I have created this thread to discuss seperation in general. as far as i am concerend seperation doesn't neccasarily mean annexation. there are movments in kashmir for total independence from both pakistan and india - and those movements are just as legitmate as other ones.
AS for the history of Kashmir, I wil try to put it in as little bias as possible:
At the turn of the century, Indian independence movement gained full momemtum. The "Indian National Congress" was the political party responsible for lobbying the British into leaving India. Initially, all indians regardless of religon were part of this movement. SInce, roughly 65% of India's pop. was Hindu, naturally Hindus dominated the congress as well. The Muslims who made about 30% of India's population felt left out.
Gradually, Muslims started to leave the congress and formed a new seperate political party called the "All India Muslim League". The purpose of this party was to create a seperate country where Muslims would be the majority. On the other hand, Hindu nationalists formed thier own party the "Hindu Mahasabha".
Around World War II, Muslims gained the British attention. And in 1940, the British agreed to seperate India into two countries.
The areas of Muslim majority would form a seperate republic called Pakistan. Everything else (Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist etc.) would continue to form the republic of India.
So 1947, the year of independence finally arrived. AS the British began to paks up and leave, a form of lawlessness was unleashed. Killings of Muslims by Hindus and of Hindus by Muslims plagued India. Previously to these killings, Indians had been working towards a union and not a seperation. After these killings, however, a threat of a full scale civil war caused many people to believe that seperation was the only answer.
Some 8 million Muslims left what would be India for Pakistan, and some 6 million HIndus left what would be Pakistan for India.
The problem came when it was time for the princely states to decide which country to choose. In all of the princely states, the ruler was of the same religion as the subjects except 3. In all of those joining either Pakistan or India was no problem.
The three exceptions were:
Kashmir (Muslim majoirty ruled by Hindu prince), Jungadh (Hindu majoirty ruled by Muslim), and the all-famous state of Hyderabad (Hindu majoirty ruled by Muslim).
Junagadh: The instrument of assecion was signed in Pakistan's favor, but there was a plebiscite, and the outcome of it was that the people chose to join India. The State went to India.
Hyderabad: The Nizam (prince) of Hyderabad wanted to remain independent. But since the population was mainly Hindu, the state was invaded and occupied by the Indian Army.
Kashmir: The Prince of Kashmir also wanted to remain independent, despite the majority of Muslims. SInce the population was Muslim, Pakistan invaded Kashmir, at which the Prince, however, chose to join India. India then invaded Kashmir. Neither India nor Pakistan were able to completely occupy Kashmir. The two have fought ever since.
The two took their case to the U.N., which called for a plebiscite. The U.N. called Pakistan to withdraw from Kashmir, and for India to remove most of its troops as well. Neither PAkistan withdrew nor India reduce its troops to minimal.
