holds that the manufacturer of the plant or any of its components would be liable in the event of an accident.</p>
<p>But since the Russian government has said it will assume the necessary liability in the event of a nuclear accident, it has been able to enter the nuclear power sector in India. Western governments, however, are unwilling to provide such guarantees to their commercial companies.</p>
<p>Away from nuclear power, India also has invested in Russian oil and gas fields. India’s state-run Oil and Natural Gas Commission, for example, has long been involved <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB981918172359077235">in the extraction of fossil fuels</a> off Sakhalin Island, a Russian island in the Pacific Ocean. And given that India imports close to 85% of its crude oil requirements from abroad – albeit only a small fraction from Russia – it is <a href="https://newsonair.com/2022/03/18/india-highly-dependent-on-imports-for-meeting-its-energy-requirements/">hardly in a position to shut off the Russian spigot</a>.</p>
<p>U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-61042314">recently noted</a> that India’s “relationship with Russia has developed over decades at a time when the United States was not able to be a partner to India” and suggested that Washington was prepared now to be that partner. But given the diplomatic, military and energy considerations, it is difficult to see India deviating from its balancing act over Russia any time soon.</p>
<p>[<em>You’re smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation’s authors and editors.</em> <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?source=inline-youresmart">You can read us daily by subscribing to our newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/181133/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sumit Ganguly has received funding from the US Department of State.</span></em></p>India has stood apart from other major democracies in failing to offer a full-throated condemnation of Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. Here’s why.Sumit Ganguly, Distinguished Professor of Political Science and the Tagore Chair in Indian Cultures and Civilizations, Indiana UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1663232021-08-25T12:28:45Z2021-08-25T12:28:45ZTaliban’s religious ideology – Deobandi Islam – has roots in colonial India<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/417455/original/file-20210823-26-gu7pjr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Students on the campus of Darul Uloom, the Deoband school of Islam located in a small town, Deoband, in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/in-this-picture-taken-on-september-7-2011-muslim-students-news-photo/128403818?adppopup=true">Sajjad Hussain/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Following the Taliban’s rapid taking of power in what it describes as a reestablished “<a href="https://apnews.com/article/afghanistan-taliban-kabul-bagram-e1ed33fe0c665ee67ba132c51b8e32a5">Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan</a>,” fears of a certain kind of Islamist ideology being brought back <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/talibans-rapid-advance-across-afghanistan-2021-08-10/">have led a large number of Afghans to flee, or fear for their lives</a>. </p>
<p>The Taliban were known for their oppressive rule. They ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, at which point they were <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/21st-century/afghanistan-war">pushed out of power by U.S. and British troops</a>. Under the Taliban rule, religious minorities and other Muslims who did not share their fundamentalist understanding of Islam were not tolerated. The Taliban also <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/taliban-rules-for-women-during-last-afghanistan-takeover-2021-8">severely restricted</a> the rights of women and girls.</p>
<p>As scholars who <a href="https://polisci.indiana.edu/about/faculty/ganguly-sumit.html">research ethno-religious conflicts</a> in South Asia, we have studied the origins of the Taliban’s religious beliefs. The roots of this ideology – Deobandi Islam – can be traced to 19th century colonial India. </p>
<h2>Colonialism and Islam</h2>
<p>Deobandi Islam <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520298002/revival-from-below">emerged in India in 1867</a>, 10 years after a major Indian nationalist uprising against the rule of the British East India Company.</p>
<p>Two Muslims clerics, Maulana Muhammad Qasim Nanautawi and Maulana Rashid Muhammad Gangohi, <a href="https://scholarlypublications.universiteitleiden.nl/access/item%3A2715157/view">were behind the setting up of the Deobandi school</a>. Their aim was to indoctrinate Muslim youth with an austere, rigid and pristine vision of Islam. At its heart, Deobandi Islam was an anti-colonial movement designed to revitalize Islam. </p>
<p>This school of Islamic thought had a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1215/1089201x-2006-049">very particular understanding of the faith</a>. The Deobandi brand of Islam adheres to orthodox Islamism insisting that the adherence to Sunni Islamic law, or sharia, is the path of salvation. It <a href="https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/intro/islam-deobandi.htm">insists on the revival of Islamic practices</a> that go back to the seventh century – the time of the Prophet Muhammad. It upholds the notion of global jihad as a sacred duty to protect Muslims across the world, and is opposed to any non-Islamic ideas. </p>
<p>The first <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-are-madrasa-schools-and-what-skills-do-they-impart-99497">madrassa</a> – or Islamic school – to educate Muslim youth in the Deobandi tradition was set up in the north Indian state of present-day Uttar Pradesh toward the end of the 19th century.</p>
<p>The Deobandi school system spread over the next several decades and attracted Muslim youth in different parts of the Indian subcontinent. For instance, the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S1356186307007778">Deobandi tradition became the most popular school of Islamic thought</a> among the Pashtuns, an ethnic group living in an area on either side of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. </p>
<p>Pashtun leaders played an instrumental role in establishing and <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.org/article/durand-line/">expanding the Deobandi curriculum</a> and tradition in the Pashtun belt across the <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.org/article/durand-line">Durand line</a>, the colonial border separating British India from Afghanistan. </p>
<h2>Funding and enrollments</h2>
<p>After British India was partitioned in 1947 between India and Pakistan, <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/deoband-school-and-the-demand-for-pakistan/oclc/592479?tab=details">many prominent Deobandi scholars migrated to Pakistan</a>, setting up a large number of madrassas. </p>
<p>With the independence of India and Pakistan, the school placed its full attention on training the students <a href="https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/intro/islam-deobandi.htm">within this fundamentalist Islamic tradition</a>.</p>
<p>In the years and decades after the independence of Pakistan, Deobandi madrassas spread across Pakistan, and one of their principal causes of political activism became <a href="https://www.refworld.org/docid/4d67513f2.html">India’s treatment of Muslims</a> in the Indian-controlled portion of Jammu and Kashmir. </p>
<p>According to one estimate, by 1967 there were as many as <a href="https://ctc.usma.edu/the-past-and-future-of-deobandi-islam/">8,000 Deobandi schools worldwide</a> and thousands of Deobandi graduates mainly in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Malaysia. </p>
<p>At first, the Deobandi madrassas tended to be poorly funded. One event that greatly boosted the growth of enrollment in Deobandi madrassas was the <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2014/08/the-soviet-war-in-afghanistan-1979-1989/100786/">Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979</a>. </p>
<p>The CIA’s covert involvement in the war fueled Islamic militancy and inadvertently helped <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Ghost_Wars.html?id=ToYxFL5wmBIC">organize and orchestrate a resistance</a> movement mostly composed of ardent religious fighters. A substantial number of these Afghan fighters were drawn from the Deobandi madrassas, especially the Pashtuns, who played a leading role in the resistance. </p>
<p>During that time, the Deobandi madrassas also <a href="https://doi.org/10.1162/ISEC_a_00023">gained financial assistance</a>. This assistance, as scholar <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=8khoUBcAAAAJ&hl=en">Thomas Hegghammer</a> writes, came mainly through American aid dollars meant for Pakistan and money from Saudi Arabia. </p>
<p>Saudi leaders, in fact, used the <a href="https://www.rienner.com/title/Religion_and_Politics_in_Saudi_Arabia_Wahhabism_and_the_State">influence of their money to push their own interpretation of Islam – Wahhabism – at the Deobandi madrassas</a>. Wahhabism is a deeply conservative form of Islam that believes in a literal interpretation of the Quran. At this point, <a href="https://theprint.in/india/were-indians-first-taliban-view-of-islam-not-ours-say-deoband-islamic-scholars-locals/720283/">the Deobandi madrassas moved far away from their religious roots</a>. </p>
<h2>Ties of kinship</h2>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/417659/original/file-20210824-19623-4n9fr5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Afghans refugees line up for food disbursement at a camp in Pakistan in 2001." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/417659/original/file-20210824-19623-4n9fr5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/417659/original/file-20210824-19623-4n9fr5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417659/original/file-20210824-19623-4n9fr5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417659/original/file-20210824-19623-4n9fr5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417659/original/file-20210824-19623-4n9fr5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417659/original/file-20210824-19623-4n9fr5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417659/original/file-20210824-19623-4n9fr5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Afghans have fled upheaval in their country for more than 40 years, often landing in refugee camps in Pakistan.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/afghan-refugees-line-up-for-cooking-oil-during-a-food-news-photo/1171969?adppopup=true">Chris Hondros/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Following the Soviet invasion in Afghanistan in 1979, <a href="https://media.nationalgeographic.org/assets/file/afghan_MIG.pdf">millions of Afghan refugees, in several waves</a>, took shelter in Pakistan, especially in its Pashtun belt. </p>
<p>Keen on obtaining a strategic toehold in Afghanistan, Pakistan <a href="https://www.usip.org/sites/default/files/2021-08/pw_175-afghanistan_pakistan_ties_and_future_stability_in_afghanistan.pdf">actively recruited young men in refugee camps</a>, imbuing them further with religious zeal to <a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300163681/taliban">fight the Soviets</a>. </p>
<p>Driven out of their homes in Afghanistan, the dispossessed young Afghans thrived in the refugee camps, in part due to ties of ethnicity as Pashtuns. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316226803.010">Drawn to a religiously based offensive against what they deemed to be an infidel</a>, or foreign occupier, they became ready recruits to the anti-Soviet cause.</p>
<p>Many of the Taliban’s key leaders and fighters, including <a href="https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230106581_6">Mullah Omar, the founder of the organization</a>, had studied in the Deobandi seminaries in both Afghanistan and Pakistan. </p>
<h2>After the civil war</h2>
<p>After the Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan in 1989, the fighters <a href="https://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/afghan2/Afghan0701-02.htm">continued to enjoy the support of Pakistan’s security establishment</a> and private actors for financial assistance.</p>
<p>When Afghanistan plunged into a civil war in 1992, various factions of the anti-Soviet resistance vied for power. Among them was the Northern Alliance, a group that India and Russia had backed and was under the <a href="https://doi.org/10.2968/057006004">leadership of an ethnic Tajik, Ahmed Shah Massoud</a>, who resisted the Taliban and acquired an almost mythic status.</p>
<p>However, as scholar <a href="https://www.carlisle.army.mil/kmn/curriculumVitae/287993_CurriculumVitae.pdf">Larry P. Goodson</a> writes, with the crucial and substantial assistance of Pakistan’s security establishment, <a href="https://uwapress.uw.edu/book/9780295980508/afghanistans-endless-war/">the Taliban emerged victorious and seized power in 1996</a>. </p>
<p>Once in power, they imposed their distinctive brand of Islam on the country – far removed from its religious roots in colonial India. </p>
<p>[<em>3 media outlets, 1 religion newsletter.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/this-week-in-religion-76/?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=religion-3-in-1">Get stories from The Conversation, AP and RNS.</a>]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/166323/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Deobandi Islam, the religious school that the Taliban draw their ideology from, was set up in 19th century India to educate Muslim youth.Sohel Rana, PhD Student, Indiana UniversitySumit Ganguly, Distinguished Professor of Political Science and the Tagore Chair in Indian Cultures and Civilizations, Indiana UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1646722021-08-24T12:17:24Z2021-08-24T12:17:24ZIndia and Pakistan fought 3 wars over Kashmir - here’s why international law falls short to solve this territorial dispute<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415876/original/file-20210812-15866-en4zio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C8%2C5303%2C3386&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The scene in Srinagar, in Indian-administered Kashmir, after an Aug. 10, 2021, grenade attack by militants that wounded at least nine civilians. Kashmir has experienced sporadic violence for more than seven decades, including three wars.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/indian-government-forces-are-seen-through-a-broken-glass-of-news-photo/1234603051?adppopup=true">Yawar Nazir/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>An armed conflict in Kashmir has thwarted all attempts to solve it for three quarters of a century. </p>
<p>Kashmir, an 85,806-square-mile valley between the snowcapped Himalaya and Karakoram mountain ranges, is a contested region between India, Pakistan and China. Both India and Pakistan lay claim to all of Kashmir, but each administers only part of it.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415904/original/file-20210812-14-hduc4a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Map of Kashmir." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415904/original/file-20210812-14-hduc4a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415904/original/file-20210812-14-hduc4a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=689&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415904/original/file-20210812-14-hduc4a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=689&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415904/original/file-20210812-14-hduc4a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=689&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415904/original/file-20210812-14-hduc4a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=866&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415904/original/file-20210812-14-hduc4a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=866&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415904/original/file-20210812-14-hduc4a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=866&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Map of Kashmir.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/84/Kashmir_map_big.jpg">Central Intelligence Agency, Washington, 2002, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>During the British rule of India, <a href="https://thediplomat.com/2020/08/kashmir-and-the-forgotten-history-of-indias-princely-states/">Kashmir was a feudal state with its own regional ruler</a>. In 1947, the Kashmiri ruler, Maharaja Hari Singh, agreed that his kingdom would join India under certain conditions. Kashmir would retain political and economic sovereignty, while its defense and external affairs would be dealt with by India.</p>
<p>But Pakistan, newly created by the British, <a href="https://history.state.gov/milestones/1961-1968/india-pakistan-war">laid claim to a majority-Muslim part of Kashmir along its border</a>. India and Pakistan fought <a href="https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/conflict-between-india-and-pakistan">the first of three major wars</a> over Kashmir in 1947. It resulted in the creation of a United Nations-brokered “<a href="https://unmogip.unmissions.org/background">ceasefire line</a>” that <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/BL-263B-8246">divided Indian and Pakistani</a> territory. The line went right through Kashmir. </p>
<p>Despite the establishment of that border, presently known as the “Line of Control,” two more wars over Kashmir followed, in 1965 and 1999. An estimated <a href="https://uca.edu/politicalscience/dadm-project/asiapacific-region/indiakashmir-1947-present/">20,000</a> people died in these three wars.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/international_law">International law</a>, a set of rules and regulations created after World War II to govern all the world’s nation-states, is supposed to resolve <a href="https://scholarship.law.duke.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1227&context=dlj">territorial disputes</a> like Kashmir. Such disputes are mainly dealt with by the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0962629895001115">International Court of Justice</a>, a United Nations tribunal that rules on contested borders and war crimes. </p>
<p>Yet international law has repeatedly failed to resolve the Kashmir conflict, as my <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=Tpv9XxcAAAAJ">research on Kashmir and international law</a> shows.</p>
<h2>International law fails in Kashmir</h2>
<p>The U.N. has made many failed attempts to restore dialogue after fighting between India and Pakistan over Kashmir, which today is home to a diverse population of <a href="https://www.populationu.com/in/jammu-and-kashmir-population">13.7 million</a> Muslims, Hindus and people of other faiths.</p>
<p>In 1949, the U.N. sent a <a href="https://peacekeeping.un.org/en/mission/unmogip">peacekeeping mission to both countries</a>. U.N. peace missions were not as robust as its peacekeeping operations are today, and international troops proved unable to protect the sanctity of the borders between India and Pakistan.</p>
<p>In 1958, the <a href="http://web.stanford.edu/group/tomzgroup/pmwiki/uploads/2626-1952-10-K-a-AJG.pdf">Graham Commission</a>, led by a U.N.-designated mediator, Frank Graham, recommended to the U.N. Security Council that India and Pakistan agree to demilitarize in Kashmir and hold a referendum to decide the status of the territory. </p>
<p>India rejected that plan, and both India and Pakistan disagreed on how many troops would remain along their border in Kashmir if they did demilitarize. Another war broke out in 1965. </p>
<p>In 1999, India and Pakistan <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/defence/all-you-need-to-know-about-kargil-war/kargil-vijay-diwas/slideshow/59772216.cms">battled along the Line of Control in the Kargil district of Kashmir</a>, leading the United States to intervene diplomatically, <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2019/07/24/how-the-1999-kargil-conflict-redefined-us-india-ties/">siding with India</a>.</p>
<p>Since then, <a href="https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R45877">official U.S. policy</a> has been to prevent further escalation in the dispute. The U.S. government has offered several times to facilitate a <a href="https://www.american.edu/sis/faculty/upload/wanis-third-party-mediation-over-kashmir.pdf">mediation process over the contested territory</a>. </p>
<p>The latest U.S. president to make that offer was <a href="https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/india/2019-07-30/united-states-cant-solve-kashmir-dispute">Donald Trump</a> after <a href="https://theconversation.com/kashmir-conflict-is-not-just-a-border-dispute-between-india-and-pakistan-112824">conflict erupted in Kashmir in 2019</a>. The effort went nowhere. </p>
<h2>Why international law falls short</h2>
<p>Why is the Kashmir conflict too politically difficult for a internationally brokered compromise? </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414025/original/file-20210731-17-3305gi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Newspaper clipping from the Hindustani Times with headline 'KASHMIR ACCEDES TO INDIA'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414025/original/file-20210731-17-3305gi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414025/original/file-20210731-17-3305gi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414025/original/file-20210731-17-3305gi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414025/original/file-20210731-17-3305gi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414025/original/file-20210731-17-3305gi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414025/original/file-20210731-17-3305gi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414025/original/file-20210731-17-3305gi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The maharaja of Kashmir agreed to join India in 1947.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For one, India and Pakistan don’t even agree on whether international law applies in Kashmir. While Pakistan considers the Kashmir conflict an international dispute, India says it is a “<a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/kashmir-a-bilateral-issue-india-tells-us-after-trump-offers-help-1639126-2020-01-22">bilateral issue</a>” and an “internal matter.” </p>
<p>India’s stance narrows the purview of international law. For example, regional organizations like the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation cannot intervene on the Kashmir issue – by convening a regional dialogue, for example – because <a href="http://www.covid19-sdmc.org/sites/default/files/charter.pdf">its charter</a> prohibits involvement in “bilateral and contentious issues.”</p>
<p>But India’s claim that Kashmir is Indian territory is hotly debated. </p>
<p>In 2019, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-49234708">the Indian government abolished</a> the <a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5c06adb33c3a53e7dfe35baa/t/5e53eb9f1408117e3ba815ef/1582558112461/Mariya+SC+Kashmir.pdf">1954 law that gave Kashmir autonomous status</a> and militarily occupied the territory. At least <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/7/9/india-soldiers-kashmir-burhan-wani-anniversary">500,000 Indian troops</a> are in Kashmir today.</p>
<p>Pakistan’s government denounced the move as “<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/05/article-370-what-is-happening-in-kashmir-india-revokes-special-status.html">illegal</a>,” and many Kashmiris on both sides of the Line of Control say India violated its 1947 accession deal with Maharaja Singh. </p>
<p>The U.N. still officially considers Kashmir a <a href="https://www.aa.com.tr/en/analysis/kashmir-and-the-un-security-council/1971039">disputed area</a>. But India has held firm that Kashmir is part of India, under central government control, worsening already bad relations between India and Pakistan.</p>
<h2>Military coups and terror</h2>
<p>Another obstacle to peace between the two nations: Pakistan’s military. </p>
<p>In 1953, Indian Prime Minister <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/columns/did-jawaharlal-nehru-mishandle-kashmir/story-Vvo1NBt6ZMbFT86wJ1dINP.html">Jawaharlal Nehru</a> and Pakistani Prime Minister Mohammad Ali Bogra agreed in principle to resolve the Kashmir problem through a U.N. mediation or with an International Court of Justice proceeding. </p>
<p>That never happened, because the Pakistani military overthrew Ali Bogra <a href="https://theprint.in/india/governance/as-pakistan-votes-today-theres-hope-that-finally-a-pm-will-complete-a-full-term/87962/">in 1955</a>.</p>
<p>Several more Pakistani military regimes have interrupted Pakistani democracy since then. India believes these non-democratic regimes lack credibility to negotiate with it. And, generally, Pakistan’s military governments have preferred the battlefield over political dialogue. </p>
<p>Terrorism is another critical factor making the Kashmir situation more complex. Several radical Islamist groups, including Lashkar-e-Toiba and <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-47249982">Jaish-e-Mohammed</a>, operate in Kashmir, based primarily on the Pakistani side. </p>
<p>Since the late 1980s the terrorist groups have conducted targeted strikes and attacks on <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2016/09/18/asia/india-kashmir-attack/index.html">Indian government and military facilities</a>, leading the Indian military to <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/defence/army-conducted-surgical-strikes-on-terror-launch-pads-on-loc-significant-casualties-caused-dgmo/articleshow/54579855.cms?from=mdr">retaliate in Pakistani territory</a>. Pakistan then alleges that India has <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/12/14/india-pakistan-repeat-war-of-words-over-cross-border">breached the borderline</a>, defying international treaties like the <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/its-time-for-india-and-pakistan-to-walk-the-talk/article28739436.ece">1972 Simla Agreement</a> to conduct its anti-terror attacks. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Soldiers stand in a military truck with big mountains in the background" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415899/original/file-20210812-18-a5vp1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415899/original/file-20210812-18-a5vp1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415899/original/file-20210812-18-a5vp1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415899/original/file-20210812-18-a5vp1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415899/original/file-20210812-18-a5vp1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415899/original/file-20210812-18-a5vp1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415899/original/file-20210812-18-a5vp1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">India has increased its military presence in Kashmir to at least 500,000 troops.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/indian-army-convoy-carrying-reinforcement-and-supplies-news-photo/1228312306?adppopup=true">Yawar Nazir/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Intractable struggles</h2>
<p>In many cases, treaties and international court decisions <a href="https://www.asil.org/insights/volume/1/issue/1/enforcing-international-law">cannot be enforced</a>. There is no international police force to help implement international law. </p>
<p>If a country ignores an International Court of Justice ruling, the other party in that court case may have recourse to the Security Council, which can pressure or even <a href="https://www.un.org/en/our-work/uphold-international-law">sanction a nation to comply with international law</a>. </p>
<p>But that rarely happens, as such resolution processes are highly political and any permanent Security Council member can veto them. </p>
<p>And when conflicting parties are more inclined to view a conflict through the lens of domestic law – as India views Kashmir and Israel views the Palestinian territories – they can argue that international law simply does not apply. </p>
<p>[<em>Over 100,000 readers rely on The Conversation’s newsletter to understand the world.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=100Ksignup">Sign up today</a>.]</p>
<p>Kashmir is not the only contested territory where international law has failed. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/can-the-world-stop-israel-and-hamas-from-committing-war-crimes-7-questions-answered-about-international-law-155105">Israeli-Palestinian conflict</a> over the Gaza and West Bank territories is another example. For decades, both the U.N. and the United States have repeatedly and unsuccessfully intervened there in an effort <a href="https://theconversation.com/apartheid-claim-israel-and-the-verdict-of-international-law-160069">to establish mutually acceptable borderlines</a> and bring peace. </p>
<p>International law has grown and strengthened since its creation in the 1940s, but there are still many problems it cannot solve.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/164672/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bulbul Ahmed does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Kashmir has been in conflict since 1947, despite repeated UN and US interventions. An expert in security studies explains why international law has failed to keep the peace.Bulbul Ahmed, Assistant Professor, Department of International Relations, Faculty of Security and Strategic Studies, Bangladesh University of ProfessionalsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1458562020-09-10T06:54:14Z2020-09-10T06:54:14ZShots fired in the Himalayas: a dangerous development in the China-India border standoff<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357352/original/file-20200910-18-k8vclp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mukhtar Khan/AP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the midst of all the stories about China’s oppression in <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-48607723">Hong Kong</a> and <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-26414014">Xinjiang</a> and its <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-09-08/bill-birtles-mike-smith-evacuated-china-safety-concerns/12638786">expulsion of foreign journalists</a>, a recent clash on its border with India may pose the greater threat to Asian security. </p>
<p>For the first time in 45 years, shots were fired this week. </p>
<h2>Confrontation on the roof of the world</h2>
<p>During the evening of September 7, Chinese and Indian troops <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-09-08/china-and-india-disputed-ladakh-border-tensions-increase/12642608">confronted each other</a> along their undefined, de facto border, known as the “<a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/line-of-actual-control-where-it-is-located-and-where-india-and-china-differ-6436436/">Line of Actual Control</a>” (LAC). </p>
<p>This in itself was not unusual. The two sides have been locked in several tense standoffs along the LAC <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-07-10/high-stakes-in-china-india-himalayan-border-hotspot/12417248?nw=0">since May</a>. </p>
<p>What makes this confrontation stand out is it involved the first known use of firearms on the border in almost half a century. </p>
<h2>What happened?</h2>
<p>China and India have accused each other of provoking this confrontation, which occurred in the <a href="https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/nation/indian-chinese-army-commanders-meet-use-hotline-to-cool-tensions-in-ladakh-138822">Rezang-La heights area</a>, just south of Pangong Lake. </p>
<p>According to Indian <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/chinese-troops-carried-rods-spears-and-clubs-in-aggressive-approach-towards-indian-post-say-govt-sources/article32554308.ece">reports</a>, there were between 30 and 40 Chinese troops involved. <a href="https://theprint.in/defence/this-is-what-led-china-to-open-fire-in-ladakh-on-monday-for-the-first-time-in-45-years/498363/">Photographs</a> published in Indian media show Chinese soldiers armed with crude <a href="https://www.oneindia.com/india/why-do-the-chinese-use-medieval-weaponry-such-as-the-guandao-at-the-lac-3146251.html">Guandao-style</a> <a href="http://medieval.stormthecastle.com/armorypages/medieval-polearms.htm">polearms</a>, as well as standard issue rifles. </p>
<p>It is unclear how many Indian troops were involved or how they were equipped. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Pangong Lake near the India-China border" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357368/original/file-20200910-16-1bse4gw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357368/original/file-20200910-16-1bse4gw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357368/original/file-20200910-16-1bse4gw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357368/original/file-20200910-16-1bse4gw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357368/original/file-20200910-16-1bse4gw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357368/original/file-20200910-16-1bse4gw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357368/original/file-20200910-16-1bse4gw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Border tensions have been building for months between India and China.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Manish Swarup/AP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/xwfw_665399/s2510_665401/2511_665403/t1813183.shtml">China claims</a> Indian troops crossed the LAC and “blatantly fired shots” when Chinese border troops moved to deter them. India, has strenuously denied this, <a href="https://www.mea.gov.in/press-releases.htm?dtl/32946/Situation+in+Eastern+Ladakh">saying</a> Chinese soldiers crossed the LAC and were blocked by an Indian forward position, who they then tried to intimidate by firing “a few rounds in the air”. </p>
<p>No troops have been reported injured or killed. </p>
<p>Regardless of which side actually fired the shots, the tactic did not work. Both Chinese and Indian soldiers remain in a stand-off, <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/indian-and-chinese-troops-man-remote-border-outposts-just-hundreds-of-metres-apart/articleshow/78019468.cms">reportedly</a> only 200 metres apart. </p>
<h2>Unravelling rules of engagement</h2>
<p>This recent exchange represents a troubling escalation between the two countries.
