Abstract

A Commentary on Section 370 and the Indian Occupation of Kashmir

The question of the hour on Kashmir, the same question that has existed ever since the
instrument of accession was signed by Maharaja Hari Singh, is if the issue is about Kashmir
valley, its resources and its generative economy or about Kashmiris – the people who’ve
lived in fear and dread for as long as India has existed as a country, the people who've never
received their fair share of democracy or rights or resources, people who've never been
allowed to, essentially, live the way the rest of us have.

The Kashmir issue is a wildly complicated one. It involves multiple parties, the bloody
partition inflicted upon the people of India, trilateral talks that never went anywhere, betrayal
on all sides, and a war fought on its very grounds.

The Kashmir issue essentially began when India and Pakistan were partitioned, and has
continued over the seven decades that have followed since. At its very core lies the never-
ending conflict between India and Pakistan over who was dealt the worse card during
partition, a conflict about ownership, on who owns the land that was divided by a third party
who colonialised the people of India, and turned it into a skeleton of its former self.

Pakistan, backed by another one of our common neighbours, refuses to honour the borders
implemented upon us by the British, a division it considers unfair and unjust. India refuses to
make the issue anything but bilateral, refusing interventions by third parties, and believes that
the borders implemented upon us by the British, no matter the circumstances under which
they were made, are where the actual borders of both countries lie, as agreed to under the
Indian Independence Act of 1947.

The internal politics and circumstances of the state of Kashmir make it very difficult for any
government to actually resolve the issue faced by the valley, every time any issue seems to be
even mildly resolved, a new one seems to occur. No party to the talks can ever find itself in
agreement, no treaty signed has ever been fully implemented.

Objectives:

To study the complicated history of the state of Kashmir, both with India and Pakistan with a
focus on how the rapidly occurring new changes have affected and will affect the valley and
its people.
Research Question:

What exactly are the issues faced by the Kashmiri people?

Why has no bilateral treaty ever been agreed to by India and Pakistan on Kashmir?