Kashmir

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Kashmir , region and former princely state, 85,714 sq mi (222,236 sq km), NW India, NE Pakistan, and SW China. Kashmir is bordered on the west by Pakistan, on the south by India, and on the north and east by China. The region is divided between the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir (2001 provisional pop. 10,069,917), 39,179 sq mi (101,437 sq km), with its summer capital at Srinagar , the historic capital of the state, and its winter capital at Jammu ; the Pakistani-controlled areas (1981 est. pop. 1,980,000) Azad Kashmir, 2,169 sq mi (5,619 sq km), with its capital at Muzaffarabad , and the Northern Areas, 27,991 sq mi (72,496 sq km), with its capital at Gilgit; and the largely uninhabited Chinese-controlled areas, 16,481 sq mi (42,685 sq km), within Xinjiang and Tibet.

Land, Economy, and Government

A beautiful region of S Asia, Kashmir is covered with lofty, rugged mountains, including sections of the Himalayan and Karakorum ranges. Rivers, including the Indus, run through relatively narrow but heavily populated valleys. The valley of the Jhelum River, the celebrated Vale of Kashmir, is the most populous area and the economic heart of the region; it produces abundant crops of wheat and rice. The noted handicraft industry, particularly the making of woolen cloth and shawls (cashmeres) has declined. Tourism grew in importance during the 1960s but was adversely affected in Indian Kashmir by civil strife that began in the late 1980s. The state of Jammu and Kashmir, India's only Muslim-majority state, is normally governed by a chief minister responsible to a bicameral legislature with one elected house and by a governor appointed by the president of India.

History

In the late 14th cent., after years of Buddhist and Hindu rule, Kashmir was conquered by Muslims who converted most of the population. It became part of the Mughal empire in 1586, but by 1751 the local ruler was independent. After a century of disorder the British pacified Kashmir in 1846 and installed a Hindu prince as ruler of the predominantly Muslim region.

When India was partitioned in 1947, Muslim forces from Pakistan invaded Kashmir. The Hindu ruler fled to Delhi and there agreed to place Kashmir under the dominion of India; the region was given semiautonomy. Indian troops were flown to Srinagar to engage the Pakistani forces. The fighting was ended by a UN cease-fire in 1949, but the region was divided between India and Pakistan along the cease-fire line. A constituent assembly in Indian Kashmir voted in 1953 for incorporation into India, but this was delayed by continued Pakistani-Indian disagreement and UN disapproval of the disposition of any portion of the region without a plebiscite. In 1955, India and Pakistan agreed to keep their respective forces in Kashmir 6 mi (10 km) apart.

A new vote by the assembly in Indian Kashmir in 1956 led to the integration of Kashmir as an Indian state; Azad Kashmir remained, however, under the control of Pakistan. India refused to consider subsequent Pakistani protests and UN resolutions calling for a plebiscite. The situation was complicated in 1959, when Chinese troops occupied the Aksai Chin section of the district of Ladakh. Indian-Pakistani relations became more inflamed in 1963 when a Sino-Pakistani agreement defined the Chinese border with Pakistani Kashmir and ceded Indian-claimed territory to China.

Serious fighting between India and Pakistan broke out again in Aug., 1965. A UN cease-fire took effect in September. In Jan., 1966, President Ayub Khan of Pakistan and Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri of India met at Tashkent at the invitation of the Soviet government and agreed to the mutual withdrawal of troops to the positions held before the latest outbreak. In the Dec., 1971, war between India and Pakistan, India made some gains in fighting in Kashmir. In Dec., 1972, a new cease-fire line along the positions held at the end of the 1971 war was agreed to by India and Pakistan.

In the late 1980s, Muslim resistance to Indian rule escalated, with some militants supporting independence and others union with Pakistan. A rigged election (1987) sparked violence, and the legislature was subsequently suspended. In 1990 direct presidential rule was imposed. Plans to hold elections in 1995 were abandoned following the burning of an important Muslim shrine and its surrounding town and riots in Srinagar. Fighting again erupted in May, 1999, when India launched air strikes and then ground action against infiltrators from Pakistan. After heavy losses on both sides, a cease-fire was reached in mid-July.

Kashmiri legislation restoring the state's pre-1953 autonomy and negotiations betweeen India and one of the Muslim militant groups proved short-lived in 2000. Kashmir guerrilla attacks in 2002 threatened to spark a broader conflict between India and Pakistan. Despite such attacks, credible elections were held in October, leading to a new government that favored negotiating with the separatists. In 2005 bus service between Indian and Pakistani Kashmir was established for the first time since partition; the move, which led to attacks by militants opposed to it, was intended to help normalize relations.

Kashmir, especially the Pakistani section, was hard-hit by an earthquake in Oct., 2005. Of the tens of thousands of deaths in Kashmir, more than 95% of them occurred in Pakistan. Border-crossing restrictions were eased following the quake to facilitate relief efforts. Improved relations between Pakistan and India have lessened the violence in Kashmir, but in 2008 there was an upsurge in protests and demonstrations by pro-independence Muslims and increased Hindu-Muslim tensions in the region. An estimated 42,000 to 60,000 have been killed in Kashmir since 1989.

