HOW DID THE KASHMIR CONFLICT START?
After India and Pakistan won independence from Britain, the once independent state of Kashmir was expected to join Pakistan, as other Muslim-majority regions did. The Hindu ruler of Kashmir wanted to stay independent but faced an invasion by Muslim tribesmen from Pakistan. In October 1947, he agreed to join India in return for military aid, and the region became a battleground. WHY IS KASHMIR IMPORTANT It is seen as one of the world’s potential nuclear flashpoints. India and Pakistan have fought two wars over Kashmir, which both claim in full but rule in part. Indian Kashmir has been hit by a 20-year separatist revolt in which more than 47,000 people have been killed. An attack on the Indian parliament in 2001, blamed on Pakistan-based Kashmiri separatists, brought the countries to the brink of another full-blown conflict, at a time when both had acquired and were testing nuclear weapons. India says that the Mumbai attacks in November that killed 179 people were also carried out by a P
