Kashmir conflict: Yearning for an elusive peace in the contemporary South Asian Region

Abstract

The conflict in Jammu & Kashmir has become a critical issue not only for India-Pakistan relations but for the whole of South Asia. After careful analysis, the origin of the conflict has been identified by scholars as a failure in demarcating a practical border between India and Pakistan by the British colonial rulers. The consequence was that after gaining independence, both countries went to war three times over Kashmir. In addition, numerous breakouts of hostilities were reported along the line of control between India and Pakistan in the Kashmir region. The United Nations Organization made several attempts to arrive at a permanent solution for the Kashmir issue. In addition, several bilateral meetings were held by India and Pakistan to work out a solution to bring about long-lasting peace in Kashmir. However, all the initiatives failed, and hostilities are still going on. The situation has further deteriorated after several incidents of cross-border terrorism that had its roots in Kashmir politics. Today the Kashmir issue has become a key threat to South Asian security after the changes that have taken place in global politics as well as regional politics. The aim of this paper is to study the conflict in Kashmir to find a way to build peace in the new global context. This paper is based entirely on secondary data and uses the descriptive analysis method. Indian government policy on Jammu & Kashmir has been influenced by past events in Kashmir, while Pakistan is looking for alternative strategies to build peace in Kashmir. The impact of this conflict on the South Asian region will mostly depend on the Indian Government’s determination to keep Kashmir under its control while it is continually challenged by the Pakistani regime, which also has claims on this territory.