Kashmir dispute

Kashmir dispute The conflict between India and Pakistan over the state of Kashmir (now administratively part of the Indian state of Jammu-Kashmir) that erupted into war (1948–49) and remains unresolved, Kashmir, exposed successively to Hindu and Muslim rule, was annexed (1819) to the expanding Sikh kingdom. After the first SIKH WAR the territory was acquired by Gulab Singh, then Hindu raja of the Jammu region. It was a Princely State for the rest of the British period. The Maharaja, a Hindu ruling over a predominantly Muslim population, initially hoped to remain independent in 1947, but eventually acceded to the Indian Union. The war between India and Pakistan (1948–49) over Kashmir ended when a United Nations peacekeeping force imposed a temporary ceasefire line which divided the Indian Union state of Jammu and Kashmir from Pakistan-backed Azad Kashmir. Kashmir remains divided by this line. Conflicts between India and Pakistan over Kashmir flared up again in 1965 and 1971, together with demands for a UN-supervised plebiscite. In 1989 militant supporters of either Kashmiri independence or union with Pakistan intensified their campaign of violent civil unrest and Indian government troops were sent into the state. Direct rule by the President was imposed in 1990 and fighting has continued.