It directly contravenes the rules and norms painstakingly established by China and India to govern behaviour on the border. </p>
<p>Negotiations on the disputed border have always been tough for China and India. The two sides took nearly <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/10.1525/as.2001.41.2.351.pdf?casa_token=hZGF7ooyaHgAAAAA:U7EOJoAM2UZedkMZ0s8somkYSsdLIkdHmN5GsqXW-yES0PjDexGrkg8gSmeF_BgP5LRoJjcZVKRl-UrKPFNRBWTTGHMgYIvwJBO53kVnIGwZgKYWlaUsbw">12 years</a> of tentative negotiations before signing their first treaty in 1993, in which they agreed to “<a href="https://peacemaker.un.org/sites/peacemaker.un.org/files/CN%20IN_930907_Agreement%20on%20India-China%20Border%20Areas.pdf">maintain peace and tranquillity</a>” along the LAC. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/in-kashmir-military-lockdown-and-pandemic-combined-are-one-giant-deadly-threat-142252">In Kashmir, military lockdown and pandemic combined are one giant deadly threat</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Subsequent agreements were reached after negotiations in <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/defence/chinese-action-violates-1993-1996-and-2013-border-agreements/articleshow/76405795.cms">1996, 2005 and 2013</a>. These govern military conduct on the border and <a href="http://www.mea.gov.in/Portal/LegalTreatiesDoc/CH05B0585.pdf">guidelines</a> for a diplomatic resolution. </p>
<p>The prohibition against the use of weapons along the LAC was first laid out in the <a href="https://peacemaker.un.org/chinaindiaconfidenceagreement96">1996</a> agreement.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Neither side shall open fire, cause bio-degradation, use hazardous chemicals, conduct blast operations or hunt with guns and explosives within two kilometres from the Line of Actual Control. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Until this week, China and India have upheld this agreement, even when previous border patrol confrontations became heated.</p>
<p>However, both sides have been pushing the limits of what the other will tolerate and have trying to exploit loopholes and technicalities for several years now. </p>
<p>Border confrontations have <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-07-10/high-stakes-in-china-india-himalayan-border-hotspot/12417248?nw=0">gradually escalated</a> from farcical shoving matches to fully-fledged brawls and <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/08/20/india-china-border-brawl-superpowers-throw-stones-tensions-heighten/">stone flinging</a>, which caused injuries in 2017. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/china-and-indias-deadly-himalayan-clash-is-a-big-test-for-modi-and-a-big-concern-for-the-world-140930">China and India's deadly Himalayan clash is a big test for Modi. And a big concern for the world</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>This year has seen both sides up the ante, with the introduction of makeshift clubs in a <a href="https://theconversation.com/china-and-indias-deadly-himalayan-clash-is-a-big-test-for-modi-and-a-big-concern-for-the-world-140930">lethal melee</a> at the Galwan Valley in June and China now seemingly equipping some border patrols with polearms. </p>
<p>Earlier this month, Indian media reported India was using new <a href="https://theprint.in/defence/indian-troops-are-using-new-rules-of-engagement-along-lac-to-counter-chinese-aggression/495543/">rules of engagement</a>. This change allows its border troops to use whatever means are available for “tactical signalling” against the Chinese. </p>
<h2>A dangerous deadlock</h2>
<p>As two of the world’s largest militaries - and two nuclear-armed countries - even a limited border war between China and India would be devastating for regional peace and stability. It would likely ruin what little cooperation there is left and potentially pull in third parties, such as Pakistan or the United States.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Indian leader Narendra Modi points finger during conversation with China's Xi Jinping." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357362/original/file-20200910-16-thuy7r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357362/original/file-20200910-16-thuy7r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357362/original/file-20200910-16-thuy7r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357362/original/file-20200910-16-thuy7r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357362/original/file-20200910-16-thuy7r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357362/original/file-20200910-16-thuy7r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357362/original/file-20200910-16-thuy7r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">War between India and China would be devastating.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Manish Swarup/AP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It is clear from the flurry of <a href="https://theprint.in/defence/india-china-work-on-date-for-next-round-of-talks-as-cds-rawat-explores-military-options/488148/">diplomatic activity</a> between China and India over the past months that they feel the gravity of their situation. </p>
<p>But despite both sides proclaiming they seek a peaceful resolution to the ongoing standoffs, a culture of mistrust continues to poison <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/indian-chinese-defence-ministers-meet-amid-border-tensions-20200905-p55soj.html">discussions</a>.</p>
<p>China and India’s foreign ministers are <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/india/preparing-for-moscow-delhi-beijing-work-hotlines-to-dial-down-tensions-6588655/">scheduled</a> to meet in Moscow on Thursday to discuss the border standoff in person for the first time since the crisis began.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/chinas-leaders-are-strong-and-emboldened-its-wrong-to-see-them-as-weak-and-insecure-143830">China's leaders are strong and emboldened. It's wrong to see them as weak and insecure</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Both countries will now need to engage in some masterful and innovative diplomatic work to find a way to rejuvenate their diplomacy. </p>
<p>And find a mutually face-saving way to disengage before the standoff escalates out of control.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/145856/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephen Peter Westcott does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A confrontation on the India-China border this week saw shots fired for the first time in 45 years.Stephen Peter Westcott, Post-doc research fellow, Murdoch UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1426962020-07-29T11:05:07Z2020-07-29T11:05:07ZKashmir: new domicile rules spark fresh anger a year after India removed region’s special status<p>One year since Narendra Modi’s government scrapped the special status that Kashmir had held for decades, Kashmiris remain deeply concerned about their future. In late March, while India was under a coronavirus lockdown, the government of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/domicile-rules-for-jk/article31660363.ece">redefined domicile rules</a> for Kashmir. This made it easier for non-Kashmiris to obtain permanent residency and jobs in the region.</p>
<p>Reports in June suggested <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/06/kashmir-muslims-fear-demographic-shift-thousands-residency-200627103940283.html">25,000 people</a> had already been granted domicile certificates under the new rules. These people now have the ability to apply for jobs, buy land, vote and own property in Kashmir. </p>
<p>Since <a href="https://apdpkashmir.com/120-days-5th-august-to-5th-december-a-report-by-apdp/">August 2019</a>, the Indian government has clamped down on life in Kashmir by imposing curfews and limiting communications. The extension of a de-facto state of emergency in Kashmir has <a href="https://thewire.in/rights/jammu-and-kashmir-lockdown-human-rights-violations">resulted in</a> the harassment of journalists, additional military checkpoints, a surge in search operations and increased reports of detention and torture under the draconian <a href="https://search.proquest.com/openview/6c0deee4b169dc77bd76d4b8fc35d4dd/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=54734">Public Safety Act</a>. A coronavirus lockdown has <a href="https://theconversation.com/in-kashmir-military-lockdown-and-pandemic-combined-are-one-giant-deadly-threat-142252">added further restrictions</a> on movement. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/kashmiris-are-living-a-long-nightmare-of-indian-colonialism-121925">Kashmiris are living a long nightmare of Indian colonialism</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>New access for non-Kashmiris</h2>
<p>Until August 2019, <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=6PQtDwAAQBAJ&dq=Article+370&lr=&source=gbs_navlinks_s">Article 370</a> and Article 35A of India’s constitution protected Kashmir’s right to self-determination and provided the state with its own autonomy and legislature. Having the ability to define its permanent residents prevented non-Kashmiris from applying for jobs or scholarships in the region, and from buying land. This meant that indigenous Kashmiris had certain benefits and <a href="http://pu.edu.pk/images/journal/studies/PDF-FILES/Article-1_v18_1_jun17.pdf">privileges</a> as permanent residents.</p>
<p>A domicile certificate has become mandatory for education, employment and housing in Kashmir – whereas before, Kashmiris only needed a permanent residence certificate (PRC).</p>
<p>However, India redefined domicile via the <a href="https://pib.gov.in/PressReleaseIframePage.aspx?PRID=1609804">Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Order (2020)</a>. Under the new law, non-Kashmiris and their children are now <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/04/flooding-india-introduces-kashmir-domicile-law-200401100651450.html">eligible</a> for domicile if they have served as government officials in the region, or worked in the public sector, including banks and universities for a period of 10 years. They can also claim Kashmir as their place of domicile if they have lived in the region for 15 years, or have studied for seven years in educational institutions located in Kashmir and have taken their exams there. Non-Kashmiri eligibility also covers members of the <a href="https://joshuaproject.net/people_groups/16399/IN">Valmiki</a> community, a lower-caste Hindu community who were promised a PRC in 1957, and refugees from West Pakistan who are registered as migrants under the Relief and Rehabilitation Commission.</p>
<h2>Different sets of rules</h2>
<p>Kashmiris who want to prove they are domiciled have to provide an affidavit and a PRC, which can be a lengthy procedure – especially under curfew. The new rules have put pressure on permanent residents to obtain a new domicile certificate now that a PRC is no longer sufficient to access education, employment or buy property.</p>
<p>But to achieve domicile status and prove their eligibility, non-Kashmiris now only have to provide either a ration card, educational records, or an employer certificate, all of which can be obtained with relative ease. There are few checks and balances for non-Kashmiris, who can now be granted a domicile certificate by a <em>tehsildar</em> <a href="https://thekashmirwalla.com/2020/05/jammu-and-kashmir-domicile-law-meaning-and-ramifications/">(junior bureaucrat)</a>. Tehsildars can be <a href="https://thewire.in/law/kashmir-domicile-certificate-rules">fined</a> if they don’t issue certificates within 15 days. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>Listen to an <a href="https://theconversation.com/india-tomorrow-part-3-kashmir-115733">episode on the history of Kashmir</a> from The Conversation’s 2019 India Tomorrow series on The Anthill Podcast.</em> </p>
<hr>
<h2>Rising tensions</h2>
<p>The new domicile law met with mixed reaction from <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/centres-amendments-to-jk-domicile-laws-draws-flak-from-local-parties/article31259695.ece">Kashmir’s political parties</a>. While the BJP claimed that the new law was part of its efforts to secure jobs in Kashmir, it actually acts against the interests of unemployed youth in Kashmir. Indian citizens who obtain domicile in Kashmir will now be able to <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/kashmir-gets-a-new-domicile-law-sets-off-a-political-firestorm-10-facts/story-QVFG9AzUVfVV2n4dBjY3YP.html">apply for jobs</a> that have previously been reserved for permanent Kashmiri residents.</p>
<p>I’ve been speaking with local Kashmiris as part of my own ongoing PhD research on the changing nature of conflict in Kashmir. My interviewees believe that the new laws are a method of converting a Muslim majority region into a Hindu majority region by encouraging Hindus from mainland India to move to Kashmir. </p>
<p>One told me this will have “grave implications” for Kashmir if widespread demographic change occurs. He was concerned that if Kashmir ever has the referendum on self-determination it was <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08865655.2016.1174607">promised</a> back in 1947, Kashmir will sway towards India because it will have a Hindu majority. Others said the change was completely unconstitutional, would incite systematic exclusion of Kashmiri Muslims, and encourage further human rights abuses because it disregards the rights of indigenous Kashmiris who had no say in the rule change. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/india-a-year-after-narendra-modis-re-election-the-countrys-democracy-is-developing-fascistic-undertones-135604">India: a year after Narendra Modi's re-election the country's democracy is developing fascistic undertones</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>An uncertain future</h2>
<p>The timing of India’s decision was strategic. <a href="https://discoversociety.org/2020/03/30/is-covid-19-worsening-the-already-fraught-situation-in-kashmir/">COVID-19</a> has acted as the perfect smokescreen to divert attention away from the human rights situation in Kashmir. Due to the lockdown rules and repressive measures imposed to combat the pandemic, Kashmiris cannot voice their dissent with the new law. </p>
<p>Unless Kashmiris are given the right to self-determination and the ability to vote on such new laws, India will continue to have full autonomy over Kashmir’s indigenous population and will achieve its goal of creating a “<a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/people-of-jammu-and-kashmir-will-not-face-difficulties-in-celebrating-eid-says-pm-modi-1578925-2019-08-09">Naya</a>” – new – Kashmir, which was part of Modi’s election manifesto and is part of the wider BJP Hindu nationalist agenda. This is the start of a very dark chapter for Kashmir indeed.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/142696/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Leoni Connah does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Non-Kashmiris can now apply for domicile in the region, giving them access to jobs and property that were previoulsy reserved for Kashmiris.Leoni Connah, PhD Candidate in International Relations, Lancaster UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1422522020-07-20T11:11:14Z2020-07-20T11:11:14ZIn Kashmir, military lockdown and pandemic combined are one giant deadly threat<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/348167/original/file-20200717-15-jlepei.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C9%2C3284%2C2176&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Kashmiri commuters at an Indian military checkpoint in the city of Srinagar, July 17, 2020. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/an-indian-paramilitary-trooper-speaks-with-commuters-after-news-photo/1227662789?adppopup=true">Tauseef Mustafa/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>COVID-19 is taking a terrible toll worldwide. But in the Himalayan territory of Kashmir, it’s only the latest indignity in a 73-year cycle of oppression, militarization and scarcity.</p>
<p>At least, that’s what the minimal news from Kashmir indicates. The Indian part of Kashmir – which shares volatile borders with Pakistan and China – has been an information black hole since August 2019, when the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi <a href="https://caravanmagazine.in/commentary/losing-territorial-sovereignty-poses-existential-threat-to-kashmiris">stripped the region of its autonomous status</a> and split it in two territories to be directly governed by India.</p>
<p>To enforce this radical change, a military lockdown was imposed, which saw Indian soldiers using <a href="https://scroll.in/article/894739/breaking-peoples-will-in-kashmir-gunfights-leave-a-trail-of-destroyed-homes-and-rising-anger">brutal and indiscriminate violence</a>. As a result, Kashmiris had already been confined to their homes, fearful and isolated, for months before the coronavirus pandemic began ravaging India.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346945/original/file-20200711-189220-zdobwv.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=17%2C0%2C5973%2C3988&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Kashmiri man wearing face mask with soldiers in the background" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346945/original/file-20200711-189220-zdobwv.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=17%2C0%2C5973%2C3988&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346945/original/file-20200711-189220-zdobwv.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346945/original/file-20200711-189220-zdobwv.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346945/original/file-20200711-189220-zdobwv.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346945/original/file-20200711-189220-zdobwv.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346945/original/file-20200711-189220-zdobwv.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346945/original/file-20200711-189220-zdobwv.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Pandemic life in Kashmir.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sanna Irshad Matoo</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Occupied territories</h2>
<p>In my <a href="https://www.umass.edu/communication/node/2007">academic research</a>, I study how militarization impacts the social, political and cultural fabric of human life. I grew up in Kashmir valley, one of more than <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-4453666/The-world-war-Interactive-map-reveals-conflicts.html">40 territorial conflict zones in the world</a>. </p>
<p>From <a href="https://theconversation.com/morocco-and-western-sahara-a-decades-long-war-of-attrition-122084">Western Sahara</a> to <a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/11/20/18079996/israel-palestine-conflict-guide-explainer">Palestine</a>, residents in these places endure a traumatizing array of human rights violations. These include <a href="http://voiceofwitness.org/oral-history-book-series/palestine-speaks-voices-from-the-west-bank-and-gaza/">arbitrary arrests</a>, harassment by security forces, extrajudicial killings and disappearances. So-called “collective punishments,” such as the destruction of <a href="https://www.ochaopt.org/theme/destruction-of-property">homes</a> and <a href="https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-palestinians-report-hundreds-of-olive-trees-destroyed-in-west-bank-overnight-1.7490991">farmland</a>, and restricted access to <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2017/11/the-occupation-of-water/">water and other resources</a>, are also common. </p>
<p>Kashmir – home to about 8 million Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists and Christians – became a contested territory in 1947, when India and Pakistan became two separate nations after almost 200 years of British rule. Its king <a href="http://jklaw.nic.in/instrument_of_accession_of_jammu_and_kashmir_state.pdf">agreed to join India</a> on certain conditions, including maintaining its autonomy. </p>
<p>Kashmir’s accession to India triggered <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/history/south-asian-history/kashmir-history-politics-representation?format=PB#K7iOgJparKKAsCkw.97">three major wars</a> with Pakistan, turning generations of Kashmiris into casualties of war. </p>
<p>Today <a href="https://www.hurstpublishers.com/book/understanding-kashmir-and-kashmiris/">Pakistan owns about one-third of Kashmir</a>, and the part of Kashmir under Indian rule is the <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/06/indian-forces-kill-armed-fighters-kashmir-main-city-200621105914410.html">most militarized place on Earth</a>. With 500,000 troops deployed there, there is one soldier for every 30 civilians, according to the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/tarm20/current">2020 Armed Conflict Survey</a>. That’s a higher <a href="https://kashmirsolidarity.wordpress.com/tag/highest-military-to-civilian-ratio-in-kashmir-70-1000/">soldier-civilian ratio than wartime Afghanistan</a>.</p>
<p>Most Kashmiris <a href="http://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/15810.html">view India as an occupying power</a> and, according to a 2010 poll by the think tank Chatham House, a majority <a href="https://www.chathamhouse.org/sites/default/files/public/Research/Asia/0510pp_kashmir.pdf">favor independence</a>. The ongoing Indian occupation and thus the desire for freedom has contributed to the rise of some <a href="https://thediplomat.com/2020/05/india-killed-kashmirs-top-militant-commander-what-now/">militant insurgencies</a> in Kashmir. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/348041/original/file-20200716-33-1gjzc7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Barricades and a soldier on a Kashmir street" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/348041/original/file-20200716-33-1gjzc7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/348041/original/file-20200716-33-1gjzc7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348041/original/file-20200716-33-1gjzc7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348041/original/file-20200716-33-1gjzc7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348041/original/file-20200716-33-1gjzc7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348041/original/file-20200716-33-1gjzc7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348041/original/file-20200716-33-1gjzc7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A military checkpoint in Kashmir during the pandemic.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/paramilitary-trooper-stands-alert-at-a-check-point-during-news-photo/1207995592?adppopup=true">Saqib Bhat/Barcroft Media via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Removal of autonomy</h2>
<p>Until recently Kashmir did, however, enjoy <a href="https://scroll.in/article/933146/does-the-scrapping-of-jammu-and-kashmirs-special-status-violate-the-terms-of-accession-to-india">substantial political and economic autonomy</a>. The Indian government had limited powers to make law there, and only Kashmiris could own property or hold government jobs. </p>
<p>As of August 2019, Indian citizens are now allowed to <a href="https://www.newsclick.in/Jammu-kashmir-new-contractors-begin-extraction-mineral-blocks-without-environmental-clearance">invest</a>, work and <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/thestream/2020/06/domicile-law-kashmir-200610143308394.html">live in</a> Kashmir, with some restrictions. </p>
<p>To suppress local opposition to Kashmir’s revoked autonomy, more soldiers were sent in. For seven months, people were forbidden from leaving their homes. All forms of communication, including the internet, phone lines and post offices, were suspended. <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/indian-troops-kill-kashmir-rebels-sparking-fresh-clashes-71127728">Deadly clashes</a> between troops and anti-India protesters erupted in the streets.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/348043/original/file-20200716-37-kd9nbc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Soldier with a shield faces off against angry civilians" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/348043/original/file-20200716-37-kd9nbc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/348043/original/file-20200716-37-kd9nbc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348043/original/file-20200716-37-kd9nbc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348043/original/file-20200716-37-kd9nbc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348043/original/file-20200716-37-kd9nbc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348043/original/file-20200716-37-kd9nbc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348043/original/file-20200716-37-kd9nbc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Soldiers confront Kashmiris during the August 2019 military crackdown.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Tauseef Mustafa/AFP via Getty Images</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/12/09/blood-and-soil-in-narendra-modis-india">A few intrepid local, Indian and foreign journalists</a> were able to surreptitiously report <a href="https://caravanmagazine.in/conflict/one-solution-gun-solution-gun-solution-kashmir-in-shock-and-anger">on conditions in Kashmir</a>, leading to international outcry. Eventually, in March 2020, pressure from rights organizations like Amnesty International and the Internet Freedom Foundation compelled India to <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/03/india-restores-internet-kashmir-7-months-blackout-200305053858356.html">restore partial internet service to Kashmir</a>.</p>
<p>Then came COVID-19.</p>
<h2>A new lockdown</h2>
<p>Kashmiris, only recently reconnected to the world, are now living under <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2020/04/photos-india-under-coronavirus-lockdown/610444/">a strict curfew</a> due to the pandemic. </p>
<p>According to news reports from the area, anyone who violates curfew – even those with valid passes allowing them to leave their homes – risks being detained by soldiers or police and possibly beaten. </p>
<p>[<em><a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=experts">Expertise in your inbox. Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter and get expert takes on today’s news, every day.</a></em>]</p>
<p>Even doctors, who’ve been celebrated as heroes elsewhere in the world, report <a href="https://www.firstpost.com/health/coronavirus-outbreak-doctors-beaten-up-power-dept-workers-harassed-as-jammu-and-kashmir-police-enforces-lockdown-not-allowed-to-buy-essentials-say-residents-8201191.html">being harassed</a> on their way to work in Kashmir, which already suffers an acute <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/03/die-cattle-kashmiris-fear-coronavirus-outbreak-200322151405218.html">lack of medical resources and staff</a>. </p>
<p>Limited access to information has also <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/04/13/slow-internet-speeding-spread-coronavirus-kashmir-india-lockdown/">obstructed Kashmir’s coronavirus fight</a>. The region uses <a href="https://thewire.in/rights/the-throttling-of-internet-speeds-in-kashmir-is-aimed-at-fighting-ideas-not-terrorism">2G internet</a>, an online connection so slow that it is nonexistent elsewhere in the world. Early in the pandemic, Kashmiri health care providers told the Indian news site The Wire it took them an hour to download <a href="https://thewire.in/rights/coronavirus-kashmir-slow-internet">international recommendations for COVID-19 patients in intensive care</a>. </p>
