Conflicts in Kashmir

The conflicts in Kashmir are about the disputed territory between Indian and Pakistan and India and China. Kashmir is currently divided into 3 main parts, Jammu and Kashmir which is mainly controlled by India, Azad Kashmir (a.k.a. POK) which is mainly controlled by Pakistan and Aksai Chin, which is completely controlled by China. India has fought four wars for claiming rights over Kashmir. These wars include the 1947 where Pakistan first took over a third of Kashmir, the 1962 war with China for present day Aksai Chin where China eventually won, the 1965 war with Pakistan where no territorial changes took place and the last war was the Kargil war in 1999 with Pakistan where India had regained all ground south and east of the L.O.C. (Line of Control).

Some of the international organizations and acts that affiliated with the Kashmir conflict include the Human Rights Watch (HWR), The Armed Forces Special Power Act, Public Safety Act, United Nations (UN), UN Security Council, UN Committee for India and Pakistan, Simla Agreement, Tashkent Declaration, Instrument of Accession and the Standstill Agreement. The United Nations Security Council Resolution 47 was created on April 21, 1948 for deciding the fate of the disputed territory of Kashmir between the two countries. Two of the clauses on the Resolution were that the commission was to send observers to watch what was happening in the disputed area and that both countries could only keep a minimum amount of troops on the border, which neither country agreed to. One big reason both countries want Kashmir is because Kashmir is a good water supply. Kashmir is the origin point for many tributaries and of the Indus River Basin. Some of these bodies of water include the Ravi, Beas and the Sutlej, which flow into Northern India. Jhelum and Chenab mainly flow into Pakistan.

The main cause for this conflict has a religious base but is a territorial conflict because different parts of Kashmir had different religious backgrounds including Jammu consisting of just fewer than 80% of a Hindu population and in places like Ladakh; the Hindu population was about 0.94%. POK has a very high Muslim population percentage and many terrorist groups reside among POK (Pakistan Occupied Kashmir). Some of the terrorist groups that are said to reside in POK include the Laskhar-e-Toiba, Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (dedicated to creating an independent Kashmir from India and Pakistan that was previously a militant organization and recently having claimed to shift its focus to strictly peaceful methods) and the Afghan Mujahideen (supposedly entered the Kashmir valley during the Soviet-Afghan war.

I do not think this conflict has affected Canadian politics and foreign affairs because not many countries have bothered to deal with this problem besides the ones that are affiliated with them. Only the UN has shown some interest in trying to deal with the problem. This conflict has not directly affected me personally but because I am of Indian origin and this conflict has to do with India, I have more interest in learning more about this conflict.