Peace and Justice

4

Kashmir and the Prospects for Peace

Kamal Mitra Chenoy

Since 1947, the Kashmir dispute has bedevilled relations between Pakistan and India. It has led to three separate wars in 1947, 1965, and 1971, as well as a serious armed conflict in Kargil in 1999. Because both countries are declared nuclear weapons states, Indo-Pak hostilities have serious repercussions for South Asian relations as a whole. Attempts at regional cooperation—such as the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation and the South Asia Free Trade Agreement—have floundered.

The roots of the Kashmir conflict lie not merely in the controversial accession of Muslim-majority Jammu and Kashmir to India. The core tension between the two countries is the confrontation between ...