THE KASHMIR PROBLEM AND ITS RESOLUTION

What impact has the ongoing conflict in Kashmir had upon the people of the region? Are there steps that can be taken to help resolve this longstanding dispute between India and Pakistan?

The problem in Kashmir, as observed, is often represented primarily as a matter between India and Pakistan and framed around the issues of the legitimacy of Kashmir's accession to India at independence. But this is not the problem today,  argued, as circumstances since the accession has changed such that the insurgency is now largely fueled by local grievances. In the current situation, the debate ought to focus on the experiences and aspirations of the people in the Kashmir valley.

The ethnic and religious diversity in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, which is divided into three regions, has contributed to the complexity of the Kashmir problem. The majority of Jammu and Kashmir's population of 5.4 million is resident in the Kashmir Valley. Their religion is 98 percent Islam with distinct Sufi characteristics. Jammu Division, on the other hand, has a population of 4.4 million, over 60 percent of whom are Hindus and 30 percent Muslims, where the latter represents a majority in three of Jammu's 6 districts. The languages are variations of Punjabi and different from Kashmiri, spoken largely in the valley. The third component, the largest of the three in the area and the most remote, is Ladakh, with a population of approximately 233,000, which has a slim Muslim majority. This is mostly Shia, as distinct from the overall Sunni majority in the Kashmir Valley.

Before much progress in the political situation can be made, Habibullah argued that cross-border terrorism first had to stop and that the proxy war between India and Pakistan must come to an end. Noting that large Indian deployments in civilian areas were a burden on the everyday lives of Kashmiris, he pointed out that an end to cross-border terrorism would remove the need for large deployments of Indian troops to provide security in the region. In addition to the benefit, this would provide India by freeing up resources currently dedicated to counterterrorism activities, a reduction of Indian troops in Kashmir would also result in a decline in the inevitable "collateral damages" caused by the size of the deployment and nature of Indian counter-insurgency activities in Kashmir. "As long as you have such large deployments in civilian neighborhoods," I noted, "you will have collateral damages, you will have children who are orphaned, you will have simmering discontent, and you will not be able to resolve the issue."