<p>And that’s when the internet is working: Indian authorities have cut online access in Kashmir <a href="https://jkccs.net/bi-annual-hr-review-229-killings-107-casos-55-internet-shutdowns-48-properties-destroyed/">55 times since it was restored in March 2020</a>, according the Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Societies, a local group that documents and litigates human rights abuses. This has delayed doctors’ ability to read emerging treatment guidelines and new research on the disease. </p>
<h2>Settler colonialism</h2>
<p>So far, though, soldiers appear to be more dangerous in Kashmir than COVID-19. As of June 30, more than <a href="https://jkccs.net/bi-annual-hr-review-229-killings-107-casos-55-internet-shutdowns-48-properties-destroyed/">229 people in Indian Kashmir have been killed by the military</a> over the past six months. The coronavirus has <a href="https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/j-k/over-4-lakh-people-tested-for-coronavirus-in-jk-so-far-109788">taken 141 lives</a>.</p>
<p>India continues to take possession of Kashmir despite being <a href="https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries">hit ever harder by the pandemic</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/06/kashmir-muslims-fear-demographic-shift-thousands-residency-200627103940283.html">Tens of thousands of Indians</a> have been granted residency in Kashmir since June 2020. Tourism has been <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/jammu-and-kashmir-to-open-for-tourists-from-july-14-in-phased-manner-guidelines-released/story-sbtmyE22ALdsm0M2706Y0N.html">opened for Indian visitors</a> as well, even though most of <a href="https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/j-k/jk-unlock-2-0-guidelines-issued-all-districts-in-kashmir-placed-in-red-zone-except-bandipora-108131">Kashmir remains on high COVID-19 alert</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/348044/original/file-20200716-33-18glqir.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Man and woman on motorcycle near a worker and a lake" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/348044/original/file-20200716-33-18glqir.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/348044/original/file-20200716-33-18glqir.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348044/original/file-20200716-33-18glqir.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348044/original/file-20200716-33-18glqir.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348044/original/file-20200716-33-18glqir.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348044/original/file-20200716-33-18glqir.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348044/original/file-20200716-33-18glqir.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Kashmir Valley is beautiful and fertile.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sanna Irshad Matoo</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>More soldiers keep arriving to Kashmir from across India, too, to maintain control over an increasingly restive local population. Since January, 107 “cordon and search operations” – violent raids of neighborhoods reported to house rebels – were <a href="https://jkccs.net/bi-annual-hr-review-229-killings-107-casos-55-internet-shutdowns-48-properties-destroyed/">executed in Kashmir</a>.</p>
<p>These operations, which include the ransacking of homes and the use of explosives, have reportedly left <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.in/entry/srinagar-encounter-kashmir-nawakadal-gunfight-coronavirus_in_5ec4c9fac5b62cbfaa2f1d90">hundreds of Kashmiris homeless during the pandemic</a>. Many other Kashmiris have been jailed for breaking curfew, doing journalism or opposing military orders. </p>
<p>All of this puts local people at unnecessary risk of contracting COVID-19, according to Stand With Kashmir, an <a href="https://www.standwithkashmir.org">advocacy organization of diaspora Kashmiris</a>. </p>
<p>In a recent statement, the group protested India for “systematically” denying the the “human rights, democratic rights, health care, education and access to information” of the Kashmiri people, allowing the virus to invade an “already fragile health system.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/142252/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ifat Gazia is affiliated with JKCCS and volunteers for Stand With Kashmir.</span></em></p>People in the disputed Indian territory of Kashmir had already been living under a 24-hour curfew for eight months when the coronavirus hit, bringing new depths of fear and confinement.Ifat Gazia, Doctoral Student in Communications and Film, UMass AmherstLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1356042020-05-22T14:41:43Z2020-05-22T14:41:43ZIndia: a year after Narendra Modi’s re-election the country’s democracy is developing fascistic undertones<p>As Narendra Modi and his supporters mark a year since his <a href="https://theconversation.com/india-election-how-narendra-modi-won-with-an-even-bigger-majority-117476">re-election as India’s prime minister</a> in May 2019, they can already point to achievements for his brand of Hindu nationalism. </p>
<p>In the past 12 months, India’s parliament, the Lok Sabha, has adopted a number of key laws delivering on the electoral promises made by Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). But their approach to governing has blended <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=QJYkCgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=japan+fascism&ots=dOq_pISW-Z&sig=FmOEmLxs_vMdwQziOfsj26a1098&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=japan%20fascism&f=false">key elements of fascism</a> – such as a controlled form of ultra-nationalism, authoritarian suppression of dissent, and an <a href="https://washingtonmonthly.com/2017/01/31/the-12-early-warning-signs-of-fascism/">intertwining of religion and government</a> – within a democratic framework. India’s responses to the unfolding COVID-19 crisis in the country threaten to consolidate this worrying tendency.</p>
<p>Modi has pronounced himself at the <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/im-your-pradhan-sewak-and-not-pradhan-mantri-modi/article6321514.ece">service of Indians</a> rather than declaring himself their supreme leader. The BJP has largely respected the popular mandate in key states, such as Jharkhand and Maharashtra, where it lost elections since regaining its national majority in May 2019. And yet India under Modi is proving that some elements of fascism can exist inside the shell of democracy – something also happening <a href="https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/coronavirus-fuels-fascist-politics-by-federico-finchelstein-and-jason-stanley-2020-05">elsewhere in the world</a> during the pandemic. </p>
<p>Modi’s commitment to the <a href="http://rss.org//Encyc/2012/10/22/rss-vision-and-mission.html">Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh</a> (RSS), which strives to organise society and ensure the protection of the Hindu Dharma, or way of life, is an important illustration of this entanglement of fascism and democracy. While such a commitment would likely prevent him from seizing absolute power in India, he does not shy away from styling himself as a <a href="https://www.news18.com/news/politics/i-am-a-hindu-nationalist-because-im-a-born-hindu-narendra-modi-623195.html">Hindu nationalist</a> and is pursuing blatantly Hindu <a href="https://theconversation.com/indias-prime-minister-modi-pursues-politics-of-hindu-nationalism-what-does-that-mean-117794">nationalist politics</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-are-the-origins-of-todays-hindu-nationalism-55092">Explainer: what are the origins of today's Hindu nationalism?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p><em>The Conversation’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/the-anthill-podcast-27460">The Anthill Podcast</a> ran a series in the lead up to the 2019 Indian elections called <a href="https://theconversation.com/india-tomorrow-a-podcast-series-from-the-anthill-episode-guide-114654">India Tomorrow</a>. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.</em> </p>
<iframe src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/playlist/0gn7sE1tlTXy063J0Eug5u" width="100%" height="450" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allow="encrypted-media"></iframe>
<p><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-anthill/id1114423002?mt=2"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321534/original/file-20200319-22606-q84y3k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=182&fit=crop&dpr=1" alt="Listen on Apple Podcasts" width="268" height="68"></a> <a href="https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly90aGVjb252ZXJzYXRpb24uY29tL3VrL3BvZGNhc3RzL3RoZS1hbnRoaWxsLnJzcw%3D%3D"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233720/original/file-20180827-75978-3mdxcf.png" alt="" width="268" height="68"></a> </p>
<hr>
<h2>Kashmir</h2>
<p>In August, barely three months after returning to power on the back of a landslide electoral win, <a href="https://theconversation.com/indias-colossal-blunder-in-kashmir-121657">Modi’s government abolished Article 370</a> of the Indian constitution, which guaranteed a semi-autonomous status for the northern state of Jammu and Kashmir. Politicians across the state, including supporters of its accession to India, were placed under house arrest, the internet was suspended and people were placed under a lockdown <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/covid-19-crisis-prolongs-kashmir-lockdown/a-53088317">that continues today</a>. </p>
<p>Even as critics <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/sc-commences-hearing-on-pleas-challenging-abrogation-of-article-370/articleshow/72454345.cms">challenged</a> the new law as unconstitutional, the nationalist overtones of the move promised to unite the country behind a single idea of India where there is no special dispensation for <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/we-are-now-onenation-with-one-constitution-says-pm-modi/story-O0UyBDxra42he8iXqWCG7I.html">different areas</a>. This found support not only from the BJP’s allies but also <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/many-opposition-leaders-defied-party-line-on-article-370/articleshow/70649502.cms?from=mdr">political parties</a> that had bitterly opposed the BJP during the 2019 elections. </p>
<h2>Violence and protest</h2>
<p>Riding on a wave of successful legislation with little resistance in parliament, the Modi government then appeared taken aback when faced with <a href="https://theconversation.com/indian-citizenship-has-now-been-reduced-to-us-versus-them-130422">widespread protests</a> against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) it rammed through parliament in December 2019. As the result of the CAA, and an accompanying National Register of Citizens, many of India’s 200 million Muslims could find themselves disenfranchised and stateless if they are not able to prove their citizenship. This religious filter goes <a href="http://www.chereum.umontreal.ca/activites_pdf/session%202/Barghava_Distinctiveness%20of%20Indian.pdf">against the principles of secularism in India</a>, enshrined in its constitution. </p>
<p>While several state governments protested against the imposition of the draconian law without broader public consultation, a <a href="https://www.outlookindia.com/newsscroll/62-people-across-india-support-caa-survey/1691305">poll in December</a> found many Indians were sympathetic to it. </p>
<p>Yet, recognising the threat posed by the CAA to the basic structure of the Indian constitution, millions of people across class, caste, religious and gender divides took to the streets in protest. At least <a href="https://scroll.in/article/955251/explainer-what-do-we-know-about-the-communal-violence-that-left-47-dead-in-delhi-in-february-2020">50 people were killed</a> in violence in Delhi in February, several hundreds injured and many thousands displaced. </p>
<h2>Coronavirus clampdown</h2>
<p>By March, the COVID-19 crisis exploded in India. Modi announced the world’s largest lockdown with four hours notice. The <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-52672764">worst hit</a> were the country’s estimated 140 million migrant workers, many of who lost their jobs and were evicted. Several million of them began journeying back to the villages they call home, often on foot since public transport was suspended. India’s opposition parties demonstrated their utter ineptitude by failing to mobilise to ensure dignity and justice for the millions of migrant labourers. </p>
<p>The stringent lockdown has provided <a href="https://scroll.in/article/961431/delhi-police-is-making-arbitrary-arrests-and-crushing-dissent-under-the-cloak-of-lockdown?fbclid=IwAR0c6-U90l_qj6jfzoBeB5j0-NKzOor0lAVJXlBpTUf0HUkNgwx5zzzU78s">convenient cover</a> for the BJP to <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/coronavirus-lockdown-delhi-police-vacate-protesters-at-shaheen-bagh/articleshow/74785253.cms?from=mdr">muzzle dissent</a>. As protestors wound up their campaigns in keeping with social distancing regulations, <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/coronavirus-lockdown-delhi-police-vacate-protesters-at-shaheen-bagh/articleshow/74785253.cms?from=mdr">police</a> in Delhi erased protest graffiti, presumably to remove any trace of the protests.As protestors wound up their campaigns in keeping with social distancing regulations, police in Delhi erased protest graffiti, presumably to remove any trace of the protests. </p>
<p>Dissidents are being rounded up and imprisoned under draconian colonial-era laws. The respected scholar-activist Anand Teltumbde <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/who-is-anand-teltumbde-and-why-was-he-arrested-recently/article26292219.ece">being one case in point</a>. Student-protestor <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/india/pregnant-jamia-student-in-jail-for-3-weeks-family-says-believe-in-judiciary-6395952/">Safoora Zargar another</a>. Although India’s thriving civil society protested vociferously, it has been effectively curtailed to online forums, thanks to social distancing regulations. </p>
<p>The fascistic democracy brewing in India today poses extraordinary challenges for political activists committed to defending and deepening democratic freedom. After all, the Indian government justifies its actions in the interests of the nation and its people, and continues to enjoy widespread <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/pm-modis-popularity-soars-as-india-weathers-covid-pandemic/articleshow/75797794.cms?from=mdr">support both at home</a> and <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/05/07/indias-liberal-expats-are-modis-biggest-fans/">among liberal expats</a> abroad. </p>
<p>What’s happening under Modi should raise questions about the limitations of democracy as a political system. Sometimes it can facilitate rather than protect against <a href="https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/europpblog/2014/09/05/why-democracy-doesnt-always-improve-human-rights/">violations of human rights</a> and the tyranny of the <a href="http://scholar.google.co.uk/scholar_url?url=https://repub.eur.nl/pub/30877/InauguralAddress2000Sep21MohamedSalih.pdf&hl=en&sa=X&scisig=AAGBfm3qBleFI4sPmDvCci4WGhiXw53j3A&nossl=1&oi=scholarr">majority</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/135604/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Indrajit Roy receives funding from United Kingdom Research Innovation (UKRI). He is Principal Investigator of the Citizenship futures project as well as the Fragmented transitions project. He is Associate Editor of Journal of South Asian Development, Member of the Interdisciplinary Global Development Centre at the University of York and Chair of the Development Politics Specialist Group of the UK Political Studies Association. </span></em></p>From Kashmir to a controversial citizenship bill and the supression of dissent, the first year of Narendra Modi’s second term has been busy.Indrajit Roy, Lecturer in Global Development Politics, University of YorkLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1376822020-05-07T14:41:32Z2020-05-07T14:41:32ZIndia uses coronavirus pandemic to exploit human rights in Kashmir<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/332413/original/file-20200504-83740-1nqxvp2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=181%2C60%2C5570%2C3750&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A Kashmiri Muslim man offers prayers on the banks of Dal Lake on the second day of Ramadan during lockdown in Srinagar, Indian occupied Kashmir, April 26, 2020. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The United Nations has called for an immediate global ceasefire to “<a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/03/1059972">put armed conflict in lockdown</a>” and focus on protecting the most vulnerable from the spread of COVID-19. Yet tragically, <a href="https://mg.co.za/article/2020-04-15-the-covid-19-pandemic-is-not-an-excuse-to-trample-on-human-rights">there are cases around the world where violations have occurred</a>.</p>
<p>Ongoing developments in Kashmir include a <a href="https://caravanmagazine.in/media/kashmir-fir-photojournalist-masrat-zahra-crackdown-coronavirus">crackdown on Kashmiri journalists</a>, <a href="https://jacobinmag.com/2020/04/kashmir-coronavirus-covid-india-lockdown-jammu">rising policing powers</a> and <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/coronavirus-kashmir-india-responds-more-violence">enhanced curfew measures</a>. These actions suggest that <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/04/30/india-is-using-pandemic-intensify-its-crackdown-kashmir">the Indian government may be exploiting the pandemic</a> to accelerate its settler-colonial ambitions in the disputed territory.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/332439/original/file-20200504-83721-oz21zx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/332439/original/file-20200504-83721-oz21zx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/332439/original/file-20200504-83721-oz21zx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/332439/original/file-20200504-83721-oz21zx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/332439/original/file-20200504-83721-oz21zx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/332439/original/file-20200504-83721-oz21zx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/332439/original/file-20200504-83721-oz21zx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Indian paramilitary soldiers guard at a closed market in Srinagar, Indian-occupied Kashmir, Aug. 21, 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For the past six years, I have <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-be-an-ally-with-kashmir-war-stories-from-the-kitchen-121801">worked as a researcher</a> along the Line of Control (LoC) — the de-facto border that divides Kashmir into India and Pakistan. I am also on the board of directors for the advocacy organization, <a href="http://cpjk.org/about">Canadians for Peace and Justice in Kashmir</a>. </p>
<p>Thousands of Kashmiris live within a 10-kilometre radius of the LoC, which is so heavily militarized that it is <a href="https://qz.com/india/516864/the-india-pakistan-border-is-so-closely-guarded-that-it-can-be-seen-from-space/">visible from space</a>.</p>
<p>Kashmiris are vulnerable to both the contagion and the violence of the ongoing conflict.</p>
<h2>War during a pandemic</h2>
<p>In April, <a href="https://thekashmirpress.com/2020/04/13/detailed-read-ammo-landed-60km-deep-inside-loc-in-kupwara-intense-shelling-after-1971-war-say-residents/">the Indian army set up artillery weapons</a> deep in Kashmiri villages, as far as 60 kilometres from bunkered areas, to launch long-distance fire on Pakistan-controlled Kashmir.</p>
<p>This encroachment is creating widespread panic and anxiety. Locals are <a href="https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/india-news-jks-kupwara-villages-caught-between-shelling-and-covid-red-zone/350723">protesting</a> the shifting of heavy artillery guns into their communities, fearing retaliatory fire from the Pakistani army.</p>
<p>It is an intentional strategy to station soldiers and artillery among communities to make it difficult for the Pakistani army to retaliate. The <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/india-accused-kashmir-human-shields-border-war-pakistan">blurring of civilian and military targets</a> amounts to a war crime.</p>
<p>The Indian army has used civilian populations as a human shield before. In 2017, footage emerged of a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/may/29/india-army-chief-kashmir-protests-man-tied-to-vehicle">Kashmiri man tied to a military vehicle</a> patrolling a Kashmiri town.</p>
<p>As Indian and Pakistani forces continue to exchange fire, widespread <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/04/30/india-is-using-pandemic-intensify-its-crackdown-kashmir/">loss of civilian life and property</a> is being reported on <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1548651/4-year-old-boy-killed-near-loc-from-indian-shelling-officials-say">both sides</a> of the LoC.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/331848/original/file-20200430-42913-1s82hyp.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/331848/original/file-20200430-42913-1s82hyp.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/331848/original/file-20200430-42913-1s82hyp.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331848/original/file-20200430-42913-1s82hyp.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331848/original/file-20200430-42913-1s82hyp.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331848/original/file-20200430-42913-1s82hyp.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331848/original/file-20200430-42913-1s82hyp.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331848/original/file-20200430-42913-1s82hyp.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An underground community bunker in Neelum valley, Pakistan-controlled Kashmir.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Nusrat Jamal)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>During the exchange of cross-border fire, families are forced to take shelter in community bunkers. These are small enclosed spaces that make social distancing practices impossible to follow.</p>
<p>Furthermore, people trying to escape their villages during bombardment are <a href="https://kashmirobserver.net/2020/04/13/why-on-our-bodies-homes-a-dispatch-from-kupwara/">prevented from leaving</a> by the police as they enforce COVID-19 lockdown measures.</p>
<h2>Asia’s Berlin Wall</h2>
<p>The LoC, also known as Asia’s Berlin Wall, does not constitute a legally recognized international boundary. It was <a href="https://peacemaker.un.org/indiapakistan-karachiagreement49">put in place in 1949</a> as a temporary measure until the status of Kashmir is resolved.</p>
<p>In her book <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520274211"><em>Body of Victim, Body of Warrior</em>,</a> Cabeiri deBergh Robinson, associate professor of South Asian studies at the University of Washington, explains that in earlier years, the LoC was permeable and fluid. It was only after the <a href="https://peacemaker.un.org/indiapakistan-simlaagreement72">Simla Agreement</a> in 1972, that it came to mimic the impermeability of a border.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/332414/original/file-20200504-83757-mgapy6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/332414/original/file-20200504-83757-mgapy6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/332414/original/file-20200504-83757-mgapy6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/332414/original/file-20200504-83757-mgapy6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/332414/original/file-20200504-83757-mgapy6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/332414/original/file-20200504-83757-mgapy6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/332414/original/file-20200504-83757-mgapy6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In this Oct. 4, 2016 photo, Indian army soldiers patrol near the highly militarized Line of Control dividing Kashmir between India and Pakistan, in Pallanwal, Indian-occupied Kashmir. (AP Photo/Channi Anand)</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Channi Anand)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>‘100 little sleeps’</h2>
<p>From 1990-2003, during the peak of the Kashmiri insurgency, the LoC was a site of intense conflict between Indian and Pakistani militaries.</p>
<p>Armies fired long-range artillery and mortar shells at each other, killing and harming civilians, property and livestock in the process.</p>
<p>Even though a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/26/world/indian-and-pakistani-forces-agree-to-cease-fire-in-kashmir.html">shaky ceasefire</a> was reached in 2003, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qxOL6uOmDg&feature=youtu.be">skirmishes flare up unannounced</a>.</p>
<p>During my research in the Neelum valley in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, a villager described living near the LoC: “We are never at ease. The firing can start at any time. It’s like having 100 little sleeps every night.” </p>
<p>The number of civilians killed on each side of the LoC is challenging to document, given a lack of government transparency.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://unmogip.unmissions.org/background">United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP)</a> is responsible for monitoring the ceasefire. India stands accused of <a href="https://carnegieendowment.org/2018/10/24/ceasefire-violations-in-kashmir-war-by-other-means-pub-77573">blocking UNMOGIP’s access to the LoC</a>.</p>
<p>This year alone, India has committed <a href="https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/650896-woman-martyred-girl-hurt-in-indian-firing-on-loc">882 ceasefire violations</a>.</p>
<h2>Pre-existing inequality</h2>
<p>Pandemics do not occur in a vacuum but exacerbate pre-existing inequalities. </p>
<p>Kashmir is ill-prepared to <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/03/die-cattle-kashmiris-fear-coronavirus-outbreak-200322151405218.html">handle the pandemic</a>. In Indian-occupied Kashmir, there is one soldier for every nine people but only <a href="https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/646698-indias-dirty-priority-is-to-suppress-people-in-occupied-kashmir-president-alvi">one ventilator for every 71,000 people</a>, and one doctor for every 3,900 people. </p>
<p>Health facilities along the LoC are severely deficient, reflecting India and Pakistan’s neglect of the sub-region.</p>
<p>Given the current <a href="https://frontline.thehindu.com/dispatches/article31306118.ece">suspension of high-speed 4G internet,</a> Kashmiris are prevented from accessing necessary <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/04/13/slow-internet-speeding-spread-coronavirus-kashmir-india-lockdown/">public health information needed to slow the spread of COVID-19</a>.</p>
<p>Internet and telecommunication services are restricted on both sides of the LoC.</p>
