The Kashmir conflict

Kashmir consists of the countrysides Jammu and Kashmir in the north west Himalaya. It was an independent principality (Fürstentum) from 1845 to 1947. Kashmir has a large opf 200.000 km² (2/3 of the large of Germany) and around 10 million inhabitants. It lies between Pakistan, China and India. Today, Pakistan and India argue over Kashmir.

REASONS

After 200 years of British colonial rule, India get the independence and was decided into the majority Hindu India and the majority Moslem Pakistan. The principalities should decide on their own where t6hey want tpo belong to, but it was wished theat the ones with majority Moslem go to Pakistan and the ones with majority Hindu go to India. Only the maharadja of Jammu and Kashmir didn't decide. The reason could be that 3/4 of population were Moslem while he was Hindu.
After internal unrests Islam tribel warriors, who were supported by Pakistan, began to go to Kashmir. So the Maharadja asked India for help and get it because he joined the Indian union temporary. Pakistan reacted by saying that this isn't legal because it contradicted the will of the majority Moslem population of (remember: India is majority Hindu) and sent more army. The follow was a 2-year war between both countries from 1947 to 1949 where China get a part of Kashmir, too. So the country was divorced into three parts now now. In the years 1965 and 1971 other wars followed which intensified the situation even more.

After a referendum (a decision of inhabitants) where only 2 percent of population took part, a resistance movement arose. Today, Kashmir is divorced into two parts: 1/3 belong to Pakistan and 2/3 to India.

STATE OF AFFAIRS

The negotiations between India and Pakistan have been more in the last 10, 20 years. But now, they aren't like this. How everybody knows, there are lots of terrorists in this part of the world, especially in Pakistan. So there are a lot of attacks, especially in India. India says that Pakistan doesn't do enough against the terrorists and that they have to get the hang of it before a solution for the Kashmir conflict can be found. It isn't hard to notice that this aren't good conditions for a cooperation and a solution.

FOLLOWS OF THE CONFLICT

Between 17,000 and 47,000 people are killed because of the Kashmir conflict now. The relationship between Pakistan and India isn't good and unforseeable. Lots of people are afraid of the possibility of another war, especially because both countries own nuclear weapons. Apart from this the life in Kashmir, which was well-known as a "paradise", became harder. The atmosphere at the street is tense, conflicts are wide-spread and belong to daily life. The inhabitants of Kashmir say that Kashmir became the hell on earth. A proof for this is also the number of tourists: In 1989 there were 800,000, in 1995 only 10,000.

Pictures from:

http://www.maya-travels.de/images/indien/kashmir_weg_nach_ladakh_es.jpg
(way to Ladakh)http://polpix.sueddeutsche.com/polopoly_fs/1.543739.1273515389!/image/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/536x536/image.jpg