Understanding Kashmir and Kashmiris PDF
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UNDERSTANDING KASHMIR AND KASHMIRIS CHRISTOPHER SNEDDEN Understanding Kashmir and Kashmiris HURST & COMPANY, LONDON For Esther and Chris First published in the United Kingdom in 2015 by C. Hurst & Co. (Publishers) Ltd., 41 Great Russell Street, London, WC1B 3PL © Christopher Snedden, 2015 All rights reserved. Printed in India Distributed in the United States, Canada and Latin America by Oxford University Press, 198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, United States of America. The right of Christopher Snedden to be identified as the author of this publication is asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988. A Cataloguing-in-Publication data record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN: 978-1-84904-342-7 epub ISBN: 978-1-84904-622-0 www.hurstpublishers.com CONTENTS Acknowledgements Abbreviations Glossary List of Tables List of Maps Introduction Part One: Important Antecedents What is Kashmir? Who are Kashmiris? The prestige of ‘Kashmir’ The historical and strategic context for the British The Sikh Empire and Punjab Jammu and Jammuites Part Two: Jammu and Kashmir, 1846–1947 The sale of Kashmir and the creation of J&K The British in India and the greater region after 1846 Consolidating the princely state Ongoing British strategic concerns re India’s and J&K’s neighbours What the Dogras did not control Challenges to Dogra rule Part Three: From Princely State to Disputed State The structure of India and J&K in 1947 The situation in August 1947 Hari Singh’s vacillation and its effects J&K becomes an international issue A contentious accession The ‘People’s Plebiscite’ Part Four: Contemporary, and Divided, J&K J&K’s five regions Indian J&K Pakistan-Administered J&K Azad Jammu and Kashmir (Azad Kashmir) Northern Areas/Gilgit-Baltistan Significant challenges to J&K’s post-1949 status quo 1950: Dixon and the possible break up of J&K From 1954: India no longer interested in People’s Plebiscite 1960: Indus Waters Treaty 1962 China-India war—and subsequent rivalry 1963: China-Pakistan Border Agreement 1965: second India-Pakistan war From 1965: China and Pakistan become allies 1971: third India-Pakistan war From the early 1980s: Siachen Glacier From 1988: Kashmiris’ anti-India uprising 1998: India and Pakistan confirm their nuclear capabilities 1999: the Kargil ‘war’ 2001: Terrorism 2005: Opening the LOC to J&K-ites Part Five: Resolving the Kashmir dispute Attempts to Resolve the Kashmir dispute The Official Positions of India and Pakistan The India-Pakistan ‘trust deficit’ Since 1947: an increasing desire for independence One way to resolve the Kashmir dispute: Let the People Decide Conclusion Appendixes Appendix I: The Mountains of, and around, J&K Appendix II: Maharajas of the Princely State of Jammu and Kashmir Appendix III: Rules for Visitors to Kashmir Appendix IV: Wars in, or over, Jammu and Kashmir since 1947 Appendix V: Districts of Jammu and Kashmir Notes Bibliography Index ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I have been writing this book for some time. I have acquired a lot of my information while undertaking research for a previous book about Azad Kashmir. Many of the people who helped with that book vicariously have helped with this one. Once again, I thank you all very much. More specifically, I acknowledge and thank my wife, Diane Barbeler, who actively helped me to clarify my ideas, and who astutely edited this book. It is a far better product for Diane’s involvement. I thank Len Johnston from Malmsbury, Victoria, for suggesting the title, and the staff at the State Library of Victoria, Melbourne, for helping me by locating some particularly interesting old maps and old books. This magnificent public edifice and its collection are national and international assets. I thank John Keay for generously allowing me to use an extract from his book When Men and Mountains Meet: The Explorers of the Western Himalayas 1820–75 in Appendix I. I thank Victoria Schofield for generously giving me a copy of her excellent book Wavell: Soldier & Statesman when we met in Pakistan in early 2014. I am very grateful to my publisher, Michael Dwyer, at Hurst and Co., London, and to my Gandhian friend, Tom Weber, from Healesville in outer Melbourne, for their ongoing encouragement and support. I thank the mapmaker, Sebastian Ballard, for the excellent maps. Finally, I thank my parents, Esther and the late Chris Snedden, Canberra, for encouraging and developing my curiosity. I dedicate this book to them. ABBREVIATIONS AD Anno Domini; Latin for ‘in the year of the/Our Lord’; the period after year 0 BC Before Christ; the period before year 0 CBMs Confidence building measures CENTO Central Treaty Organization FATA Federally Administered Tribal Areas GBian A resident of Gilgit-Baltistan hydel hydro-electricity IaK Indian administered [Jammu and] Kashmir ISI (Pakistan’s) Directorate of Inter-Services Intelligence JKLF Jammu Kashmir [sic] Liberation Front J&K Jammu and Kashmir KKH Karakoram Highway km kilometres LOC Line of Control that has divided J&K since 1972 into Indian J&K and Pakistan- Administered J&K; before 1972, this was known as the ceasefire line MFN Most Favoured Nation status (re trade between two nations) MKA Ministry of Kashmir Affairs (currently known as the Ministry of Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan) MW megawatts NEFA North-East Frontier Agency NWFP North-West Frontier Province (called Khyber Pakhtunkhwa since 2010) PaK Pakistan administered [Jammu and] Kashmir PLA (Chinese) People’s Liberation Army PPP Pakistan People’s Party PRC People’s Republic of China RIAF Royal Indian Air Force Rs rupees SAARC South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation SEATO South-East Asia Treaty Organization sq. square UK United Kingdom UN United Nations UNCIP United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan UNMOGIP United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan UNSC United Nations Security Council US United States USD United States dollar/ s USSR Union of Soviet Socialist Republics; also called the Soviet Union 9/11 Terrorist attacks in the United States that occurred on 11 September 2001 (which term uses the US date format: September 11, 2001)
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