<h2>Kashmir’s annexation</h2>
<p>Amid the pandemic, on Mar. 31, India introduced a <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/04/flooding-india-introduces-kashmir-domicile-law-200401100651450.html">new domicile law</a>. This is one of the many legislative changes set by India following the unilateral <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/08/05/indias-settler-colonial-project-kashmir-takes-disturbing-turn/">abrogation of Article 370</a> in August last year.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://medium.com/@media_41618/the-new-domicile-law-is-indias-plan-to-change-the-demographics-of-occupied-jammu-and-kashmir-2f3c52ff6abd/">domicile law paves the way for demographic flooding in Kashmir</a>, which will allow non-Kashmiris to obtain property, compete for government jobs and impact the outcomes of a <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1766582.stm">referendum </a> on Kashmir’s future should it be held.</p>
<p>Demographic flooding as a colonial strategy has been used by <a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/11/20/18080052/israel-settlements-west-bank">Israel along the West Bank </a> as well as <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-26414014">China in the Xinjiang autonomous region</a>.</p>
<h2>A Kashmir yet to come</h2>
<p>The pandemic has inspired thinking on the complete <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/31/how-will-the-world-emerge-from-the-coronavirus-crisis">restructuring of our world</a>. It has shed light on the <a href="https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/jge39g/taking-care-of-each-other-is-essential-work">centrality of care workers</a> and those at the <a href="https://www.syracuse.com/opinion/2020/04/from-farm-to-factory-to-table-coronavirus-pandemic-challenges-us-food-system-commentary.html">forefront of our food systems</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/332440/original/file-20200504-83751-13af0k1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/332440/original/file-20200504-83751-13af0k1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/332440/original/file-20200504-83751-13af0k1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/332440/original/file-20200504-83751-13af0k1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/332440/original/file-20200504-83751-13af0k1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/332440/original/file-20200504-83751-13af0k1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/332440/original/file-20200504-83751-13af0k1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/332440/original/file-20200504-83751-13af0k1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Kashmiri men ride a shikara, a traditional gondola, to catch fish in the interiors of the Dal Lake in Srinagar, Indian-occupied Kashmir, April 25, 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Dar Yasin)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It is forcing us to imagine “<a href="https://hedgehogreview.com/blog/thr/posts/radical-hope-amid-catastrophe">a world we do not yet know and cannot describe</a>” as scholar Vafa Ghazavi recently wrote.</p>
<p>A just world <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/apr/19/after-the-crisis-a-new-world-wont-emerge-as-if-by-magic-we-will-have-to-fight-for-it">won’t emerge as if by magic. We will need to fight for it</a>.</p>
<p>The LoC does not signal the <a href="https://www.academia.edu/36521314/Kashmir_as_Movement_and_Multitude">closure of Kashmir’s forms and futures</a>. It is a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1353/aq.2019.0074">site of potentiality</a>, for a Kashmir yet to come.</p>
<p>This Kashmir would not be held back by the paucity of our imagination or the lack of available language. It would be a Kashmir where Kashmiris can freely choose learning, laughter and living.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/137682/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Omer Aijazi receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) to conduct research in Kashmir and Northern Pakistan.</span></em></p>Although the United Nations has called for a global ceasefire during the pandemic, Kashmiris are bracing for a new wave of violence as India accelerates its settler-colonial ambitions.Omer Aijazi, Postdoctoral research fellow, Religion and Anthropology, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1291122020-02-14T14:50:21Z2020-02-14T14:50:21ZKashmir: why Trump’s offer of international mediation is a good idea<p>Before a recent meeting in Davos with Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan, Donald Trump <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/defence/donald-trump-repeats-kashmir-mediation-offer-india-says-its-a-bilateral-issue/articleshow/73529876.cms">reiterated</a> <a href="https://www.livemint.com/news/india/donald-trump-irks-india-offers-to-mediate-in-kashmir-row-again-1564768298953.html">his offer</a> to help mediate over the issue of Kashmir. </p>
<p>It’s been six months since <a href="https://www.dailysabah.com/op-ed/2019/09/19/trumps-kashmir-mediation-drama">India revoked</a> the special constitutional status for the disputed territory of Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir and put the state on lockdown. While internet restrictions have eased, connectivity remains patchy and prominent local politicians <a href="http://www.risingkashmir.com/news/omar-abdullahs-sister-moves-sc-challenging-his-detention-under-psa-356920.html">are still in detention</a>.</p>
<p>Khan’s administration <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1498781">objected to the revocation</a> on the grounds that Jammu and Kashmir is internationally recognised as a disputed territory. It argued that India’s unilateral decision contravened UN resolutions on the conflict, the Geneva Conventions, and India’s own constitution and supreme court. Pakistan also expressed concerns about ethnic cleansing and genocide.</p>
<p>Since then, the Indian government of prime minister Narendra Modi has <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/s-jaishankar-says-no-kashmir-mediation-india-has-been-clear-for-40-odd-years-2109992">repeatedly refused</a> to accept mediation over Kashmir, something <a href="https://www.livemint.com/news/india/khan-plays-trump-card-calls-for-mediation-to-solve-kashmir-row-1564926823006.html">Khan says he is open to</a>. The question of mediation is likely to come up at a forthcoming visit to India by Trump <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/ahead-of-trumps-visit-four-us-senators-seek-assessment-of-human-rights-and-religious-freedom-situation-in-india/articleshow/74112242.cms">in late February</a>. </p>
<p>My ongoing doctoral research suggests that mediation by the world’s great powers – such as the US, UK, Russia, China or Turkey – to resolve the festering conflict over Kashmir could pave the way for greater security cooperation in the Pakistan-India-Afghanistan triangle. </p>
<p>The disputes over the line of control that separates Indian- and Pakistani-administered Jammu and Kashmir, and the Durand Line separating Pakistan and Afghanistan, are <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Magnificent_Delusions_INDIA_HC_ED.html?id=dIvRnQEACAAJ&source=kp_book_description&redir_esc=y">remnants of the decolonisation process</a>. These disputes have complicated security relations in South Asia and led to lingering instability, hindering regional cooperation and integration. </p>
<p>Since 1989, India has deployed between 600,000 and 700,000 soldiers to Jammu and Kashmir. Alleged <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0306396814542914">human rights abuses</a> on the part of the Indian security forces have included rape, torture, extrajudicial killings, custodial disappearances, and the violent suppression of protests – one of the fundamental rights of citizens in a democracy. These have been documented in <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=24799&LangID=E">reports by the UN Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights</a>. In the summer of 2016, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/nov/08/india-crackdown-in-kashmir-is-this-worlds-first-mass-blinding">17,000 demonstrators</a> were injured in a brutal security crackdown. This has fuelled a further <a href="https://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/id/eprint/78264/1/JBS.pdf">sense of marginalisation</a> among local Kashmiris. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>Listen to an episode of The Conversation’s India Tomorrow podcast series on Kashmir.</em> </p>
<iframe src="https://player.acast.com/5e3bf1111a6e452f6380a7bc/episodes/5e3bf133659d595770f8b910?theme=default&cover=1&latest=1" frameborder="0" width="100%" height="110px" allow="autoplay"></iframe>
<hr>
<h2>A shared history</h2>
<p>I’m looking at the Kashmir issue from the perspective of the <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/The_Anarchical_Society.html?id=y8LNihGe4S4C">English school of international relations</a>, a theoretical approach to international affairs that emphasises countries’ pursuit of shared interests and values through common institutions, human rights and diplomacy. This theory argues that the great powers have a special responsibility to maintain security and stability in the world.</p>
<p>In the Pakistan-India-Afghanistan triangle, despite deep-seated conflicts, all three countries have repeatedly turned to the institutions and norms of international society to seek to resolve disputes and defuse tensions. For example, Pakistan and India have repeatedly attempted to engage in a bilateral dialogue and to <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/defence/new-beginning-india-and-pakistan-nsas-spoke-within-hours-of-pathankot-attack/articleshow/50474599.cms?from=mdr">share intelligence on terrorism</a>. Afghanistan’s inclusion in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is another example of this desire to use international institutions to defuse tensions. Such regional cooperation is a foundation upon which to build a more cooperative trilateral relationship – if the countries choose to do so.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-partition-of-india-happened-and-why-its-effects-are-still-felt-today-81766">How the Partition of India happened – and why its effects are still felt today</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Pakistan, India and Afghanistan have a shared history going back to <a href="http://foreignpolicy.com/2012/06/18/whats-wrong-with-pakistan/">the Mauryan Empire</a> of the fourth century BC. Ethnic and religious identities spill over borders and the common cultural heritage is rich, spanning music, food, cinema, poetry, language and spirituality. </p>
<p>The security threats plaguing this region are shared too. Violent extremist groups are a concern not only for India, but for Afghanistan and Pakistan too. While India <a href="https://www.stimson.org/wp-content/files/InvestigatingCrisesConflictResolution.pdf">repeatedly blames Pakistan</a> for attacks in Jammu and Kashmir and other parts of India perpetrated by the Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Tayyaba militant groups, Pakistan <a href="https://tribune.com.pk/story/1516681/india-maintains-close-contacts-ttp-afghan-soil-fo/">believes that India supports</a> the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, which has caused tremendous insecurity in Pakistan over the past two decades.</p>
<p>It also accuses India of supporting secessionism in <a href="https://dailytimes.com.pk/286526/indias-renewed-strategy-of-destabilising-balochistan/">the province of Balochistan</a>, which threatens the economic corridor between China and Pakistan. Afghanistan has been destabilised by the Afghan Taliban and Haqqani Network and <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/06/afghanistan-blames-pakistan-taliban-kabul-blast-170601151615042.html">regularly blames</a> Pakistan for backing them.</p>
<p>This cycle of allegations and counter-allegations hides the fact that these terrorist groups are non-state actors who work across borders. A comprehensive counter-terrorism strategy requires security and intelligence cooperation, alongside an approach that addresses the political, social, economic and psychological factors underlying terrorism.</p>
<h2>Breaking the deadlock</h2>
<p>A first step towards unravelling the knotty security dynamic in this region could be a positive response to the American offer to mediate on Kashmir. In the absence of bilateral headway in the peace process, third-party mediation is a reasonable way of attempting to break the deadlock. The successful settlement of the dispute over Kashmir could open the way to negotiations on the other core and interlinked issue of transnational terrorism. </p>
<p>The Pakistan-India, Pakistan-Afghanistan, and India-China territorial disputes are legacies of colonisation. The mistrust between Pakistan and India has hampered efforts to forge cooperation in the wider South Asian region, as shown by the <a href="https://thediplomat.com/2016/09/saarc-summit-cancellation-will-sting-pakistan-but-wont-prevent-the-next-uri-or-pathankot/">cancellation of the 19th SAARC summit</a> in 2016.</p>
<p>If India wants to be a great power in the emerging world order, it must first achieve a peaceful and stable neighbourhood. Accepting Trump’s offer would be a step in this direction.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/129112/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Saloni Kapur does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>India has rejected recent offers on mediation over Jammu and Kashmir. But it should think again.Saloni Kapur, Assistant Professor, International Studies at FLAME University and PhD Candidate in International Relations, Lancaster UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1228892019-10-07T12:06:26Z2019-10-07T12:06:26ZWhere Kashmir fits within India’s national memory – and what impact removing its special status could have<p>A few years ago, the Jammu and Kashmir state tourism department took out an advert called <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYnHwzMTwqo">Kashmir: The Warmest Place on Earth</a>. The advert showed an Indian couple honeymooning in Kashmir who mistake an elderly Kashmiri man as their designated driver for the day. </p>
<p>The Kashmiri gentleman happily plays along and spends the day driving the couple around for sightseeing, doubling up as their photographer and feeding them home-cooked Kashmiri food. At the end, when the case of mistaken identity is uncovered, the man says he only wanted to be a good host to the visitors and show them his “home” in all its glory. In the background a lilting Kashmiri melody plays. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QYnHwzMTwqo?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Soon after its release, the advert <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.in/2017/09/26/watch-this-viral-ad-on-kashmir-proves-that-its-the-warmest-place-on-earth_a_23222928/">went viral</a> and it was praised as a step towards <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/columns/the-new-jammu-and-kashmir-ad-campaign-goes-beyond-tourism/story-7Sk90Wr07kbNkWWSRHkqgP.html">changing the narrative around Kashmir</a> as a violent, dangerous and remote place, to one that is warm, welcoming and accessible. But soon enough, the advert also invited <a href="https://kashmirobserver.net/2017/feature/kashmir-warmest-yet-coldest-place-earth-24281">pointed criticism</a> for pushing a sanitised, forcibly “normalised” picture of a place that has been living in limbo for decades. </p>
<p>Kashmir is a veritable militarised fortress against a backdrop of breathtaking beauty – even more so since India revoked Article 370 of its constitution in August, <a href="https://theconversation.com/whats-behind-the-protests-in-kashmir-121833">taking away the special status</a> accorded to the part of Kashmir it has controlled since 1954.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/indias-colossal-blunder-in-kashmir-121657">India’s colossal blunder in Kashmir</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Contested reality</h2>
<p>In many ways, the advert and the reactions to it are indicative of the uncomfortable place that Kashmir occupies in India’s collective national consciousness. It’s simultaneously a faraway land evocative of heaven on Earth as well as a territory that is an integral part of the Indian union. It’s a place peopled by kind, benevolent residents such as that embodied by the driver from the advert, but also one torn asunder by militant separatists gunning for an independent Kashmir.</p>
<p>It has aspirations to be an outward looking tourist attraction but is perceived as an isolated conflict zone. In the figure of the Kashmiri man – happy to play along as the driver to the tourist couple – is reflected the ideal version of a Kashmiri for the rest of India: acquiescent, unquestioning and at the service of outsiders. </p>
<p>These alternating, contesting perceptions of Kashmir have become even more relevant in the current crisis the valley finds itself after the Indian government removed Kashmir’s special status in August. Three months later, the former state <a href="https://scroll.in/article/939269/this-is-what-kashmir-looks-like-after-61-days-of-normalcy">remains blocked and cut off</a> from the rest of the country and the world. </p>
<p>The Indian government maintains that <a href="https://time.com/5659671/kashmir-indian-government/">things are fine</a> in the Kashmir valley and that the blocking of internet and phone lines is a necessary precautionary measure that shall be lifted soon. But straining under a heavy security deployment and with its major political leadership under house arrest, a return to “normalcy” seems distant.</p>
<p>The images and reports emerging from the valley present a picture of a place still bursting at the seams with <a href="https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/kashmir-lockdown-50-days-and-counting/cid/1707086">tension</a>. Amid all the chest thumping and grandstanding emanating from the corridors of power in New Delhi, I’ve been thinking about what place the revocation of Kashmir’s special status will hold in India’s national memory in the years to come.</p>
<h2>1947, 1971, 2019</h2>
<p>To a large extent, the history of post-colonial South Asia is punctuated by two monumental moments of rupture: the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-partition-of-india-happened-and-why-its-effects-are-still-felt-today-81766">partition of the subcontinent in 1947</a> into India and Pakistan and the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971, which led to the creation of Bangladesh. Both events, the memory of which is the focus of my own ongoing research, involved a massive redrawing of borders, were marked by large scale violence and <a href="https://www.1947partitionarchive.org">displacement</a> and have left behind a legacy of unresolved trauma in the region. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/three-families-stories-of-new-beginnings-after-the-horror-of-indian-partition-82393">Three families' stories of new beginnings after the horror of Indian partition</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The unfolding of events in 1947 and 1971 and the ways in which they continue to linger in the present has led to a complex relationship with national memories in both India and Bangladesh. </p>
<p>In India, while the state commemorates and remembers the independence struggle, no memorial exists for the partition that came with freedom from colonial rule. In Bangladesh, on the other hand, the Liberation War lies at the core of the national memory, with several <a href="https://www.thedailystar.net/perspective/monument-bangladesh-and-the-world-1332946">memorials</a> and a <a href="https://www.liberationwarmuseumbd.org">museum</a> dedicated to it. However, even here the act of remembering is not devoid of its inherent <a href="https://www.thedailystar.net/news/war-crimes-justice-and-the-politics-of-memory">politics</a>, which is reflected in the tension of who gets included and erased from the national memory.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295766/original/file-20191007-121092-17cqz1h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295766/original/file-20191007-121092-17cqz1h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295766/original/file-20191007-121092-17cqz1h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295766/original/file-20191007-121092-17cqz1h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295766/original/file-20191007-121092-17cqz1h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295766/original/file-20191007-121092-17cqz1h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295766/original/file-20191007-121092-17cqz1h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The National Martyrs’ Monument at Savar, Bangladesh, built to commemorate those who died in the 1971 war.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/savar-bangladesh-march-26-2014-national-330632468?src=LYkTB8LzDK2J6vsi_L34FQ-1-15">Sohel Parvez Haque/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The fabric of national memory in both India and Bangladesh is in fact a patchwork of utterances and silences. Both countries are caught between presenting a story of triumph celebrating independence, freedom from colonial, oppressive regimes and the sacrifice that went into this, while simultaneously distancing themselves from the legacy of violence, trauma, secrecy and shame.</p>
<p>The Indian responses to the abrogation of Article 370 in high decibel prime-time debates, op-eds, sound bites and social media have similarities with the way triumph and trauma are both used simultaneously to reference 1947 and 1971. This has been at play in the predominantly <a href="https://theprint.in/plugged-in/art-370-express-says-its-history-hindu-calls-it-surgical-strike-arnab-sees-justice-done/272873/">celebratory</a> tenor of the reactions to the government’s move. </p>
<p>The removal of Kashmir’s special status <a href="http://newsonair.nic.in/Main-News-Details.aspx?id=369681">has been hailed</a> as a historic step towards true integration of the region with the rest of the Indian nation and heralded as the harbinger of “development” to the valley. This narrative of celebration, hope and aspirations for a better future is evocative of a similar discourse of rupture and reconstruction embodied in the story of Indian independence and the birth of Bangladesh.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the impact of the decision on the lives of ordinary citizens in Kashmir <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/life-after-370-is-a-silent-crisis-simmering-in-kashmir/articleshow/70622668.cms?from=mdr">remains contested and shrouded in uncertainty</a>. This again bears parallels with the ways in which the trauma of 1947 and 1971 continues to haunt the lives of people whose lives were disrupted by geopolitical decisions and forces beyond their control. </p>
<p>The revocation of Kashmir’s special status does not involve an actual refashioning of borders. Nonetheless, it is a colossal renegotiation of the ideas of “belonging to Kashmir” and “Kashmir belonging to India”. The writing has been on the wall for a while, but it remains to be seen what place this 2019 moment of rupture finds in the patchwork of Indian national memory.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/122889/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Isha Dueby does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>How will future generations of Indians view Kashmir’s contested history?Isha Dueby, Post-doctoral Fellow, Lund UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1228872019-09-12T10:17:10Z2019-09-12T10:17:10ZWith all eyes on Kashmir, a storm is brewing over India’s longest-running peace process with Naga militants<p>As the <a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3026308/beijing-gives-pakistan-its-backing-amid-rising-kashmir">fallout</a> from India’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/india-revokes-kashmirs-autonomy-risking-yet-another-war-with-pakistan-121485">decision to revoke the autonomy</a> of Kashmir in early August continues, recent weeks have also seen troubling signs emanating from the oft-forgotten Naga-inhabited regions in the far north-eastern corner of India. </p>
<p>Peace talks with Nagas pushing for independence, which have been going on for more than two decades, recently entered rocky waters. India’s decision to revoke Article 370 and 35A of the constitution that guaranteed Kashmir’s autonomy has added fuel to an existing sense of unease over the peace process to end India’s longest insurgency.</p>
<p>The Naga demand for independence began when the British first arrived in the 1840s, introducing a limited and partial <a href="http://ijless.com/journal%20data/IJLESSJune2015_1_4_Keth.pdf">system of rule</a>. As India’s independence in 1947 loomed, the Nagas feared they would become subsumed within India’s political setup and that their unique local identity and culture would be eroded. This fuelled demands for a Nagaland independent from India, with militants of the Naga National Council (NNC) turning to violence in the mid-1950s. </p>
<p>Since then, there have been decades of bloodshed, factional feuding and failed attempts at striking peace deals, including creating the state of Nagaland in 1963 and granting its citizens a series of special privileges under Article <a href="https://www.india.gov.in/sites/upload_files/npi/files/coi_part_full.pdf">371(A) of India’s constitution</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/290688/original/file-20190903-175705-1o3oxh6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C862%2C857&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/290688/original/file-20190903-175705-1o3oxh6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290688/original/file-20190903-175705-1o3oxh6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290688/original/file-20190903-175705-1o3oxh6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290688/original/file-20190903-175705-1o3oxh6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290688/original/file-20190903-175705-1o3oxh6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290688/original/file-20190903-175705-1o3oxh6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An NNC memorial on the Kohima-Khonoma road in Nagaland.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Alex Waterman</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The most notorious of these failed attempts at peace was the <a href="https://peacemaker.un.org/sites/peacemaker.un.org/files/IN_751111_Shillong%20Agreement_0.pdf">1975 Shillong Accord</a>. The short agreement contained very little of substance beyond a commitment to negotiations and was widely perceived as the work of a small faction within the NNC. It prompted the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) to break away from the NNC and take up arms again. Despite a major split in 1988 and multiple further breakaways since, NSCN factions continue to play a powerful role in the politics of the region.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/kashmiris-are-living-a-long-nightmare-of-indian-colonialism-121925">Kashmiris are living a long nightmare of Indian colonialism</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Push for peace</h2>
