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The attacks in Mumbai have brought new attention to an old dispute between India and Pakistan about the land of Kashmir.
The region of 13 million straddles Pakistan, India and China, but India has controlled the majority of Kashmir for decades. Pakistan controls a much smaller area, as does China.
Since 1947, India and Pakistan have fought three wars over the part of Kashmir controlled by India. Though India is mainly Hindu, two-thirds of the population in this part of Kashmir is Muslim, the predominant religion of Pakistan.
An anti-Indian insurgency in Kashmir has recently intenstified, and India believes such insurgents may have been responsible for the attacks in Mumbai.
Haley Duschinski is a cultural anthropologist at Ohio University who regularly travels to Kashmir, most recently in February. Her research focuses on violence and war, human rights and transitional justice in Kashmir within the context of the ongoing peace process between India and Pakistan.
Thank you all for your questions. Professor Duschinski has answered them here.
03/05/2009 :: 01:03:01 AM
Deepika Says:
Yes Mr.Shea johnson,
Let me start it from the beggining when British ruled us,at that time there was no Pakistan.
And thus just before british left they asked all the muslims whether they favour for a separate country?
90% of muslims favoured it and it was decided that Pakistan may come into existence and it wud get freedom just a day before India wud,(irony is that though 90% muslims voted for a separate country just 15% among them left India and settled in Pakistan).And also there was an agreement that the royal kingdoms which existed during those days will decide on either joining India or pakistan,and Jammu and Kashmir was then ruled by His Highness Maharaja Hari Singh.And thus he had strong pressure from British as well as pakistan to join them,but he decided to join India and in the mean time pakistan attacked Jammu and Kashmir and HH Maharaja Hari singh asked for India to help and indea intervened and defeated Pakistan,but still pakistan had entered the 1/3rd of J&K and illegally occupied it.
Since then that part is in their hand and if the British settlement has to be respected then that 1/3rd of J&K which Pakistan is illegally possessing is India’s.this is the actual J&K dispute,but now with the increasing Chinese support Pakistan is also claiming that the remaining 2/3rd of J&K is also their’s.
There is no end to the claims of Pakistan because it does not respect America or Britain and is funded by China.