Kashmir An Indian princely state which has been claimed by India and Pakistan since independence in 1947, and was the subject of two Indo-Pakistan Wars. Initially, its Hindu Maharaja, Sir Hari Singh, had hoped to lead it to independence. Faced with insurgent Muslim border tribesmen, however, he declared his accession to India and called for military aid from the Indian army. Since the majority of the population was Muslim, Pakistan challenged the Maharaja's decision. After sporadic fighting, the first Indo-Pakistan War was ended in 1949, when a UN commission established a demarcation line allocating Azad Kashmir to Pakistan and the remainder of the state to India. The Maharaja abdicated in 1951 in favour of his son, but the state assembly declared the state a republic, and in January 1957 it was formally integrated within the Union of India as the state of Jammu and Kashmir. In the Indo-Chinese War of 1962, substantial areas in the north-east were conceded to China. Renewed fighting in 1965 ended again in deadlock.

Kashmir continued to be claimed in its entirety by both countries. Throughout the 1980s there were continued riots and protests to demand greater autonomy, as Jammu and Kashmir was subject to direct rule from the Union government in New Delhi. These uprisings, which claimed around 20,000 lives in 1990–6, led to a promise of autonomy status by India's newly elected United Front government in 1996. From 1997, India and Pakistan took up negotiations again, but these yielded little results. India refused foreign help in settling the conflict, while Pakistan continued to support Muslim guerrilla forces operating in the Indian part. After the September 11 attacks, Pakistan's position became more difficult. Its support for the US against the Taliban limited Pakistan's leader, General Musharraf, in his ability to aggravate Islamic fundamentalist opinion yet further and rein in the secret service and radical Islamic factions in Kashmir. This brought India and Pakistan to the brink of a further military confronation, as over a million soldiers faced each other in May 2002. A war between the two nuclear powers, however, presented a huge risk not only to international security but also to the War on Terrorism, in which Pakistan was a crucial ally of the US.

Kashmir, India‐Pakistan Properly Jammu and Kashmir, both a region in the north‐west of the Indian subcontinent and a state of India. According to legend, by means of irrigation channels and other measures, an ascetic named Kaśyapa reclaimed Kashmir from a huge area of rivers, streams, and marshes which became known as Kaśyapamara ‘Land of Kaśyapa’ and, in due course, Kashmir. Until 1346 it was ruled by Hindus and in 1346–1819 by Muslims. It became part of the Sikh Kingdom of Punjab in 1819 and of the Hindu Dogra princely state in 1846 until 1947. Although ruling a Muslim majority state the Hindu maharaja, Hari Singh, was undecided as to whether to join India or Pakistan when faced with the choice when British India was partitioned. While he dithered, hoping even that Kashmir could become an independent country, Pakistani Pashtun tribesmen crossed into the state in support of their fellow Muslims who had risen in revolt. Indian troops were flown in and Hari Singh agreed to join India. Kashmir was left divided where fighting stopped in 1948 and a UN‐brokered ceasefire came into effect on 1 January 1949. In 1972 the Simla Agreement set out a ‘line of control’ (LOC) to separate Indian and Pakistani‐administered areas of Jammu and Kashmir (see Azad Kashmir and Jammu). The Pakistani area, representing about a third of Jammu and Kashmir, is divided into the Northern Territories and Azad Kashmir. That part south of the LOC, roughly a half of the region, has been incorporated into the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. The Aksai Chin part of Kashmir, about a fifth, claimed by India, has been occupied by China since 1950. Both India and Pakistan maintain their claim on all the territory and the matter continues to defy resolution; the dispute has caused two of the three wars between India and Pakistan. Kashmir has given its name to ‘cashmere’, a fine, soft wool, or material made from it, from local goats. The weaving of this wool was introduced by a 15th‐century ruler of Kashmir.

Kashmir. The ancient Indian state of Kaśmīra, corresponding to present-day Kashmir in north-west India. According to legend, Buddhism reached Kashmir soon after the Buddha's passing but the conquest of the area by Candragupta, Aśoka's grandfather, would seem to be a more reliable date. Under Mauryan patronage, many monasteries and stūpas were established in this region which soon became a stronghold of the Sarvāstivāda school with whom such masters as Kātyāyanīputra, Vasumitra, and Saṃghabhadra are associated. Buddhism in Kashmir flourished under the later Kuṣāṇas and continued to do so during the lengthy period of virtual independence that followed the demise of the Kuṣāṇas, though there were brief periods of violent persecution including the devastation caused by the White Hun (Hephthalite) leader, Mihirakula. The so-called ‘Fourth Council’ is thought to have been convened under the auspices of Kaniṣka in this region (see Council of Kaniṣka). Kashmir's location made it an important staging-post for the transmission of Buddhism into central Asia and western Tibet, with many famous scholar-monks such as Kumārajīva and Buddhabhadra who travelled to China, or Śīlendrabodhi and Vidyākaraprabha who went to Tibet. A dwindling Buddhist presence continued in Kashmir from the 12th century ce onwards, although retaining important religious ties with Tibet, but Buddhism seems to have all but disappeared by the time of the Moghul invasion in the 16th century.

Kashmir Region in n India and ne Pakistan; former Indian princely state. When the Indian subcontinent was partitioned in 1947, the maharaja of Kashmir acceded to India, precipitating war between India and Pakistan. A cease-fire agreement left it divided between the Indian-controlled state of Jammu and Kashmir and the Pakistan-controlled areas in the n and w of the region. The n area of Kashmir is ruled directly by the Pakistan government; the w area, Azad Kashmir, is partly autonomous. The Aksai Chin area of Kashmir, on the border with Tibet, is occupied by China. Indian Jammu and Kashmir has remained in a state of unrest. Kashmir includes parts of the Himalayas and the Karakoram Range. The Vale of Kashmir, in the River Jhelum valley, is the most populated area; wheat and rice are grown. Total area: 222,236sq km (85,806sq mi).

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