<p>The current deadlock concerns talks with the NSCN – Isak-Muivah (NSCN–IM), arguably the most powerful armed group in the region since its formation following the 1988 split. Although the group signed a ceasefire and began talking to New Delhi in 1997, the peace process has been a rocky one. </p>
<p>Efforts to extend the NSCN-IM ceasefire beyond the state of Nagaland in 2001 led to <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/1396751.stm">massive riots</a> in the neighbouring states of Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh. This reflected anxieties that extending the peace process into these states – which have substantial Naga populations – would effectively hand over parts of these states to NSCN–IM control, fuelling tensions with the ethnic non-Naga populations in these states. The riots forced a government U-turn in the areas beyond Nagaland, creating a long-term sticking point in the peace talks.</p>
<p>It did receive a shot in the arm in August 2015, when Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in New Delhi signed <a href="https://www.livemint.com/Opinion/0hweMukjTJK5ObPc3JbiCM/A-new-phase-in-Naga-peacechess-game.html">a framework agreement</a> with the NSCN–IM that intended to establish the blueprint for a final peace agreement. In the four years since, both parties have continuously released optimistic statements suggesting that a final resolution is imminent and that most of the substantive issues have been resolved. </p>
<iframe src="https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!1m18!1m12!1m3!1d3683047.036354571!2d92.16265959413253!3d25.64723041389998!2m3!1f0!2f0!3f0!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!3m3!1m2!1s0x3746210934c63d31%3A0x1f2df33a89cc3efd!2sNagaland%2C%20India!5e0!3m2!1sen!2suk!4v1568028188779!5m2!1sen!2suk" width="100%" height="450" frameborder="0" style="border:0;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<p>In July 2018, R N Ravi, who oversees the talks on behalf of the Indian government, indicated that even the longstanding question of the Nagas living beyond Nagaland could be resolved by extending <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/details-of-2015-naga-agreement-emerge/article24464239.ece">special rights and privileges</a> to them. In March 2019, <a href="http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/detailsnew.asp?id=mar0519/at056">Ravi announced</a> that the main outstanding issues were merely symbolic in nature and concerned the NSCN–IM’s demands for a separate Naga flag and constitution. </p>
<p>The talks were, however, suspended in the run-up to India’s 2019 general election. Upon <a href="https://theconversation.com/india-election-how-narendra-modi-won-with-an-even-bigger-majority-117476">Modi’s victory in May</a>, the NSCN–IM welcomed the continuity of national government and expressed hope that the talks would be concluded at the soonest possible opportunity. On August 1, <a href="https://scroll.in/latest/931280/rn-ravi-interlocutor-for-naga-peace-talks-is-new-nagaland-governor">Ravi was appointed governor</a> of Nagaland with a view to expediting the talks and securing a quick resolution, ideally before <a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/pm-modi-wants-naga-talks-to-conclude-in-3-months-won-t-dilute-state-s-special-rights-nagaland-guv-rn-ravi-1581733-2019-08-17">October or November</a>. </p>
<p>But this initial optimism was short-lived. On August 3, NSCN–IM revealed that the last round of talks it had held with Ravi in Delhi on 26 July, “<a href="http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/detailsnew.asp?id=aug0419/oth055">did not go well</a>” and accused the interlocutor-cum-governor of being “<a href="https://nagalandpage.com/rn-ravi-has-turned-bossy-nscn-im/">capricious and bossy</a>”. The group also questioned Delhi’s decision to appoint Ravi as governor, expressing concern that the talks had been reduced to the “<a href="https://nagalandpage.com/indo-naga-problem-reduced-to-governors-level-talks-nscn-im/">governor’s level</a>” rather than via an interlocutor answerable directly to the prime minister. </p>
<p>For the NSCN–IM, symbolic concessions, such as holding talks at the highest level of government and a separate flag and constitution remain crucial in communicating to its constituents that it has secured a semblance of “sovereignty”. </p>
<h2>Symbolic issues remain</h2>
<p>Even before the election, frustration was growing at the progress of the talks. In February, leading Naga civil society organisations boycotted a meeting with Ravi, while in March the NSCN–IM general secretary, Thuingaleng Muivah, suggested that the government was <a href="https://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/our-demand-is-greater-nagaland-with-own-flag-constitution-nscn-i-m-leader-119032100702_1.html">delaying a final settlement</a>. The main concern among the NSCN-IM negotiators is that the government may not grant the key symbolic concessions which are crucial to the NSCN-IM if it is to be able to tell its constituents that it has secured Naga sovereignty.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/291511/original/file-20190909-109939-y6i7g7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/291511/original/file-20190909-109939-y6i7g7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291511/original/file-20190909-109939-y6i7g7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291511/original/file-20190909-109939-y6i7g7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291511/original/file-20190909-109939-y6i7g7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291511/original/file-20190909-109939-y6i7g7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291511/original/file-20190909-109939-y6i7g7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Khonoma Village in Nagaland.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/confirm/733512355?src=Nk90H8w2qH2owGwhB6aRHA-1-5&size=medium_jpg">by Vinay Chittora/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>On the ground, tit-for-tat moves have led to <a href="https://satp.org/south-asia-intelligence-review-Volume-18-No-7">at least five confrontations</a> in 2019 between NSCN–IM personnel and security forces. NSCN–IM is also suspected by security forces of being behind an <a href="https://scroll.in/article/924391/what-led-to-the-ambush-in-arunachal-that-killed-11-people-including-a-sitting-mla">ambush</a> on May 21 on a political convoy in Tirap, Arunachal Pradesh in which 11 people, including a prominent local legislator, were killed. Such incidents have <a href="https://acd.iiss.org/">increased in recent years</a>, underlining the potential for escalation when the understanding between the government and the NSCN–IM leadership shows signs of frailty.</p>
<p>Further complicating matters, the NSCN-IM, although the most powerful, is by no means the only armed group. A separate “Working Committee” of seven other groups is currently <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/naga-peace-talks-konyak-faction-joins-working-committee-of-political-groups/story-hScfA8g3YlN5M2g82xhyOL.html">holding its own talks</a> with the government, meaning the NSCN-IM will need to reconcile with these factions in any peace deal.</p>
<p>Events in Kashmir intersect directly with the central, symbolic questions that are at the heart of the vexed Naga political issue. <a href="https://indiankanoon.org/doc/371998/">Article 371(A)</a> ensures that no parliamentary legislation shall apply if it interferes with customary practices, laws and land ownership patterns, resembling some of the provisions recently withdrawn in Kashmir. </p>
<p>Although Ravi stressed in early August that the sanctity of Article 371(A) would be <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/no-need-to-worry-article-371-a-is-a-sacred-commitment-nagaland-governor-to-people/articleshow/70555596.cms?from=mdr">preserved</a>, the unilateral nature of the revocation process in Kashmir has triggered further <a href="http://morungexpress.com/index.php/nagas-react-development-jk">anxiety</a> within Naga civil society, with many fearing that the same fate awaits them. </p>
<p>New Delhi and its interlocutors in the northeast have now set a deadline of October or November for resolving the peace talks, but have much to do to reassure the Nagas on these symbolic issues if they are to capitalise on this critical juncture and end India’s longest insurgency.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/122887/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>As part of the PhD research partly informing this article, Alex Waterman received funding from the University of Leeds 110 Anniversary Scholarship (2014-2017). He is also a research consultant for the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) Armed Conflict Database (ACD) programme, providing daily coverage and analysis of conflicts in Northeast India.</span></em></p>In India’s far northeast, tensions are beginning to emerge in the 22-year peace process to end India’s longest insurgency.Alex Waterman, Research Fellow in Security, Terrorism & Insurgency, University of LeedsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1228512019-09-05T13:44:33Z2019-09-05T13:44:33ZKashmir: how Modi’s aggressive ‘Hindutva’ project has brought India and Pakistan to the brink – again<p>August is immensely important in the history of the Asian subcontinent, marking the month that India and Pakistan <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/modern/partition1947_01.shtml">gained independence</a> from the British in 1947. Now, in 2019, it has once again proved momentous, when, <a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/the-big-story/story/20190819-downsizing-kashmir-1578639-2019-08-09">ten days before</a> India’s Independence day celebrations, prime minister <a href="http://www.elections.in/political-leaders/narendra-modi.html">Narendra Modi’s</a> government revoked the autonomy of Indian-administered Kashmir – a status provided for under the Indian Constitution. </p>
<p>This latest move was a manifesto pledge from Modi’s Hindu nationalist <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/05/india-bjp-190523053850803.html">Bharatiya Janata Party</a> (BJP), which claims that Kashmir’s autonomy has hindered its development while fostering an area of thriving terrorism and smuggling.</p>
<hr>
<p><em><strong>Read more: <a href="https://theconversation.com/kashmiris-are-living-a-long-nightmare-of-indian-colonialism-121925">Kashmiris are living a long nightmare of Indian colonialism</a></strong></em> </p>
<hr>
<p>Soon, thousands of troops were deployed and the valley region faced unprecedented lockdown. Experts say that Modi’s move to tether the Muslim majority of Kashmir is a gamble that could trigger conflict with Pakistan while <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/05/india-cancellation-of-kashmir-special-status-will-have-consequences">reigniting an insurgency</a> that has already cost tens of thousands of lives.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/imnq4GzFc5Y?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<h2>Kashmir: a brief history</h2>
<p>Until 1947, Kashmir was a territorially well-defined and functional state that had existed for a century before its <a href="https://brill.com/view/book/9789004359994/BP000010.xml">seizure by the British</a> in 1846. The British decolonisation of the subcontinent in 1947 was instrumental in creating disorder that pushed Kashmir into a repeated cycle of war and stalemate <a href="https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2019-08-08/kashmir-autonomy-india-modi">between Pakistan and India</a>, which have both claimed the region as sovereign territory for the last 70 years.</p>
<p>Today, Kashmir’s geopolitical position and glacial water reserves – which provide fresh water and hydro-electric power to millions – add an extra dimension to the existing sectarian and ideological conflict between India and Pakistan over this small northern region.</p>
<p>The Kashmir issue has resulted in <a href="https://theconversation.com/kashmir-conflict-is-not-just-a-border-dispute-between-india-and-pakistan-112824">three wars</a> between these two countries – in 1947, 1965 and 1999 – triggering numerous UN <a href="http://kashmirvalley.info/un-resolutions/#.XWx1VVB7kWo">Security Council Resolutions</a> – which unequivocally call for the Kashmiris’ right to self-determination.</p>
<h2>Modi’s Hindu nationalist project</h2>
<p>Many within the region feel that Modi’s BJP is brazenly trying to change Kashmir’s ethnic composition to disadvantage India’s Muslim minority by encouraging more Hindus into the region. Since the revocation of Article 370 (which assured the region’s autonomy), Indian Kashmiri leaders who vehemently opposed the decision – including two former chief ministers – have been <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/national/north-and-central/omar-mehbooba-being-provided-food-as-per-jail-manual-754489.html">sent to jail</a>.</p>
<p>Modi’s government has a history of stoking tensions between Hindus and Muslims, with its political rule now focused on “<a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=3N4mGlbutbgC&pg=PA351&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false">Hindutva</a>”, which translates roughly as “Hindu-ness”, and reframes Hinduism as an identity rather than a theology or religion.</p>
<p>Modi has fostered Hindu nationalism through anti-Islamic rhetoric, accusing Muslim men of attempting to change India’s demographics by seducing Hindu women, as well as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jul/20/mobs-killing-muslims-india-narendra-modi-bjp">encouraging lynching</a> of Muslims falsely accused of eating beef (from the sacred Hindu cow) in BJP controlled states. Clearly, these are tactics designed to expand the notion of Hindutva and further isolate the Muslim population within India. Targeting Kashmir is a crucial part of the strategy.</p>
<h2>Dangerous tensions and nuclear options</h2>
<p>In the wake of India’s decision to revoke Kashmir’s special status, there are two key questions. </p>
<p>First, will it be beneficial to Kashmir as <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/3fa1cbac-c271-11e9-a8e9-296ca66511c9">claimed by Modi’s government</a>? The situation on the ground would suggest not. After a month of <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/08/india-revokes-kashmir-special-status-latest-updates-190806134011673.html">curfew and lockdown</a>, protests have <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/kashmir-protests-lockdown-india-pakistan-crackdown-public-movement-a9064531.html">turned violent</a>. The Indian government has been unable to restore peace in the valley despite the increasing atrocities. According to news reports, <a href="https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/india/4000-people-arrested-in-jammu-and-kashmir-since-august-5-say-govt-sources">4,000 people have been arrested</a> since the territory lost its status.</p>
<p>Second, how is the situation affecting the already tense relations between India and Pakistan? India’s land grab comes just five months after a breakdown in relations following claims by India that a Pakistani-based suicide bomber <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/20190214-pakistan-india-kashmir-suicide-bomb-attack">killed 44 Indian soldiers</a> in the Kashmir region, leading to airstrikes by both sides. The situation threatens to reignite this conflict with both countries <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/pakistan-wont-trigger-a-war-with-india-imran-khan/articleshow/70951509.cms">cautioning the world</a> about the nuclear option.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1498411">Addressing a joint session</a> of Pakistan’s parliament on August 6, prime minister Imran Khan briefed lawmakers on the steps his government had taken towards peace in the region. But he maintained the situation in Indian-occupied Kashmir would deteriorate and its neighbour would <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1498411">blame and attack Pakistan</a>. </p>
<p>Days later, Indian defence minister Rajnath Singh stated that India is committed to “no first use” of nuclear weapons, but future policy is dependent on the ever-evolving circumstances. These sentiments have led to <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/our-captured-wounded-hearts-arundhati-roy-on-balakot-kashmir-and-india_n_5c78d592e4b0de0c3fbf82bf?guccounter=2">international debate</a> over the possibility of nuclear weapons being unleashed.</p>
<h2>Parallels with East Timor</h2>
<p>With this nuclear threat ever present, the situation in Kashmir is now one of the most dangerous in the world. Since the two countries have consistently failed to make any progress, external help from the international community and the UN is crucial in resolving the conflict and preventing further escalation.</p>
<p>As the world witnessed in the case of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/East-Timor">East Timor</a> in 1999, independence from Indonesia after two decades of bloodshed was achieved following a referendum held under the stewardship of the UN. This result was not accepted by Indonesia, which launched a <a href="https://etan.org/estafeta/01/spring/6indo.htm">scorched-earth campaign</a>, killing more than 1,500 Timorese, displacing nearly half the population, and razing much of East Timor to the ground.</p>
<p>The subsequent progression towards <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-20873267">independence and peacebuilding</a> was facilitated by external bodies such as the <a href="https://peaceaccords.nd.edu/provision/un-peacekeeping-force-agreement-between-republic-indonesia-and-portuguese-republic">UN-mandated</a> International Force in East Timor and the Transitional Administration in East Timor, underscoring the importance of support from both the UN and the international community.</p>
<p>The UN didn’t achieve success overnight, but endured through increasing international pressure, combined with a change in the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/28/world/asia/28suharto.html">Suharto</a> government. Soon, Indonesia found itself falling out of favour with the international community.</p>
<p>There are parallels here for the Kashmir situation. Although progress may be slow while Modi’s populist BJP remains in power, pressure from the international community would likely go a long way towards pulling both countries back from the brink. In the meantime, while Modi tries to remake India in the BJP’s Hindutva image, for Kashmiris the struggle for self-determination goes on.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/122851/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Contributing authors: Alamgir Khan, a PhD student in Politics & International Relations, University of Dundee;
Roberta Dumitriu, (Mlitt/MSc) International Relations, University of Dundee; and
Rhiannon Dempsey, (Mlitt) International Security, University of Dundee. </span></em></p>Roughly translating as ‘Hindu-ness’, Hindutva reframes the majority religion more as an identity, stoking tensions and intolerance of Muslims.Abdullah Yusuf, Lecturer in Politics, University of DundeeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1219252019-08-21T15:28:55Z2019-08-21T15:28:55ZKashmiris are living a long nightmare of Indian colonialism<p>India’s decision to revoke the special status of Jammu and Kashmir in early August, and the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/15/opinion/sunday/kashmir-siege-modi.html">repression and communications blackout</a> that followed, is another step in India’s long history of colonising Kashmir.</p>
<p>Narendra Modi’s administration effectively annexed Kashmir by abrogating Article 370 of the Indian constitution, adopted in 1954 to guarantee Kashmir’s semi-autonomous status. But this semi-autonomy has been a <a href="https://www.greaterkashmir.com/news/opinion/deception-on-article-370/">hollow shell</a> which has allowed India to engage in <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/a-kashmiri-novelist-on-a-state-under-siege">torture</a>, <a href="http://jkccs.net">extrajudicial killings and mass disappearances</a>. </p>
<p>Scholars of Kashmir have called this process a <a href="https://www.academia.edu/34100292/Constituting_the_Occupation_Preventive_Detention_and_Permanent_Emergency_in_Kashmir">constitutional occupation</a>, and see the repeal of Article 370 as a “<a href="https://theglobepost.com/2019/08/16/kashmir-culmination-plan/">decades-long plan</a>” to annex Kashmir. </p>
<p>Though not unexpected, the annexation was shocking. At midnight on August 4, ten days before the 73rd anniversary of its independence, India intensified its military grip over the people of Kashmir. It deployed <a href="https://scroll.in/latest/932596/additional-troops-deployed-in-kashmir-due-to-internal-security-situation-says-centre-reports">thousands of extra troops</a> in Kashmir, in addition to the half a million already present. </p>
<p>Since then, there has been a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/08/kashmir-communications-blackout-is-draconian-says-un-envoy">widespread communications blackout</a>, with internet, mobiles phones, landlines, television and radio cut. Harsh curfews were imposed on Kashmiris, the local police were disarmed and at least 4,000 people <a href="https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/south-asia/at-least-4000-held-in-kashmir-since-autonomy-was-stripped">were arrested</a>, including Kashmir’s political leadership and civil society. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/indias-colossal-blunder-in-kashmir-121657">India’s colossal blunder in Kashmir</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>On August 14, a four-person fact-finding mission to Kashmir collated <a href="https://countercurrents.org/2019/08/kashmir-caged-fact-finding-report">reports</a> of night raids, abduction of young boys, sexual assault of women, torture, and a lack of access to food and medicine. Kavita Krishnan, a rights activist who was part of the team, <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.in/entry/kashmir-government-arresting-children-article-370_in_5d5388c3e4b05fa9df0696fd">stated</a>: “Frankly, it looks like occupied Iraq or occupied Palestine.” </p>
<p>Some restrictions on movement <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/19/kashmir-parents-defy-authorities-to-keep-children-out-of-school">eased</a> on August 19, but Kashmiris remain in a state of siege. </p>
<h2>Pursuit of self-determination</h2>
<p>Kashmiris have been living with widespread and systematic human rights violations for the past three decades, most recently highlighted in reports by the UN Office of the High Commissioner in <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=23198%20">2018</a> and <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=24799&LangID=E">2019</a>. These reports address the situation on both sides of the Pakistani and Indian line of control in Kashmir, though India’s brutalisation of Kashmiris is striking. </p>
<p>While Kashmir is considered an international territorial dispute between Pakistan and India, for Kashmiris their struggle is one <a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/international-community-must-intervene-kashmir/">of self-determination</a>. </p>
<p>At the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-partition-of-india-happened-and-why-its-effects-are-still-felt-today-81766">Partition of British India</a> in 1947, Kashmir’s independent princely ruler, Maharajah Hari Singh, signed an <a href="https://theglobepost.com/2019/08/12/kashmir-india-resistance/">Instrument of Accession</a> with India. He was under pressure from a <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/21567689.2013.838477">Kashmiri rebellion</a> against his unpopular rule, but did not ask his people what they wanted. The accession was based on the promise that Kashmiris would have a <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/nehru-never-kept-his-promise-on-kashmir/article28919026.ece">plebiscite or referendum</a> to decide their political future. </p>
<p>Between 1948 and 1957, following a war between India and Pakistan over Kashmir, <a href="https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/sasia.htm">UN resolutions</a> reaffirmed the right of Kashmiris for a free and fair referendum. But they have never been granted one. Now India’s revocation of Article 370 is an attempt to transform Kashmir’s unresolved international status into a domestic issue. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>To find out more about the history of Kashmir, <a href="https://theconversation.com/india-tomorrow-part-3-kashmir-115733">listen to episode 3 of India Tomorrow</a>, a special podcast series from The Conversation’s podcast, The Anthill.</em></p>
<hr>
<h2>Post-colonial colonialism</h2>
<p>The case of Kashmir is immensely significant for scholars of colonialism in all its forms. In my own <a href="https://www.academia.edu/34462054/Imperialism_Colonialism_and_Sovereignty_in_the_Post_Colony_India_and_Kashmir">research</a>, I’ve argued that India’s colonialism of Kashmir demands a recalibration of one of the central tenets of these studies: the division of the world into the Europe that colonised, and the non-Europe that was colonised.</p>
<p>This doesn’t mean ignoring the legacy of European colonialism. Major colonialists such as the British, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Dutch and Belgian powers changed the world forever through conquest of territory, slavery and dispossession of non-European peoples. We continue to inhabit a world whose knowledge, political and legal systems are structured by these colonial legacies. </p>
<p>Post-colonial nation-states such as India continue to use <a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/sedition-law-modi-govt-retain-provision-anti-national-elements-1560982-2019-07-03">British colonial laws</a> to crush any dissent for rights or justice. Modi’s current Hindu nationalist government draws on these laws and extends them as it undermines the rights of <a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/news-analysis/story/draft-indian-forest-amendment-bill-2019-arming-state-to-undermine-rights-and-wellbeing-of-tribals-1578054-2019-08-07">tribal people</a>, <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/06/religious-hatred-muslim-man-india-lynched-video-190624141020360.html">religious minorities</a>, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/15/opinion/india-elections-dalits.html">Dalits</a> and <a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/india-bjp-rape-and-status-of-women/">women</a>. The <a href="https://theconversation.com/politics-of-hindu-nationalism-india-tomorrow-part-2-podcast-transcript-115505">Hindutva, or Hindu nationalist</a>, ideology which Modi’s BJP party espouses was born in the matrix of British colonialism and inspired by European fascism in the early 20th century. </p>
<p>But the case of Kashmir demonstrates India’s own long history of colonialism. India’s latest move also abolished Article 35a of the Jammu and Kashmir state constitution, meaning non-Kashmiris are now allowed to buy land, hold jobs and further colonise Kashmir’s rich resources. As historian Hafsa Kanjwal argues, the influx of Indian settlers is designed to change Kashmir’s demography and may lead to ethnic cleansing, inaugurating India as a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/gdpr-consent/?destination=%2fopinions%2f2019%2f08%2f05%2findias-settler-colonial-project-kashmir-takes-disturbing-turn%2f%3f">settler-colonialist</a> state in Kashmir. </p>
