After a terrorist attack occurred in the Indian-administered Kashmir region on April 22, which killed 26 tourists, India and Pakistan, two hostile neighboring countries, were once again on the brink of war. In this episode of World Affairs, we review the origins and causes of the India-Pakistan dispute from five points.

A terrorist attack occurred in the Indian-administered Kashmir region on April 22, which killed 26 tourists. Following this, tensions between the two countries escalated continuously. India and Pakistan, two hostile neighboring countries, were once again on the brink of war.

New Delhi accused the Pakistani government and its intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), of orchestrating the recent attack and imposed a series of diplomatic and consular sanctions on Pakistan. India also suspended a treaty that had been in place for over sixty years to share water resources of the Indus River.

The Indian government also threatened to carry out military strikes on targets in Pakistani territory to prevent similar attacks from happening again in the future. Islamabad denied involvement in the Kashmir attack and called for a "neutral investigation" to determine responsibility. In response to India's sanctions, Pakistan announced a series of measures, including suspending existing treaties, expelling diplomats, and canceling visas for Indian citizens, etc.

India and Pakistan are neighboring countries and both possess nuclear weapons. India and Pakistan are the result of the partition after the British colonial rule withdrew from India in 1947. The two countries have fought multiple times, with their relationship being complex and tense, frequent attacks and ongoing conflicts. Over the past week, soldiers from India and Pakistan have daily clashes along the border in Kashmir. The international community is concerned that the tension may escalate into a nuclear war.

First, the scars left by the partition are too deep.

The roots of the India-Pakistan dispute can be traced back to 1947 when these two countries gained independence after over two centuries of British colonial rule.

Muslims were worried about being overwhelmed by the majority Hindu population and therefore pressured the outgoing British government to divide South Asia into a Hindu-majority India and a Muslim-majority Pakistan. Pakistan was further divided into West Pakistan and East Pakistan, which later became present-day Bangladesh.

This division brought much violence, causing 15 million people to become displaced. This division also triggered riots and massacres, resulting in more than one million deaths. The violence of the partition left deep scars on the collective psyche of both India and Pakistan.

Second, the Kashmir conflict.

Since independence, the Kashmir issue has been at the heart of the hostile relations between India and Pakistan. During the British colonial period, Kashmir, located in the northwest border area, was one of the 600 princely states under British jurisdiction and enjoyed a certain degree of autonomy.

Logically speaking, since the majority of the population in Kashmir is Muslim, it should have been incorporated into Pakistan. However, the Hindu ruler who ruled Kashmir at that time preferred to join secular India rather than Islamic Pakistan, which caused serious consequences for the relations between the two countries.

Both India and Pakistan claim sovereignty over Kashmir, which has sparked three wars between the two countries. The first war broke out in the fall of 1947, just after India and Pakistan gained independence. In 1949, under the mediation of the United Nations, the two countries declared a ceasefire. The UN resolution stipulated that a plebiscite would be held to decide the future of Kashmir. However, due to the lack of conditions required to organize the vote, it ultimately came to nothing.

In 1949, after the ceasefire between India and Pakistan, the two sides divided the Kashmir region along the control line at that time. The Azad Kashmir controlled by Pakistan was smaller, approximately 37% of its territory, while the Jammu-et-Cachemire state ruled by India was larger, approximately 63% of its territory. The two countries had two more wars in 1965 and 1999 but failed to change the status quo. Both India and Pakistan tried to gain full sovereignty over the entire Kashmir region.

Third, the Liberation War of Bangladesh.

As early as the late 1960s, Pakistan accused India of using public discontent to instigate unrest in its eastern region. In 1971, an internal war broke out as the Bengali-speaking people in East Pakistan resisted the Pakistani government.

This conflict eventually ended with the intervention of the Indian army and the birth of Bangladesh on December 16, 1971. This war resulted in the death of three million people. Pakistanis find it hard to forget India's role in helping Bangladesh break free from Pakistani rule and hope to seek revenge on the Kashmir issue.

Fourth, cross-border terrorism.

In the 1970s, due to India's first nuclear test in 1974, the security situation in South Asia changed in nature. Twenty years later, Pakistan also achieved nuclear deterrence and matched India in unconventional military capabilities, making the security situation in the region particularly tense.

As a result, both India and Pakistan worry that war may slide into a nuclear war that threatens their own survival. Therefore, war has been replaced by terrorism, and the most severely affected area is Kashmir.

Since 1989, there have been multiple attacks targeting soldiers and civilians in Kashmir, either by separatists demanding independence or those demanding that Kashmir be incorporated into Pakistan. India accused Pakistan's intelligence department of funding and training terrorists on Pakistani territory and then sending them to carry out suicide attacks in the Indian-administered Kashmir region.

Terrorism has also not spared other parts of India. The most famous examples include the attack on the Indian Parliament building in 2001 and the series of terrorist attacks in Mumbai in 2008 that killed 166 people. These attacks were believed to be carried out by terrorist organizations based in Pakistan and led to a long interruption of dialogue between the two countries.

Obviously, the attack on tourists that occurred in Kashmir on April 22 this year followed the same logic.

Fifth, the rise of the Hindu nationalist party in New Delhi.

In 2014, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), an anti-foreign and particularly hostile to the Muslim minority, came to power in New Delhi, marking a turning point in India-Pakistan relations. The Hindu government intensified attacks on Muslims during its tenure, exacerbating concerns in neighboring Pakistan.

In the run-up to the Indian parliamentary election in 2019, a suicide bombing killed at least 40 Indian soldiers, bringing the two countries close to another conflict. An armed organization based in Pakistan, Jaish-e-Mohammed, claimed responsibility. India then launched airstrikes against targets in Pakistan.

Following this, Prime Minister Modi, who was re-elected as an extreme nationalist, issued a decree abolishing the semi-autonomous status of Jammu and Kashmir under the Indian Constitution. Islamabad strongly condemned this decision, saying it aimed to incorporate Kashmir fully into India's administrative and political system.

For Pakistan, India's move was moving further away from the UN resolution through a plebiscite for the Kashmiri people to decide their own status.

Source: rfi

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