Author: Faizan Rashid
Organization/Publisher: Center for Security, Strategy and Policy Research, University of Lahore
Date/Place: January 2, 2021/Washington, D.C., USA
Type of Literature: Report
Number of Pages: 41
Link: https://csspr.uol.edu.pk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Kashmir-Disputed-Terrritory.pdf
Keywords: Kashmir, Pakistan, India, War crimes, UN, Demography
Brief:
This report by Center for Security, Strategy and Policy Research is a one-fold guide to understanding the genesis of the Kashmir dispute. It divides various facets of the Kashmir issue into chapters, from its history to its status as an occupied territory by India. The report also looks at wars fought by Pakistan and India over the region – Jammu and Kashmir – ever since the two countries became independent in 1947. It also describes the separate political and governance structures in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir which was further divided into two centrally-controlled Union Territories by India on August 5, 2019. While it sheds light on how India controls one part of the disputed territory by strong stationing nearly one million troops there, the report claims Azad Jammu and Kashmir has freedom of movement, speech and thought, with their civil liberties and human rights respected to make them feel progressive. It also reflects on the deployments by India and Pakistan along the Line of Control – the dividing line between Jammu and Kashmir. Referring to various international laws, the report says: “India does not have legal title to J&K because Security Council Resolution does not recognize Indian claims of legal title. Therefore, any attempt to include it in its own state amounts to an act of occupation and illegal annexation.” It also reflects upon the status of human rights in Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir, and how Indian forces enjoy complete impunity under Indian laws against any violations it commits in the disputed territory. The report warns “war clouds in South Asia are getting thicker with Chinese presence on the northern tips of Jammu and Kashmir.” “Confrontations between China and India along the Line of Actual Control are not trivial skirmishes or isolated incidents,” it adds. Since May 2019, India and China have been locked-in to a hostile situation along the LAC that divides China and India in Indian-occupied Kashmir’s Ladakh region.
By: Riyaz ul Khaliq, Non-Resident CIGA Research Associate