<p>India is already part of an <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/focus/2010/07/2010719123045648156.html">unwritten alliance</a> with other settler-colonial states, such as Israel and the US, based on a destructive <a href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20190712-israel-arms-company-signs-100m-missile-deal-with-india-army/">arms trade</a>. Both states were created through a history of massacres and violent dispossession of <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/thanksgiving-annual-genocide-whitewash-171120073022544.html">Indigenous</a> and <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2017/06/50-years-israeli-occupation-longest-modern-history-170604111317533.html">Palestinian</a> peoples. </p>
<p>In explaining its decision to revoke Articles 370 and 35a, India has used the language of counter-terrorism that has become so common since 9/11, coupled with the promise of <a href="https://scroll.in/latest/933603/mukesh-ambani-promises-investment-in-j-k-and-ladakh-says-reliance-will-create-special-task-force">corporate development</a>. These are two classic colonial justifications reframed for a 21st-century lexicon.</p>
<p>Research and resources about India’s colonial occupation of Kashmir, and <a href="https://www.academia.edu/38027955/_Rebels_of_the_Streets_Violence_Protest_and_Freedom_in_Kashmir">Kashmiri resistance</a> to it, are now available at <a href="http://www.inversejournal.com/2019/08/17/thekashmirsyllabus-a-list-of-sources-for-teaching-and-learning-about-kashmir/">#TheKashmirSyllabus</a>, while updates about the current military blockade are available from the <a href="https://kashmirscholarsnetwork.org">Kashmir Scholars Consultative and Action Network</a>. </p>
<p>The full consequences of the <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/editorials/kashmir-article-370-ladakh-pakistan-china-russia-united-nations-world-and-valley-5915532/#comments">geopolitical tinderbox</a> created by India’s move are still emerging. While the international community urges <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/08/concern-kashmir-lockdown-hundreds-reported-arrested-190808200958052.html">restraint</a> and <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2019/08/1044401">bilateral dialogue</a> between India and Pakistan, Kashmir’s right to self-determination must now take centre stage. Kashmiris continue to experience an unbearably suffocating <a href="https://nplusonemag.com/online-only/online-only/states-of-kashmir/">state of siege</a>, and they speak of <a href="https://caravanmagazine.in/conflict/one-solution-gun-solution-gun-solution-kashmir-in-shock-and-anger">resistance</a>, come what may.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/121925/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Goldie Osuri does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The situation in Kashmir shows that colonisation isn’t just done by Europeans – India has a long history of it too.Goldie Osuri, Associate Professor at the Department of Sociology, University of WarwickLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1218012019-08-18T12:42:23Z2019-08-18T12:42:23ZHow to be an ally with Kashmir: War stories from the kitchen<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287905/original/file-20190813-9404-1gqyum4.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Meal-time in Kashmir is a time of dialogue. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Omer Aijazi</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The revocation of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/world/asia/india-pakistan-crisis.html">Kashmir’s special status</a> has <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/video/20190806-protests-erupt-pakistan-after-india-revokes-kashmirs-special-status">left many</a> across the region <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/08/hundreds-rally-delhi-protest-india-kashmir-move-190807104827797.html">outraged.</a> </p>
<p>As Kashmiris are confronted with a new era of <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/08/05/indias-settler-colonial-project-kashmir-takes-disturbing-turn/">settler colonialism</a>, we must take a stand against the <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/07/10/kashmir-un-reports-serious-abuses">violence</a>. This is the time to once and for all forge solidarities with the people of Kashmir. </p>
<p>Given the <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/2019/03/kashmir-conflict-how-did-it-start/">history of betrayals</a> in Kashmir, it is not adequate to only think in terms of geopolitics, although these are important considerations. We must also begin to nurture ideas of <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/immigration-as-reparation-for-colonialism-climate-change-and-corporate-greed/2019/06/20/89b0876e-8956-11e9-98c1-e945ae5db8fb_story.html">reparation for the Kashmiri people</a> who have lived under military occupation for decades.</p>
<p>As a critical anthropologist, former humanitarian worker and also a Pakistani-Canadian, I have <a href="https://jnp.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/default/article/view/85">conducted ethnography</a> in <a href="https://www.hrw.org/reports/2006/pakistan0906/">Pakistan-administered-Kashmir</a> since 2014. I have spent time with numerous communities along the militarized <a href="https://blogs.wsj.com/briefly/2016/09/30/what-is-the-line-of-control-the-short-answer/">Line of Control</a>, the de facto border that divides Kashmir into Pakistan and India.</p>
<p>Pakistan and India, both nuclear powers, have fought three times over Kashmir. In early 2019, they once again came <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2019/03/01/meet-pilot-may-have-averted-an-india-pakistan-war/">dangerously close to war.</a></p>
<p>As the most recent <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/the-latest-indias-govt-initiates-revoking-kashmirs-status/2019/08/05/ab973162-b74a-11e9-8e83-4e6687e99814_story.html">spectre of war</a> looms over South Asia, I would like to share some of the lessons I have learned <a href="https://theantioppressionnetwork.com/allyship/">on allyship</a>.</p>
<h2>Listen, unlearn and accept discomfort</h2>
<p>Allyship is about <a href="https://thefoldmag.com/politics/what-it-means-to-be-an-ally-a-conversation-with-writer-and-activist-shishi-rose">listening</a>, <a href="https://ohiostatepress.org/books/Book%20Pages/Tlostanova%20Learning.html">unlearning</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13613320903364523">accepting discomfort</a>. </p>
<p>Allyship refuses <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/583614/pdf">definitions</a> because the parameters of freedom keep changing. For example, <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/06/supreme-court-upholds-trump-travel-ban-180626142504629.html">U.S. President Donald Trump’s sudden travel ban on Muslims</a> prompted <a href="http://studies.aljazeera.net/en/reports/2017/02/trumps-muslim-travel-ban-triggers-global-solidarity-170222085901069.html">new solidarities</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287919/original/file-20190813-9400-1pgo0ag.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287919/original/file-20190813-9400-1pgo0ag.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287919/original/file-20190813-9400-1pgo0ag.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287919/original/file-20190813-9400-1pgo0ag.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287919/original/file-20190813-9400-1pgo0ag.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287919/original/file-20190813-9400-1pgo0ag.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287919/original/file-20190813-9400-1pgo0ag.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A kitchen in Kashmir.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Omer Aijazi</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Allies need to listen deeply and centre the voices of Kashmiris. This should not be an excuse to posture what sociologist <a href="https://cornell.academia.edu/nosheenali">Nosheen Ali</a> calls <a href="https://criticalkashmirstudies.com/2016/12/27/kashmir-and-pakistans-savior-nationalism/">“Pakistan’s saviour nationalism.”</a></p>
<p>Surprisingly, most of my insights on allyship come from the kitchen. The kitchen is a revelatory space. The authors of the documentary cookbook <em>The Gaza Kitchen</em> call it a <a href="https://www.gazakitchen.com/">“a visit to the intimate everyday spaces which never appear in the news.”</a> This is where the contours of close relationships are adjusted. It is a <a href="https://utorontopress.com/ca/afghanistan-remembers-4">place of undoing</a>, which can generate as much discomfort and instability as warmth and sustenance. </p>
<p>The kitchen is another site where women exert their <a href="https://www.palgrave.com/de/book/9783319953298">power in the everyday,</a> challenging stereotypes of their lack of participation in Kashmir’s political and social life.</p>
<h2>An invitation to a meal is trust</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2016/06/syrian-refugee-chefs-share-recipes-160628081358083.html">Food connects people.</a> In the mountainscapes, during the grazing season, people turn extra milk into <em>ghee</em> (clarified butter). Kashmiris then distribute the ghee to neighbours and friends to strengthen social ties and express solidarity with one another.</p>
<p>In Kashmir’s mountainscapes, people maintain multiple kitchens. This is not an indication of opulence, but convenience. The seasons and topography are so varied: Kashmiris need multiple kitchens. The kitchen is not a singular site: there are winter kitchens, summer kitchens, exterior kitchens, interior kitchens, temporary kitchens, permanent kitchens, kitchens for guests, kitchens for family. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287908/original/file-20190813-9400-13n99jb.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287908/original/file-20190813-9400-13n99jb.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287908/original/file-20190813-9400-13n99jb.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287908/original/file-20190813-9400-13n99jb.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287908/original/file-20190813-9400-13n99jb.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287908/original/file-20190813-9400-13n99jb.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287908/original/file-20190813-9400-13n99jb.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Kashmir winter kitchen.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Omer Aijazi</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>An invitation to a Kashmiri kitchen is based on trust. It means access to the inner dynamics and workings of a household. One host remarked: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“We don’t let just anyone enter our kitchens.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I was permitted into the kitchens after months of difficult conversations. These conversations helped me to recognize <a href="https://www.tanqeed.org/2016/10/a-kashmiri-view-of-pakistan-solidarity-without-demands">my complicity</a> with the oppression of the Kashmiri people.</p>
<h2>Food is pride and culture</h2>
<p>Food and its preparation reflect care, pride and a sense of attachment to the land. During my time in Kashmir, people often went out of their way to prepare dishes that were made from hyper-local vegetables and mushrooms. </p>
<p>One of my generous hosts spent six hours preparing a sweet made from rice, meticulously ground down by hand; another host cooked from a recipe inherited from her grandmother. These were recipes that have been passed down from family members who lived long before the violent <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/06/29/the-great-divide-books-dalrymple">Partition of the Indian Subcontient</a> that also splintered Kashmir into two. It is important to remember that Kashmir exceeds the histories of Pakistan and India. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287921/original/file-20190813-9409-s5e4gv.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287921/original/file-20190813-9409-s5e4gv.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287921/original/file-20190813-9409-s5e4gv.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287921/original/file-20190813-9409-s5e4gv.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287921/original/file-20190813-9409-s5e4gv.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287921/original/file-20190813-9409-s5e4gv.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287921/original/file-20190813-9409-s5e4gv.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Rice ground down by hand and then cooked with milk and butter.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Omer Aijazi</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Central to <a href="http://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/15810.html">Kashmiri resistance and resurgence</a> remains the right to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/1070289X.2019.1633115">publicly assert</a> their political and cultural identities. </p>
<p>In Pakistan-administered Kashmir, the avenues for this are scarce. A great deal of vigilance has to be exercised by Kashmiris as they risk being charged for disloyalty and even treason. I have witnessed the carefulness that goes into organizing mundane events such as debating competitions and <a href="https://read.dukeupress.edu/cssaame/article-abstract/32/1/13/59715/Poetry-Power-Protest-Reimagining-Muslim-Nationhood">poetry readings.</a> These events provide modest opportunities for the unapologetic celebration of being Kashmiri.</p>
<p>If Pakistan (and India) want to continue to host Kashmir — until more strides are taken for its complete sovereignty — perhaps <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/delusional-states/6AE972EBD2D6F8B20F80E281DD0DAEC8">we need to rethink our notion of hospitality</a>. </p>
<h2>Meal-time is an invitation to dialogue</h2>
<p>Initially, I felt strange accepting invitations for lunch or dinner, especially in the space of such constraint and limited resources. But I realized these were invitations for dialogue outside of formal research practice in “unstructured time.” These were opportunities to learn other rules of engagement.</p>
<p>The recent removal of Kashmir’s special status in India has made it clear that the nation-state remains an unjust and unreliable adjudicator of Kashmiri life. The overturn tries to force conscription of Kashmiris into the Indian state. There are no guarantees that sometime in the future, Pakistan will not do the same.</p>
<p>The language of Kashmir’s sovereignty must remain in constant circulation as well as efforts to work towards it. It must be arrived at through internal dialogue, experimentation and consensus. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287922/original/file-20190813-9409-tr21qf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287922/original/file-20190813-9409-tr21qf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287922/original/file-20190813-9409-tr21qf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287922/original/file-20190813-9409-tr21qf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287922/original/file-20190813-9409-tr21qf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287922/original/file-20190813-9409-tr21qf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287922/original/file-20190813-9409-tr21qf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Local foods taste and smell like Kashmir. Here, ‘sonchal,’ a leafy spinach found in abundance in Kashmir’s mountainscapes.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Omer Aijazi</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This will most likely be a process of trial and error, culminations of incremental successes and small failures. At the same time, we must remain vigilant. Colonialism will continually increase in sophistication, and devise more exacting ways to assimilate, usurp, <a href="https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/des/article/view/18627">distract</a> or annihilate. In response, we must be ready to work towards more <a href="https://www.yesmagazine.org/happiness/radical-hospitality-for-the-holidays">radical forms of hospitality</a>.</p>
<h2>Build coalitions</h2>
<p>Social justice for Kashmir cannot be separated from other regional struggles, such as those in <a href="https://www.tanqeed.org/2013/06/misunderstanding-balochistan/">Balochistan</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/28/world/asia/pakistan-pashtun-dissent.html">Waziristan</a> or <a href="https://www.economist.com/asia/2018/08/02/a-controversial-register-of-citizens-in-north-east-india">Assam</a> in India’s northeast. </p>
<p>Colonial tactics insist on <a href="http://einsights.ogpr.educ.ubc.ca/v13n02/articles/butterwick_selman/index.html">separation and disconnectedness</a>: self from self and self from others. <a href="http://www.criticalethnicstudiesjournal.org/blog/2019/6/3/complicity-talk-for-teachingwriting-about-palestine-in-north-american-academia">We must insist otherwise.</a></p>
<p>Allyship need not be oriented towards finite solutions. The work for Kashmir’s sovereignty will most likely outlive our generation — our strengths, commitments, loyalties and imaginations. Just like the perils of cooking on an open fire, where success is not always guaranteed, we must be willing to stumble, fall and hurt.</p>
<p>This means we must create our own ethics of care and measures of success. In our ally-relationships, we are judged for our complicity, silence and inaction not for the apparent failures or slowness of our efforts.</p>
<p>[ <em>You’re smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation’s authors and editors.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/ca/newsletters?utm_source=TCCA&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=youresmart">You can read us daily by subscribing to our newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/121801/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Omer Aijazi receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) to conduct research in Kashmir and Northern Pakistan.</span></em></p>As Kashmir faces new challenges, our forms of allyship must also evolve. Perhaps we can learn some lessons from its kitchens.Omer Aijazi, Postdoctoral research fellow, Religion and Anthropology, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1218332019-08-15T20:12:09Z2019-08-15T20:12:09ZWhat’s behind the protests in Kashmir?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288020/original/file-20190814-136230-16iuqv7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Kashmiri Muslims shout slogans during a protest after Eid prayers in Srinagar.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/India-Kashmir/3f8cebb4b6cc43428f88db5b93d4b993/33/0">AP Photo/ Dar Yasin</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>India recently enacted a law which will end a special autonomous status given to the state of Jammu and Kashmir, known in the West as simply “Kashmir.” </p>
<p>Amit Shah, India’s minister for home affairs, <a href="https://qz.com/india/1681325/india-scraps-article-370-that-gives-special-status-to-kashmir/">announced in Parliament</a> that the Bharatiya Janata Party government was revoking Article 370 of the Indian Constitution in the name of bringing prosperity to the region.</p>
<p>Since 1954, this article has <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/article-370-9780198074083?cc=us&lang=en&">governed federal relations between India and Kashmir</a>, India’s only Muslim majority state. </p>
<p>I’m a scholar of South Asian politics and have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139019477">written extensively</a> on the evolution of the India-Pakistan conflict in Kashmir. </p>
<p>Article 370 is woven into that history. </p>
<h2>History of Kashmir’s autonomy</h2>
<p><a href="https://in.news.yahoo.com/article-370-35a-history-origin-provisions-132348359.html">Article 370</a> originated in the particular circumstances under which the former prince and last ruler of Kashmir acceded to India shortly after the partition of the British Indian Empire into the independent states of India and Pakistan in 1947.</p>
<p>The prince, or maharaja, <a href="https://www.andrewwhitehead.net/full-text-a-mission-in-kashmir.html">agreed to have Kashmir become part of India under duress</a>. His rule was threatened by an insurrection supported by Pakistan.</p>
<p>Article 370 was designed to guarantee the autonomy of the <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/08/kashmir-special-status-explained-articles-370-35a-190805054643431.html">Muslim majority state</a>, the only one in predominantly Hindu India. The clause effectively limited the powers of the Indian government to the realms of defense, foreign affairs and communications. It also permitted the Kashmiri state to have its own <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-with-jammu-kashmirs-special-status-scrapped-the-flag-it-no-longer-has-5882212/">flag</a> and <a href="http://www.jklegislativeassembly.nic.in/Costitution_of_J&K.pdf">constitution</a>.</p>
<p>More controversially, Article 370 prohibited non-Kashmiris from purchasing property in the state and stated that women who married non-Kashmiris would <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-40897522">lose their inheritance rights</a>.</p>
<h2>Changes over time</h2>
<p>But the independence of the Kashmiri state has been declining for decades. Beginning in the early 1950s, a series of presidential ordinances, which had swift effect much like American executive orders, <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/indo-pakistani-conflict/oclc/463849">diluted the terms of the article</a>.</p>
<p>For example, in 1954, a presidential order extended Indian citizenship to the “permanent residents” of the state. Prior to this decision the native inhabitants of the state had been considered to be “<a href="http://www.doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-9231-6">state subjects</a>.”</p>
<p>Other constitutional changes followed. The jurisdiction of the Indian Supreme Court <a href="https://books.google.co.in/books?id=BfxtAAAAMAAJ">was expanded to the state</a> in 1954. In addition, the Indian government was granted the authority to declare a national emergency <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Kashmir_Article_370.html?id=DMEMAAAAIAAJ">if Kashmir were attacked</a>.</p>
<p>Many other administrative actions reduced the state’s autonomy over time. These have ranged from enabling Kashmiris to participate in national administrative positions to expanding the jurisdiction of anti-corruption bodies, such as the Central Vigilance Commission and the <a href="https://www.sbirealty.in/property/doc/CGST_Act_2017.pdf">Central Goods and Services Act of 2017</a>, into the state.</p>
<h2>What it means for India and the world</h2>
<p>What has happened as a result of the move to revoke Article 370? </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288021/original/file-20190814-136217-1k7uv7u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288021/original/file-20190814-136217-1k7uv7u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288021/original/file-20190814-136217-1k7uv7u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288021/original/file-20190814-136217-1k7uv7u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288021/original/file-20190814-136217-1k7uv7u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288021/original/file-20190814-136217-1k7uv7u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288021/original/file-20190814-136217-1k7uv7u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Kashmiris living in New Delhi gather for a function to observe Eid al-Adha away from their homes in New Delhi.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/India-Kashmir/af8c1e6587ec43cc95190ec1cfea6d98/49/0">AP Photo/Manish Swarup</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The decision has been met with considerable unhappiness and resentment in the Kashmir Valley, which has a <a href="https://globalvoices.org/specialcoverage/the-kashmiri-people-versus-the-indian-state/">Muslim population close to 97%</a> – versus <a href="https://www.census2011.co.in/data/religion/state/1-jammu-and-kashmir.html">68% of the population of the state as a whole</a>. The government of Jammu and Kashmir, meanwhile, does not have the legal power to challenge the move.</p>
<p>China and Pakistan have expressed displeasure.</p>
<p>Pakistan has long maintained that <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.in/entry/india-china-media-after-article-370-abrogation_in_5d525555e4b0cfeed1a245a9">it should have inherited the state</a> based upon its geographic contiguity and its demography. </p>
<p>India and Pakistan have fought <a href="https://cup.columbia.edu/book/conflict-unending/9780231123693">three wars over Kashmir</a>. While I don’t believe Pakistan will initiate another war with India over this issue at this time, I doubt it will quietly resign itself to the changed circumstances. At the very least, it will seek to draw in members of the international community to oppose India’s action, as it has sought to do in the past.</p>
<p>China, which considers Pakistan to be its “<a href="https://thediplomat.com/2015/03/china-and-pakistans-all-weather-friendship/link">all-weather ally</a>,” has stated that the decision was “<a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3021712/china-calls-indias-move-scrap-kashmirs-special-status-not">not acceptable and won’t be binding</a>.”</p>
<p>[ <em>Like what you’ve read? Want more?</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=likethis">Sign up for The Conversation’s daily newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/121833/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sumit Ganguly receives funding from the US Army War College, the Smith Richardson Foundation and the US Department of State. </span></em></p>India recently revoked a special provision that ended the autonomy of the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Here’s the history of the constitutional provision, Article 370.Sumit Ganguly, Distinguished Professor of Political and the Tagore Chair in Indian Cultures and Civilizations, Indiana UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1216882019-08-11T12:19:03Z2019-08-11T12:19:03ZModi ushers in a new intolerant India and revokes multicultural democracy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287543/original/file-20190809-144873-1ta6wwe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=428%2C210%2C4681%2C3504&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Paramilitary soldiers walk past Rapid Action Force (RAF) soldiers standing guard during security lockdown in Jammu, India, Aug. 9, 2019. The restrictions on public movement throughout Kashmir have forced people to stay indoors. All communications and the internet have been cut off. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source"> (AP Photo/Channi Anand)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Hindu Nationalist government of Narendra Modi, with unexpected suddenness, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/08/05/indias-settler-colonial-project-kashmir-takes-disturbing-turn/">has abolished the special constitutional status</a> of the Muslim-majority state of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). </p>
