BASIC FACTS
LOCATION:
The State of Jammu and Kashmir encompasses a mountainous region in the heart of Asia, with borders touching to both South and Central Asia. Surrounded by Pakistan, India, China and Afghanistan.
AREA:
86,000 square miles, more than three times the size of the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Belgium combined. Bigger than 87 member countries of the United Nations.
POPULATION:
Estimated 13 million, including 1.5 million refugees in Pakistan and 0.5 million expatriates in different parts of the world. Larger than 114 sovereign nations.
STATUS:
Historically independent, except in the anarchical conditions of the late 18th and the
first half of the 19th century or when incorporated in the vast empires set up by the
Mauryas (3rd century BC), the Mughals (16th to 18th centuries) and the British (mid-19th
to mid-20th centuries). All these empires included not only present day India and Pakistan
but other countries as well. The British transferred control over the territory by a sale
deed called the Treaty of Amritsar (1846) to a feudal chieftain (the Maharajah) in return
for a sum of money.
CAUSE OF DISPUTE:
India's claim that Kashmir is Indian territory is based on nothing more than an
Instrument of Accession signed by the Maharajah in order to obtain India's military help
against a popular insurgency. This accession was conditional on a reference to a popular
vote (not yet held) under impartial auspices. The Indian claim is rejected by the people
of Kashmir, and challenged by Pakistan. It has never been accepted by the United Nations,
nor legally validated.
SOLUTION:
Demilitarization of Kashmir (through withdrawal of all outside forces) followed
immediately by a plebiscite under impartial control to determine the future status of
Kashmir.
GREAT POWER POLICIES:
When the dispute was first brought to the United Nations, the Security Council, with
the firm backing of the United States, urged the solution described above. At the time,
the Soviet Union did not dissent from it. Later, because of the Cold War, the Soviet Union
blocked every Resolution of the Security Council calling for implementation of the
settlement plan.
LIKELY POSSIBILITIES:
Only two. Either ascertaining the wishes of the people about their future and acting
accordingly or the continuance of the status quo with violent repression and carnage in
the India-occupied part and chronic conflict and the danger of war in the Subcontinent of
South Asia.
PRESENT SITUATION:
Since 1990, Indian forces have been engaged in a sustained campaign of "slaughter,
rape, arson, and destruction". The state of terrorism has resulted in more than
30,000 deaths.
IMMEDIATE NECESSITY:
The intervention of the international community to bring the violence in Kashmir to a quick end. Initiation of a political dialogue between the representatives of the people of Kashmir, and the Government of Pakistan and India to set the stage for a democratic and peaceful solution.
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