Jammu and Kashmîr

Jammu and Kashmîr, disputed territory in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent. Commonly known as Kashmîr, the territory is bounded on the north by Afghanistan and China, on the east by China, on the south by the state of Himâchal Pradesh and the state of Punjab in India, and on the west by the North-West Frontier Province and the Punjab Province of Pakistan. Kashmîr covers an area of 222,236 sq km (85,805 sq mi).

Both India and Pakistan claim all of Kashmîr, but the territory has been partitioned since 1947. India controls most of Kashmîr, which it has organized as the state of Jammu and Kashmîr. Pakistan administers the northwestern portion of the territory as Azad (Free) Kashmîr and the Northern Areas. China occupies land in the northeast. The capital of the state of Jammu and Kashmîr is Srînagar. The administrative center of the Pakistani portion is Muzaffarâbâd. Indian-controlled Kashmîr has an area of about 100,569 sq km (about 38,830 sq mi) and a population (1991 estimate) of about 7,718,700. Pakistani-controlled Kashmîr has an area of 78,932 sq km (30,476 sq mi) and a population (1985 estimate) of about 2.8 million. The area controlled by China covers about 42,735 sq km (about 16,500 sq mi).

Kashmîr is almost entirely mountainous and is topographically divided into three regions: the valley of the Jhelum River, which includes the Vale of Kashmîr, in the central portion; the mountains around Jammu in the south; and the great mountains of the Karakoram Range in the north. The Indus River flows through Kashmîr, and the Jhelum River rises in the northeastern portion of the territory. Kashmîr possesses a more equable climate than that of southern and central India, and the beautiful Vale of Kashmîr is a noted resort region.

Kashmîr is the habitat of numerous game animals, including the markhor and ibex (wild goat), stag, and bear. Most of the population is engaged in agriculture; the principal crops are rice, corn, wheat, and oilseeds. Among livestock raised are buffalo, cattle, sheep, goat, and poultry. Silk weaving and carpet weaving are major industries. The majority of the population is Muslim. Hindus and Sikhs are concentrated in the south around Jammu; a Buddhist minority is present in the northeast.

Kashmîr is an ancient area, deriving its name, according to tradition, from the Khasi, a people who lived in the northern mountains several centuries before the Christian era. The country was originally a stronghold of Hinduism; Buddhism was introduced about 245 BC. Beginning in the mid-14th century AD, Muslim sultans controlled the area for two centuries. Akbar, the Mughal emperor of Hindustan, conquered Kashmîr between 1586 and 1592, and it became a part of the Mughal Empire. In 1819, after a period of Afghan rule extending from 1756, Kashmîr was conquered by Ranjit Singh, the Sikhist maharaja (Indian king or prince) of the Punjab. In 1846 Galub Singh, the ruler of Jammu, concluded a treaty with Britain, which by then dominated most of India, and was confirmed as ruler also of Kashmîr.

Following the August 1947 partition of British India into Pakistan and the Republic of India, a small portion of the predominantly Muslim population of Kashmîr demanded accession to Pakistan, a Muslim state. The reigning maharaja, Sir Hari Singh, a Hindu, resisted the pro-Pakistani movement. Pakistan invaded the area, after which the maharaja signed the Instrument of Accession to the Indian Union. India thereupon dispatched troops to Kashmîr and in the ensuing conflict forced the Pakistanis to yield ground. Through mediations organized by the United Nations (UN), a cease-fire agreement between the two nations was concluded in January 1949. Subsequent UN efforts to secure troop withdrawals and develop a plebiscitary plan (vote in which population exercises the right of national self-determination) satisfactory to both sides were unsuccessful. Heavy border fighting broke out in 1965 and again in 1971. The separatist movement reemerged in 1989, and India increased its troop deployment in the region. Tensions increased sharply beginning in early 1990, with violent clashes between Indian troops and pro-separatist demonstrators.

In 1996 the Indian government insisted that elections be held in Jammu and Kashmîr state for the first time since 1989. Separatist groups boycotted the elections, setting off rockets and bombs in Srînagar and near polling stations in protest. Much of the population was forced to vote at gunpoint by Indian troops. The National Conference, which supports the state remaining part of India but with greater autonomy, won a clear majority in the elections.

The border between India and China in Kashmîr has also been a matter of dispute, and the issue flared into open battle in 1962. Since then the two countries have respected current lines of control, and in 1993 and 1996 the countries’ leaders signed agreements to reduce troops along the line, open border posts to trade, and to resolve the dispute by peaceful means.

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