<p>On Aug. 8, Prime Minister Modi, <a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/pm-narendra-modi-speech-article-370-highlights-development-agenda-jammu-kashmir-ladakh-1578882-2019-08-08">in a speech to the nation</a>, described the new era that has dawned. He said with the abolition of special status, all citizens of India were now equal. He said the citizens of Jammu and Kashmir could now see enhanced economic and social development, previously hampered by its special status. A new era, he said — a “New India” — has been ushered in. </p>
<p>But this is <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/columns/political-climate-the-age-of-intolerance/article7810635.ece">an era of ethnic majoritarianism</a> that erases differences, dissent and the rights of minorities. Uniformity has become the defining feature of the Indian state, replacing the carefully constructed federal asymmetry and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/05/16/you-know-indias-democracy-is-broken-when-millions-wait-election-results-fear/">multicultural democracy</a>. </p>
<p>Modi introduced his presidential order to Indian Parliament, where his Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) has an overwhelming majority. The two resolutions passed.</p>
<p>The first revoked Article 370 and the second demoted the state by splitting it into two union territories: Jammu and Kashmir (with a legislature) and Ladakh (without a legislature). All this was done without any prior consultation, either with the elected representatives of the Indian Parliament or the people of Jammu and Kashmir. More than 35,000 additional central forces personnel were deployed in the Kashmir Valley. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/narendra-modis-victory-speech-delivers-visions-of-a-hindu-nationalist-ascetic-117802">Narendra Modi’s victory speech delivers visions of a Hindu nationalist ascetic</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Hindu pilgrims, tourists and non-Kashmiri students were asked to return home. All educational institutions have been closed. Some 300 local leaders and all major political figures (including former chief ministers Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti) have been either put under house arrest or held in government jails. The valley remains under a drastic curfew and with no internet connectivity.</p>
<p>In correcting what it considers the mistakes of Indian post-partition history, Modi’s government has undermined India’s democracy. It has erased the innovative federal constitutional design that had brought forward a reconciliation of differences and similarities in one nation.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287536/original/file-20190809-144868-1klsnq8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=260%2C260%2C5346%2C3472&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287536/original/file-20190809-144868-1klsnq8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287536/original/file-20190809-144868-1klsnq8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287536/original/file-20190809-144868-1klsnq8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287536/original/file-20190809-144868-1klsnq8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287536/original/file-20190809-144868-1klsnq8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287536/original/file-20190809-144868-1klsnq8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This August 2016 photo shows Indian policemen during a curfew in Srinagar, Indian-controlled Kashmir.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Dar Yasin)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Background of the current Kashmir crisis</h2>
<p>The genesis of the <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.2307/2761183">special status goes back to 1947</a> when, after Indian independence, the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir was integrated into the Indian state. As a result of the tribal invasion from Pakistan, the maharaja of Kashmir signed a Treaty of Accession with India. </p>
<p>India stipulated that, once the state had been freed of tribal invaders, its people would decide their future political association. </p>
<p>This set in motion a whole train of events that have fuelled the seemingly unending turmoil in the Kashmir Valley, namely: the arrival of the Indian army in the state.</p>
<p>This led to the state’s partition into the India-administered state of Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan-administered Kashmir (called Azad Kashmir). In January 1948, India complained to the United Nations Security Council about Pakistani aggression and the following year, in January 1949, the UN Commission for India and Pakistan (UNCIP) passed a resolution asserting the disputed nature of the state and confirming the right of self-determination — which remains unfilled till this day. </p>
<p>The result of this complex history are the irreconcilable positions taken by India (Kashmir as an integral part of India) and Pakistan (Kashmir as a disputed territory); and Articles 370 and 35A which legally establish the Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir’s asymmetric constitutional relationship with India.</p>
<p>For the last seven decades, Articles 370 and 35A have determined Jammu and Kashmir’s unique political relationship with the Indian state. It is the only state in India to have its own constitution. It kept its internal autonomy intact except for defence, communication and foreign affairs. </p>
<p>Its cultural identity was to be maintained by restricting the right to property and employment to only Kashmiri permanent residents. Over the years, there has been an incremental abrogation of the special status. But what had remained intact were the citizenship rights regarding property ownership and public employment.</p>
<p>For more than 20 years, the predominately Muslim Kashmir Valley has been engulfed in a secessionist movement to demand <em>azadi</em> (freedom) from the Indian state. Pakistan supports the movement, and homegrown militancy has been steadily on the rise. </p>
<p>The essence of Kashmiri Muslims’ discontent can be captured under three headings: a perceived threat to their agency over the control of their territory (apprehensions within certain quarters about the State’s accession to India); fear and anxiety of losing their religious identity; and disappointment with the governance agenda.</p>
<h2>Minority rights have shrunk</h2>
<p>The Modi government, in ushering a new era of “one nation (read Hindu), one India,” has completely misunderstood the original intent of the special provisions for Jammu and Kashmir. Through Articles 370 and 35A, the Indian state-recognized differences in the cultural and political identity of the Kashmiri population, while the similarities between Kashmir and the Indian state rested on democratic rights and principles. </p>
<p>No doubt this historical entente has seen ruptures over the last seven decades. Yet multicultural democratic India was to remain the national symbol. Sadly, recent government actions have replaced it with Hindu majoritarianism.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287435/original/file-20190808-144873-199v3zi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287435/original/file-20190808-144873-199v3zi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287435/original/file-20190808-144873-199v3zi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287435/original/file-20190808-144873-199v3zi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287435/original/file-20190808-144873-199v3zi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287435/original/file-20190808-144873-199v3zi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287435/original/file-20190808-144873-199v3zi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In this April 2019 photo, Modi, left, is seen with Amit Shah, considered the architect of the Hindu nationalist-led government’s aggressive agenda to convert India from a secular, multicultural democracy into a distinctly Hindu, culturally and politically homogenous state.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Manish Swarup)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The space for minorities, particularly Muslims and the tribal population in northeast India, has shrunk. Outside Jammu and Kashmir, Article 371, which gives constitutional and legal status and powers to those tribal communities in acknowledgment of their distinct culture and practices, also appears to be in jeopardy. </p>
<p>If the BJP can undo a complex set of legal and constitutional mechanisms, the same can be done to the northeast’s special powers, but with greater ease.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/call-the-crime-in-kashmir-by-its-name-ongoing-genocide-120412">Call the crime in Kashmir by its name: Ongoing genocide</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The Kashmir Valley, although at present under complete lockdown, is quiet. </p>
<p>But <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/ca/academic/subjects/history/south-asian-history/kashmir-history-politics-representation?format=HB&isbn=9781107181977">its resistance is deep</a>. It’s a place where past events and collective memory play significant roles, never quite effacing what came before. </p>
<p>The events of Aug. 5, 2019, will be added to the memory of Kashmir Muslims. It will join other dates: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>July 13 Martyrs Day (21 Kashmiris killed in 1931 outside the Srinagar Central jail by the troops of the Dogra Maharaja); </p></li>
<li><p>Oct. 27 Occupation Day (the signing of the Accession Treaty); </p></li>
<li><p>Feb. 11, Feb. 19 and July 6 Martyrdom Anniversaries of all those who have openly challenged the India state; </p></li>
<li><p>Feb. 11 in 1984, Maqbool Butt hanged; (founder of the Kashmir liberation movement in 1964);</p></li>
<li><p>Feb. 9, 2013 Afzal Guru hanged; (convicted of his role in the bombing of Indian Parliament in 2001);</p></li>
<li><p>July 2016; Burhan Wani killing (22-year-old homegrown militant and commander of the Hizbul Mujahideen).</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Kashmiri Muslims have, for more than seven decades, been proactive in seeking to guard their special status and their collective identity. The consequences of all this cannot be anything but the increasing alienation of the valley’s Muslims and their deepening distrust of the Indian democracy, further reinforcing Hindu/Muslim fault lines and Kashmiri demand for <em>azadi</em>.</p>
<p>[ <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/ca/newsletters?utm_source=TCCA&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=expertise">Expertise in your inbox. Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter and get a digest of academic takes on today’s news, every day.</a></em> ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/121688/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Reeta Tremblay has received funding from SSHRC and internal grants from Concordia University to do research on Kashmir and India-Pakistan relations. </span></em></p>India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he’s ushering in a ‘new India.’ But this new era is of ethnic majoritarianism and erases differences, dissent and the rights of minorities.Reeta Tremblay, Professor, Political Science, University of VictoriaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1204122019-08-08T21:04:23Z2019-08-08T21:04:23ZCall the crime in Kashmir by its name: Ongoing genocide<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287382/original/file-20190808-144888-d3v005.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=46%2C0%2C5184%2C3406&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">An Indian paramilitary soldier checks the bag of a Kashmiri man during curfew in Srinagar, Indian-controlled Kashmir. The lives of millions in India's only Muslim-majority region have been upended recently.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Dar Yasin)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2016/09/30/asia/kashmir-explainer/index.html">The Kashmir conflict</a>, referred to as a “territorial dispute,” has been central to tense relations in Asia for more than 70 years, particularly between the two nuclear powers of India and Pakistan.</p>
<p>Tensions have escalated between the countries many times in the past and have sometimes resulted in military confrontation.</p>
<p>Kashmiris are an Indigenous people living under colonial occupation who have been fighting for their right to practise sovereignty through self-determination and self-government. Multiple colonial borders run through the Kashmiri peoples’ territories (Indian, Pakistani and Chinese), separating families and friends. </p>
<p>Kashmir is the <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/ranisingh/2016/07/12/kashmir-in-the-worlds-most-militarized-zone-violence-after-years-of-comparative-calm/#5ff588423124">most militarized region in the world</a>, with more than half a million armed Indian troops deployed in the Indian-administered Kashmir over the past 30 years. </p>
<p>They are occupying Kashmir through use of colonial war measures acts, including the <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2011/10/19/india-repeal-armed-forces-special-powers-act">Armed Forces Special Powers Act</a>, the <a href="https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6b52014.html">Public Safety Act</a> and martial laws that have given Indian troops complete impunity. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/WopiFrame.aspx?sourcedoc=/Documents/Countries/IN/DevelopmentsInKashmirJune2016ToApril2018.pdf&action=default&DefaultItemOpen=1">Gross human rights violations</a> have occurred under their watch, according to a 2018 United Nations report. They include <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/WopiFrame.aspx?sourcedoc=/Documents/Countries/IN/DevelopmentsInKashmirJune2016ToApril2018.pdf&action=default&DefaultItemOpen=1">gang rapes by military</a> and mass disappearances of approximately <a href="http://apdpkashmir.com/">8,000 to 10,000 people</a>. As many as <a href="https://in.reuters.com/article/idINIndia-36624520081121">100,000</a> Kashmiris have been killed and several thousand <a href="http://jkccs.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/TORTURE-Indian-State%E2%80%99s-Instrument-of-Control-in-Indian-administered-Jammu-and-Kashmir.pdf">wounded, blinded and maimed, including through torture tactics in custody</a></p>
<p>As a result of the war, hundreds of thousands of Kashmiri (Muslims, as well as Sikhs and Pandits) have left Kashmir, and become internationally displaced and dispossessed following the 72-year Indian occupation.</p>
<h2>India’s latest invasion</h2>
<p>On <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/06/india-kashmir-crackdown-region-delhi-autonomy">Aug. 4, India ordered all tourists and outside students to leave Kashmir effective immediately</a>. They simultaneously implemented emergency measures to protect tourists and Indian Hindu <em>yathris</em> doing an annual Hindu pilgrimage. It also airlifted almost 10,000 more soldiers into Kashmir within a matter of two days. </p>
<p>Approximately 28,000 additional armed troops then invaded Kashmir Valley in trucks and tanks.</p>
<p>On <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/08/india-abolishes-kashmir-special-status-rush-decree-190805061331958.html">Aug. 5</a>, the Indian Home Minister Amit Shah told parliament that the president had signed a decree abolishing Section 35a and Article 370 of the Indian constitution.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/india-revokes-kashmirs-autonomy-risking-yet-another-war-with-pakistan-121485">India revokes Kashmir’s autonomy, risking yet another war with Pakistan</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The Indian government eliminated Kashmir’s special status in an effort to assimilate the Kashmiri people, extinguish their unique Indigenous title to land and claim their land as federal territory. This obliterated any last set of rights Kashmiris enjoyed as a semi-autonomous people in the Indian union of states. </p>
<p>Jammu and Kashmir State <a href="https://www.livemint.com/news/india/parliament-approves-bill-for-bifurcation-of-j-k-into-two-union-territories-1565067616715.html">has been bifurcated</a> into an Indian federal union territory. </p>
<p>These unilateral moves by the Indian state obliterate the rights Kashmiris had as citizens of India as well as their Indigenous rights. Under the <a href="https://www.un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/declaration-on-the-rights-of-indigenous-peoples.html">United Nations Rights of Indigenous People (UNDRIP)</a>, India is obligated to ensure decisions pertaining to Kashmiri are made with them, using the principle of <a href="https://www.un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/publications/2016/10/free-prior-and-informed-consent-an-indigenous-peoples-right-and-a-good-practice-for-local-communities-fao/">Free, Prior, Informed Consent (FPIC)</a> that recognizes Kashmiris as a sovereign Indigenous people.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/declaration-on-the-rights-of-indigenous-peoples.html">UNDRIP</a> was <a href="https://www.un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/declaration-on-the-rights-of-indigenous-peoples.html">adopted and signed</a> by India, China and Pakistan in 2007.</p>
<h2>Millions under house arrest</h2>
<p>Since Aug. 4, <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/reason-fear-safety-kashmiri-india-190805143607160.html">India has eliminated all access to and communication with Kashmir</a>. The internet, mobile and landlines have been severed, and <a href="https://www.census2011.co.in/census/state/jammu+and+kashmir.html">14.7 million people</a> have no access to essentials like food and medical support while Indian advances to take full control of their land using military power.</p>
<p>Aside from extremely rare media, Kashmiris have not been able to communicate with each other or with the outside world. The entire Jammu and Kashmir region is essentially imprisoned under house arrest.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.abebooks.com/9780199455263/Article-370-Constitutional-History-Jammu-0199455260/plp">Since 1949, Article 370</a> has granted the state of Jammu and Kashmir semi-autonomous constitutional status. Under its provisions, the region has its own legislative assembly, constitution, flag and independence in all matters except communications, foreign affairs and defence. </p>
<p>Revoking this status is the latest attempt to annihilate the Kashmiri people, extinguish their rights and eliminate their linguistic, social, cultural, economic and political existence as Indigenous people. The legality of dissolving the special status is being challenged by India’s <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.in/entry/kashmir-article-370-scrapping-constitutional-expert-reacts-noorani_in_5d47e58de4b0aca341206135?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAMZkO9yMPVYiRtn0IlbBjgvJRyJ-7UDrHxoR2feaA9nrwGwQbc-YkQpzl7OLAwLbYFuQVJVuc_PPzWk0d9f6D-e5zrEMNcDGCnHQXBYbz6WHAX5VGNMFiTKBpPUVZD5GA30TvXZ-r9vigm0w2_lJ1Q5T-TvBvjqJ2XL_lvGy5X1K">legal and constitutional experts</a>, and goes against the country’s Supreme Court rulings of recent years.</p>
<p>With these recent changes to Article 370 and Section 35a, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/08/05/indias-settler-colonial-project-kashmir-takes-disturbing-turn/?noredirect=on">India permits</a> the permanent <a href="https://www.trtworld.com/opinion/and-kashmiris-shall-immediately-cease-to-exist-28778">settlement</a> of non-Kashmiris in Kashmiri land. Membership and settlement had previously been determined by the Kashmiri constitution. Non-Kashmiris are now allowed to purchase, acquire and permanently settle on land in Kashmir. </p>
<p>Under these changes, the <a href="https://medium.com/@hotgossips/who-are-gujjar-bakarwals-a6b0b4c72ece">Gujjar-Bakarwal</a> people in Kashmir, for example, are immediately at greater risk. They migrate seasonally with animals on pastoral grounds, caring for both the animals and the land. India’s laws concerning land as individual property will not permit them to continue living on the land as they’ve historically done.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287349/original/file-20190808-144873-da5sl4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287349/original/file-20190808-144873-da5sl4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287349/original/file-20190808-144873-da5sl4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287349/original/file-20190808-144873-da5sl4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287349/original/file-20190808-144873-da5sl4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287349/original/file-20190808-144873-da5sl4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287349/original/file-20190808-144873-da5sl4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Gujjar-Bakarwals are seen in this 2004 photo taken in Kashmir.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These changes will also result in a reconfiguration of the population in Kashmir. Kashmiris have long speculated that India intends to settle military and paramilitary families in Kashmir. As a Kashmiri, I have personally already seen semi-permanent military colonies in Kashmir.</p>
<h2>Using an Indigenous framework</h2>
<p>Indigenous peoples in Asia like the Kashmiri have long faced threats to their existence and their inherent rights, <a href="https://www.adb.org/publications/land-and-cultural-survival-communal-rights-indigenous-peoples-asia">particularly “relational” land rights</a>, as colonizing relations between Indigenous peoples and settler nations make land encroachment profitable and treat Indigenous lives as disposable. </p>
<p>Media, academics, legal and policy analysts barely touch on Indigenous rights, as outlined in the UNDRIP, when discussing Kashmir. But the Indigenous rights framework is necessary to accurately assess the distinct set of rights abuses Kashmiris face. India is in violation of multiple international human rights conventions and declarations it’s signed that apply to Kashmir. </p>
<p>Under UNDRIP, India is obligated to consult with Indigenous people rather than make decisions that impact them unilaterally, and to grant them the greatest possible opportunity for self-government and self-determination. </p>
<p>This right of Kashmiris to determine their future was also affirmed by a <a href="https://www.abebooks.com/9780199455263/Article-370-Constitutional-History-Jammu-0199455260/plp">UN resolution on Kashmir in 1948</a>. But this resolution limited self-determination to a decision on whether to accede to India or Pakistan. </p>
<p>There has been a reluctance to use the term genocide to describe the events that have unfolded in Kashmir over the decades. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287437/original/file-20190808-144868-1jqbtid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287437/original/file-20190808-144868-1jqbtid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287437/original/file-20190808-144868-1jqbtid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287437/original/file-20190808-144868-1jqbtid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287437/original/file-20190808-144868-1jqbtid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287437/original/file-20190808-144868-1jqbtid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287437/original/file-20190808-144868-1jqbtid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In this May 2018 photo, supporters of separatist People’s Political Party (PPP) Leader Hilal Ahmad War hold banners and shout slogans during a protest against the visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Srinagar in Indian-controlled Kashmir.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Dar Yasin)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But the <a href="https://www.un.org/ar/preventgenocide/adviser/pdf/osapg_analysis_framework.pdf">legal definition of genocide</a> fits. The Kashmiri people have been targeted for a demographic transformation on their territory by an outsider group by introducing mass permanent settlements of outsiders. The outsider group is the <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/06/asia/kashmir-india-modi-analysis-intl-hnk/index.html">Hindu nationalist</a> Indian state under the leadership of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/4b68c89c-711c-11e9-bf5c-6eeb837566c5">Prime Minister Narendra Modi</a>.</p>
<h2>Targeted for being Muslim</h2>
<p>As a group, Kashmiris are additionally being targeted because they are predominantly Muslim as well as culturally and linguistically distinct. Muslims are <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/03/divisive-policies-india-hurt-economic-growth-190306214221486.html">treated as threats in India,</a> including in Kashmir. They have been targeted for elimination in part through military force and <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/jammu-and-kashmir-suffered-rs-16000-crore-loss-during-kashmir-unrest/articleshow/56446043.cms?from=mdr">economic oppression</a>.</p>
<p>Kashmiri youth have been <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/jk-cops-disguise-as-stone-pelters-to-catch-real-culprits/articleshow/65728947.cms">criminalized and put into state custody</a> for “reform” programming for throwing stones to protest <a href="https://books.google.co.in/books?id=BvpUCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA88&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false">the injustices they face</a> and the impunity of the Indian military. This treatment is a violation of the <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/crc.aspx">UN Convention on the Rights of a Child</a>.</p>
<p>Refusal to call out genocide has happened before, in Nazi Germany, Rwanda and elsewhere. The <a href="https://treaties.un.org/doc/publication/unts/volume%2078/volume-78-i-1021-english.pdf">United Nations Convention on Genocide</a> states that it must never be permitted again. The convention also states that at-risk groups must be protected. </p>
<p>Instead, there has been an eerie silence from world leaders on naming the unfolding crime in Kashmir.</p>
<p>Kashmiris have been the guardians, gardeners and caretakers of Kashmiri land, water, each other and non-human life. Regardless of colonial borders, what is most fundamental is what Kashmiris, as a sovereign Indigenous people, want. </p>
