What is the Kashmir problem all about?
The state of Jammu & Kashmir did not accede to the Republic of India initially, like the other states did — prior to August 15, 1947. It was only after Pakistan sent infiltrators (their regular army in disguise) to forcefully occupy J&K, did everybody realise the gravity of the situation. The infiltrators or raiders (fondly named Mujahideen by the Pakistanis) had reached the outskirts of the Srinagar airport, when a now desperate Sheikh Abdullah (Wazir-e-Azam of the state of J&K) appealed to the Union of India for assistance to drive away the Pakistanis from J&K. How many times have we gone to war with Pakistan over Kashmir? When the Indian army got orders to drive the Pakistani infiltrators out of JK in 1948, the first of a series of wars with Pakistan, over Kashmir, was fought. 1948 saw the Pakistan army “rolled back”. By the time the Western countries (mainly the USA and the UK) pressurised India to “cease hostilities” against Pakistan in J&K. We had the Pakistan army in total disa