<p>According to a popular Kashmiri protest chant that has reverberated through Kashmiri history:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><em>“Jis Kashmir ko khoon se seencha! Woh Kashmir hamara hai!”</em> “The Kashmir that has been drenched in our blood! It belongs to us, the Kashmiris!” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>[ <em>Like what you’ve read? Want more?</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/ca/newsletters?utm_source=TCCA&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=likethis">Sign up for The Conversation’s daily newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/120412/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Binish Ahmed does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>While the world avoids calling the crime by its name, Kashmiris are facing an ongoing genocide.Binish Ahmed, PhD candidate, Public Policy, Toronto Metropolitan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1216572019-08-08T21:04:21Z2019-08-08T21:04:21ZIndia’s colossal blunder in Kashmir<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287409/original/file-20190808-144843-1cr9y9f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=100%2C0%2C4912%2C3360&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Indian paramilitary soldiers stand guard on a deserted street during curfew in Srinagar, Indian-controlled Kashmir, Aug. 8, 2019.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Dar Yasin)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In a stunningly dangerous, undemocratic and secretive move, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/08/05/indias-settler-colonial-project-kashmir-takes-disturbing-turn/">repealed Articles 370 and 35a</a> of the Indian Constitution using a presidential order. The government failed to involve all stakeholders in the restive state of Jammu and Kashmir before making its move.</p>
<p>What’s known as <em>President’s Rule</em> in India — the suspension of state government and imposition of direct central government rule in a state — was imposed in Jammu and Kashmir in December 2018. It was used as the rationale to stealthily push through this latest policy in parliament.</p>
<p>Since there’s no legislative assembly in Jammu and Kashmir, the Modi government and Minister of Home Affairs Amit Shah cleverly used Article 367 to make the argument that any changes to the status of the state <a href="https://thewire.in/politics/constitution-torn-to-shreds-as-rss-indulges-article-370-fantasy-in-kashmir">could be considered legitmate under presidential decree.</a></p>
<p>Article 370 was created to bind the state of Jammu and Kashmir to India in 1947, after Maharaja Hari Singh signed what was known as the Instrument of Accession. <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/understanding-articles-370-35a-jammu-kashmir-indian-constitution-5610996/">The article gave the region significant autonomy</a>. </p>
<p>The state could have its own constitution, flag and make laws. New Delhi had control over matters of foreign affairs, defence and communications. Article 370 states that Article 1 of the Indian Constitution applies to Kashmir. </p>
<p>However, under the Indian constitution Article 370 cannot be amended without the approval of the constitutent assembly. <a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/jammu-kashmir-trifurcation-article-370-1576852-2019-08-03">Article 370(3) states</a> that “ … the President may, by public notification, declare that this Article shall cease to be operative or shall be operative only with such exceptions and modifications and from such date as he may specify, provided that the recommendation of the Constituent Assembly of the State … shall be necessary before the President issues such a notification.”</p>
<p>Without any warning, India’s parliament in New Delhi increased troop levels, arrested elected representatives and effectively imprisoned approximately eight million Kashmiris. Indian parliament divided the state into two separate Union Territories — Ladakh, without a legislature, and Jammu and Kashmir, with a legislature. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/kashmir-conflict-is-not-just-a-border-dispute-between-india-and-pakistan-112824">Kashmir conflict is not just a border dispute between India and Pakistan</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In the days since this draconian measure was passed, Kashmir remains under lockdown, effectively under siege, with a heavy military presence and no sign of normalcy. This development will likely have disastrous consequences for India and the region. </p>
<h2>Unilateral action</h2>
<p>This recent move was made without deliberating with Kashmir’s representatives. The Modi government’s decision to turn a state into a union territory in a single unilateral stroke, without seeking the approval of all Kashmiris, carries serious legal ramifications and constitutional questions. </p>
<p>Does revoking Article 370 make Jammu and Kashmir an independent state? And in that case, does it make India an occupier? Because as long as Article 370 was tied to the Indian Constitution, India could still maintain its legitimate claims to Kashmir. </p>
<p>Absent this article, there’s now a question mark on India’s legal claim to Kashmir. Another legal snag the government is likely facing is that Article 370 was considered a temporary provision only to be changed or amended by the Jammu and Kashmir Constituent Assembly. However, this assembly was dissolved in 1957, effectively <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/understanding-articles-370-35a-jammu-kashmir-indian-constitution-5610996/">making Article 370 permanent</a>. </p>
<p>In 2018, the Indian Supreme Court further stated that Article 370 had acquired permanent status, making its abolition almost impossible.</p>
<h2>Security</h2>
<p>Second, this terribly ill-conceived step emboldens Pakistan’s claims to Kashmir. It plays <a href="https://www.dailyo.in/politics/militancy-in-kashmir-isis-in-kashmir-hizb-ul-mujahideen-ansar-ghazwat-ul-hind/story/1/31724.html">right into the hands of terrorist groups</a> like Hizbul Mujahideen, Lashkar-e-Taiba and al Qaida’s local unit, Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind, providing them with the ideal cause to radicalize Kashmiri youth. </p>
<p>By holding its own citizens hostage, the Modi government has turned previously pro-India Kashmiris against India. From a national security perspective, this is a stunningly ill-advised and appalling step.</p>
<p>Further, the Modi government has repealed Article 370 on grounds that “integration” of Jammu and Kashmir is the goal to bring peace, stability and economic prosperity in the region. Contrary to the stated objective, the evidence proves otherwise. </p>
<p>Now that Kashmir is a union territory of India, will it still be treated separately from the rest of India with a continued massive military presence remaining in the state? The case for integration, peace and prosperity cannot be made through brute force. </p>
<p>But that’s exactly what the Modi government has accomplished. As far as development is concerned, who will invest in a heavily militarized region? </p>
<h2>Hindu nationalism</h2>
<p>Fourth, <a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/jammu-kashmir-special-status-bjp-1577343-2019-08-05">revoking Article 370 has always been part of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) manifesto</a>. Essentially, the party’s intent to revoke Article 370 is to redress the wrongs done to Kashmiri Pandits, the Hindu minority that was <a href="https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/a-forgotten-ethnic-cleansing/218734">ethnically cleansed</a> at the start of the <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2539071?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">Kashmir insurgency against the Indian government</a> that began in the late 1980s. While Pandits are well within their rights to ask for resettlement, this latest order aims to accomplish the insidious goal of creating a predominantly Hindu majoritarian state. </p>
<p>Revoking Articles 370 and 35a will now allow any Indian to reside in the state. This will potentially change the demographics heavily in favour of India’s Hindu majority.</p>
<p>The failure to include Kashmiri Muslims in deliberations and discussions on the matter will prove costly, and there will likely be catastrophic consequences for India. There is no reason for Kashmiri Muslims to trust India ever again. Violence, rebellion, dark days and a war with Pakistan are, in all likelihood, on the near horizon as a result of India’s latest move against Kashmiris.</p>
<p>[ <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/ca/newsletters?utm_source=TCCA&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=expertise">Expertise in your inbox. Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter and get a digest of academic takes on today’s news, every day.</a></em> ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/121657/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ayesha Ray does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Violence, rebellion, dark days and a war with Pakistan are likely on the horizon as a result of India’s latest move against Kashmiris.Ayesha Ray, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, King's CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1214852019-08-06T20:08:27Z2019-08-06T20:08:27ZIndia revokes Kashmir’s autonomy, risking yet another war with Pakistan<p>Tensions are on the rise in Jammu and Kashmir, an Indian state situated mostly in the Himalayas. For decades, it has had constitutional autonomy from India. </p>
<p>The region is an area of major territorial conflict between India and Pakistan. Parts of the Kashmir valley have been under Pakistan’s control since the <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1399992/A-brief-history-of-the-Kashmir-conflict.html">1948 Indo-Pakistani war</a> and both India and Pakistan have since <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-kashmir-is-still-ensnared-in-conflict-after-70-years-85202">fought two more wars claiming title</a> to Jammu and the whole of Kashmir.</p>
<p>But the Indian Home Minister Amit Shah has announced the government’s decision to take away Jammu and Kashmir’s special status. This status gave it the independence to have its own constitution, flag and the ability to make its own laws for its residents. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/india-pakistan-and-the-changing-rules-of-engagement-heres-what-you-need-to-know-113114">India, Pakistan and the changing rules of engagement: here's what you need to know</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>To do this, the government has abolished <a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/full-text-of-govt-s-proposal-on-revoking-article-370-1577315-2019-08-05">Articles 370 and 35A</a> of the Indian constitution, and announced a plan to divide the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories. </p>
<p>In recent weeks, India has discharged <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/jammu-and-kashmir-25-000-more-troops-being-moved-to-kashmir-week-after-10-000-strong-push-2079007">some 35,000 troops</a> to the Indian parts of Kashmir, adding to the <a href="https://www.rte.ie/news/2019/0804/1066892-britain-germany-issue-warning-against-travel-to-kashmir/">500,000 troops already stationed in the territory</a>. India also <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/govt-advises-amarnath-yatris-to-leave-kashmir/story-NMIkDKMatpWxCuedbTz3wK.html">cancelled a major Hindu pilgrimage</a>, asked <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/08/india-imposes-lockdown-kashmir-puts-leaders-house-arrest-190804174841241.html">tourists to leave</a> and imposed curfews in parts of the state. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1158257894149615616"}"></div></p>
<p>What’s more, major Jammu and Kashmir politicians, including two former chief ministers, have been <a href="https://www.news18.com/news/india/kashmir-live-updates-jammu-and-kashmir-tension-article-370-article-35a-narendra-modi-amit-shah-srinagar-2258121.html">arrested</a>, schools and colleges have <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/india/section-144-imposed-in-srinagar-public-movement-barred-schools-colleges-shut-5877989/">shut, and communication facilities</a> have been suspended. </p>
<p>India cites the threat of militancy in the territory emanating from Pakistan as the reason for recent lockdown and security measures. </p>
<h2>So what happens now?</h2>
<p>From now on, Jammu and Kashmir will be considered a part of India in the same way as other Indian states. It will be subject to the Indian constitution in its entirety. </p>
<p>The Indian government, following its election promises, claims that removing the special status will provide better economic and political opportunities in Jammu and Kashmir, the same as those available in mainland India. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/india-tomorrow-part-3-kashmir-115733">India Tomorrow part 3: Kashmir</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>But skeptics <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2017/08/erasing-kashmir-autonomous-status-170813093425950.html">believe</a> that such a rushed move is merely a cover for changing the demographics of the Muslim-majority Kashmir to make it more Hindu, in the same way Israel expanded into Palestinian territories.</p>
<p>The abolition of Article 35A removes a constitutional hurdle for foreigners to buy land, settle in Jammu and Kashmir and increase the non-Muslim population there. </p>
<p>Until now, the expansion of the non-Muslim population was restricted due to strict property, political and entrepreneurial state laws for <a href="https://www.livemint.com/money/personal-finance/article-35a-scrapped-can-outsiders-now-invest-in-j-k-real-estate-1564995581409.html">non-residents</a>.</p>
<h2>What does Article 370 do?</h2>
<p>Adopted in 1949, <a href="https://www.india.gov.in/sites/upload_files/npi/files/coi_part_full.pdf">Article 370</a> grants Jammu and Kashmir an autonomous status under the Indian constitution. </p>
<p>The article exempts the state from the terms of the constitution and limits the Indian Parliament in making laws for Jammu and Kashmir, except on matters of defence, external affairs and communications. </p>
<p>The Jammu and Kashmir legislature must approve any other law the Indian Parliament passes before it takes effect.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/c95EgpIjCPs?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>The article states that specific provisions in the Indian constitution can be extended to Jammu and Kashmir through presidential orders. But this can only happen with the agreement of the state government. </p>
<p>One such provision is Article 35A, which was passed through a presidential order in 1954. It allowed the Jammu and Kashmir legislature to define rights and privileges for the permanent residents of the territory.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/kashmir-conflict-is-not-just-a-border-dispute-between-india-and-pakistan-112824">Kashmir conflict is not just a border dispute between India and Pakistan</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Article 370 was first adopted as a temporary term under the “Temporary, Transitional and Special Provisions” section of India’s constitution when India had committed to holding a plebiscite in the territory to let the residents decide their political future. </p>
<h2>But how valid is India’s move?</h2>
<p>According to India’s constitution, Article 370 could only be modified or revoked at the recommendation of Jammu and Kashmir’s constituent assembly. The constituent assembly, however, dissolved itself in the 1950s, arguably entrenching Jammu and Kashmir’s autonomy in the Indian constitution permanently. </p>
<p>This means that abolishing Article 370 through yesterday’s presidential notification may be unconstitutional. And if this is the case, revoking the existing constitutional authority means India would be ruling Jammu and Kashmir by force. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1158489368765448192"}"></div></p>
<h2>Is conflict likely?</h2>
<p>The predominantly Muslim Kashmiri population has strong reservations about an influx of Indians into their homelands, particularly since 2008. Then, the Jammu and Kashmir government agreed to grant 40 hectares of forestland to a Hindu pilgrimage site to provide for housing facilities for pilgrims, but was met with <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2017/08/erasing-kashmir-autonomous-status-170813093425950.html">strong public protests against the idea</a>. </p>
<p>Over the years, despite the Kashmiris’ concerns, the Indian right-wing groups, with the help of central government, have been encouraging Hindus to undertake the pilgrimage in big numbers. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/EF5yYLOIJIM?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Recently, US President Donald Trump offered to mediate the territorial conflict between Pakistan and India for a solution to the decades-old crises.</p>
<p>India has always maintained the dispute to be a bilateral issue between the two countries and refused to accept any third party’s involvement. Pakistan, on the other hand, <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1452602">regards it an international issue</a> which, similar to the Israel-Palestine conflict, requires the UN and other international players to play their parts.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-dangerous-evolution-of-pakistans-national-security-state-threatens-domestic-stability-116886">How the dangerous evolution of Pakistan’s national security state threatens domestic stability</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>But bringing Jammu and Kashmir under India’s rule means this dispute will become more internalised between the two countries. This is concerning to Pakistan and could, <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/02/india-pakistan-tensions-latest-updates-190227063414443.html">once again</a>, reignite border tensions between the two countries.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/121485/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kamran Khalid does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>For decades, the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir had a special status, with its own constitution, flag and the ability to make its own laws.Kamran Khalid, PhD Candidate, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1157332019-04-23T15:45:55Z2019-04-23T15:45:55ZIndia Tomorrow part 3: Kashmir<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/269984/original/file-20190418-28084-nqn8uf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption"></span> </figcaption></figure><p>As campaigning was gearing up for the 2019 Indian elections, there was a dangerous escalation in the long-simmering conflict between India and Pakistan. <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/02/indian-security-forces-killed-kashmir-blast-reports-190214110644498.html">An attack</a> on an Indian military convoy in Pulwama in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir in February 2019 killed more than 40 security personnel. </p>
<p>After a Pakistani-based militant group <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-47249982">claimed responsibility</a>, India responded by <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-47366718">launching air strikes</a> against suspected militant targets across the border in Pakistan and the world worried about the risk of war between the two nuclear-armed neighbours. The tension eventually diffused, but it was a stark reminder of the ongoing conflict and what it means for India. </p>
<p>In the third episode of <a href="https://theconversation.com/india-tomorrow-a-podcast-series-from-the-anthill-episode-guide-114654">India Tomorrow</a>, a series from The Conversation’s podcast The Anthill, we focus on Kashmir: its history, the lives of its people, and the conflict over its future.</p>
<hr>
<iframe src="https://player.acast.com/5e3bf1111a6e452f6380a7bc/episodes/5e3bf133659d595770f8b910?theme=default&cover=1&latest=1" frameborder="0" width="100%" height="110px" allow="autoplay"></iframe>
<p><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-anthill/id1114423002?mt=2"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321534/original/file-20200319-22606-q84y3k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=182&fit=crop&dpr=1" alt="Listen on Apple Podcasts" width="268" height="68"></a> <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/265Bnp4BgwaEmFv2QciIOC?si=-WMr1ecDTsO_6avrkxZu8g"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321535/original/file-20200319-22606-1l4copl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=183&fit=crop&dpr=1" width="268" height="70"></a> </p>
<hr>
<p>Kashmir has been the cause of tension between Pakistan and India since the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-partition-of-india-happened-and-why-its-effects-are-still-felt-today-81766">Partition of India</a> in 1947. Sarah Ansari, a historian at Royal Holloway, University of London, explains what happened during Partition and why Jammu and Kashmir became a source of conflict. We also explore the significance of Article 370, the part of the Indian constitution which gives special status to Jammu and Kashmir – and why some Indians <a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/elections/lok-sabha-2019/story/bjp-manifesto-2019-no-article-370-article-35a-1496655-2019-04-08">want to scrap it</a>. </p>
<p>Ather Zia, an anthropologist at the University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, explains what Kashmir means to her, and what life is like for Kashmiris today. “It’s my homeland and it’s also a place which is an open prison currently because of the situation that is prevailing,” she says. “People are living, but it’s under heavy repression.” She explains how her research is showing many Kashmiris have a long-held desire for independence. </p>
<p>We also find out what has happened in Kashmir since 2014 when Narendra Modi became prime minister of India, and his BJP party entered into a ruling coalition in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Sita Bali, a lecturer in international relations at Staffordshire University, says she thinks that the escalation – and subsequent de-escalation of tensions between India and Pakistan – could <a href="https://theconversation.com/kashmir-india-and-pakistans-escalating-conflict-will-benefit-narendra-modi-ahead-of-elections-112570">benefit Modi</a> in the 2019 elections. And she explains what the nuclear element of the ongoing conflict means for the region: “This Pakistan problem, or the Kashmir problem, whichever way you choose to look at it, has always stood in the way of India’s relations in the whole region.”</p>
<p>You can read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/kashmir-india-tomorrow-part-3-podcast-transcript-115732">transcript of this episode</a> here, and also find out more about past and upcoming episodes in our <a href="https://theconversation.com/india-tomorrow-a-podcast-series-from-the-anthill-episode-guide-114654">series episode guide</a>.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/266588/original/file-20190329-71003-uc9saw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/266588/original/file-20190329-71003-uc9saw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/266588/original/file-20190329-71003-uc9saw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/266588/original/file-20190329-71003-uc9saw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/266588/original/file-20190329-71003-uc9saw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=176&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/266588/original/file-20190329-71003-uc9saw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=176&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/266588/original/file-20190329-71003-uc9saw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=176&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em><a href="https://confirmsubscription.com/h/r/23816052A5FFA0842540EF23F30FEDED">Subscribe to our Anthill podcast newsletter to hear about new episodes as soon as they drop.</a></em></p>
<p><strong>Credits</strong></p>
<p><em>The Anthill is produced by Gemma Ware and Annabel Bligh. Editing by Alex Portfelix. Thank you to City, University of London’s Department of Journalism for letting us use their studios to record The Anthill.</em></p>
<p><em>Picture source: <a href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/beautiful-mountain-view-sonamarg-jammu-kashmir-657391570?src=iKqyP7mSQFggecLhR1fF8A-1-0">khlongwangchao via Shutterstock</a>.</em></p>
<p><em>Music: <a href="http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Lee_Rosevere/Living_With_Trauma/Lee_Rosevere_-_Living_With_Trauma_-_05_Intervention">Intervention by Lee Rosevere</a>, <a href="http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Tranko/VA_-_Clinical_Jazz_excerpt_3/Flying_Cat_amp_Sitar">Flying Cat & Sitar by Tranko</a>, and <a href="http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Jahzzar/Super_1222/07_Endeavour">Endeavour by Jahzzar</a> all via <a href="http://freemusicarchive.org/">Free Music Archive</a>.</em></p>
<p><strong>Archive news clips:</strong></p>
<p><em>Hum kya chahty Azadi (Kahmir), <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGcBZVCBSDQ">Mohtsim Billah</a></em></p>
<p><em>Narendra Modi’s first visit to Jammu and Kashmir as PM, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBp9QVBdPFc">Times Now</a></em></p>
<p><em>Kashmir witnesses worst violence in six years, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQXa6VS3Dts">Al Jazeera English</a></em></p>
<p><em>India Cheers Return Of Air Force Pilot Abhinandan Varthaman, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxnMK3Xb73U">NDTV</a></em> </p>
<p><a href="https://pca.st/5Hul"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321533/original/file-20200319-22598-afljnr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=212&fit=crop&dpr=1" alt="Listen on Pocket Casts" width="268" height="68"></a> <a href="https://castbox.fm/channel/The-Anthill-id2625863?country=gb"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321531/original/file-20200319-22632-t8ds9t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=232&fit=crop&dpr=1" width="268" height="70"></a> </p>
<p><a href="https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly90aGVjb252ZXJzYXRpb24uY29tL3VrL3BvZGNhc3RzL3RoZS1hbnRoaWxsLnJzcw%3D%3D"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233720/original/file-20180827-75978-3mdxcf.png" alt="" width="268" height="68"></a> <a href="https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-conversation/the-anthill"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233716/original/file-20180827-75981-pdp50i.png" alt="Stitcher" width="300" height="88"></a> </p>
<p><a href="https://tunein.com/podcasts/Technology-Podcasts/The-Anthill-p877873/"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233723/original/file-20180827-75984-f0y2gb.png" alt="Listen on TuneIn" width="318" height="125"></a> <a href="https://radiopublic.com/the-anthill-GOJ1vz"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-152" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233717/original/file-20180827-75990-86y5tg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=268&fit=clip" alt="Listen on RadioPublic" width="268" height="87"></a></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/115733/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Indrajit Roy receives funding from the UK's Economic and Social Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Annabel Bligh works for The Conversation.</span></em></p>We focus on Kashmir in the third part of our India Tomorrow podcast series: its history, the lives of its people, and the conflict over its future.Indrajit Roy, Lecturer in Global Development Politics, University of YorkAnnabel Bligh, Host of The Anthill Podcast, The ConversationLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.