Demystifying Kashmir

In 1846, the British created the state of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) - popularly called "Kashmir" - and then quickly sold this prized region to the wily and powerful Raja, Gulab Singh. Intriguingly, had they retained it, the India-Pakistan dispute over possession of the state may never have arisen, but Britain's concerns lay elsewhere -- expansionist Russia, beguiling Tibet and unstable China "circling" J&K -- and their agents played the 'Great Game' in Afghanistan and 'Turkistan'. Snedden contextualizes the geo-strategic and historical circumstances surrounding the British decision to relinquish prestigious 'Kashmir', and explains how they and four Dogra maharajas consolidated and controlled J&K subsequently. He details what comprised this diverse princely state with distant borders and disunified peoples and explains the Maharaja of J&K's controversial accession to India on 26 October 1947 - and its unintended consequences. Snedden weaves a compelling narrative that frames the Kashmir dispute, explains why it continues, and assesses what it means politically and administratively for the divided peoples of J&K and their undecided futures.

This collection of essays discusses the less well-known aspects and areas of Kashmir on the seventieth anniversary of Indian independence.

Why has the valley of Kashmir, famed for its beauty and tranquillity, become a major flashpoint, threatening the stability of a region of great strategic importance and challenging the integrity of the Indian state? This book examines the Kashmir conflict in its historical context, from the period when the valley was an independent kingdom right up to the struggles of the present day. Located on the borders of China, Central Asia and the Sub-Continent, the insurgency in the valley has also created serious tensions between India and Pakistan. Drawing upon research in India and Pakistan, as well as historical sources, this book traces the origins of the state in the 19th century and the controversial "sale" by the British of the predominantly Muslim valley to a Hindu Maharaja in 1846. Through an exploration of the implications for Kashmir of independence in 1947, it gives a critical account of why, for Kashmir, self-determination may seem a more attractive option than affiliation to a larger multi-racial whole.

Forgotten Kashmir examines the evolution of Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (POK) over the past seven decades. It includes major milestones like the 'tribal' invasion in 1947-48, the Sudhan revolt in the 1950s, the Ayub era, the Simla Agreement, the adoption of an 'Interim Constitution of 1974' and the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). It is not simply a historical account but one that analyses the events in POK against the background of developments in Pakistan's polity to better understand Pakistan's motivations for its policies in the region. The book delves into contentious issues such as the right of self-determination - that is distinct from the concept of plebiscite in Jammu and Kashmir which was debated in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). More recently, the Chinese presence in the region has been considered, which is bound to grow with the development of CPEC, which runs through the Northern Areas. The book covers internal developments in that remote area. The author, a seasoned diplomat, provides a wealth of information that comes from his stint in Karachi, involvement in the Jammu and Kashmir issue at the Ministry of External Affairs, discussions in the United Nations, and as a member of bilateral working groups to counter-terrorism with the US, EU, UK, and Canada.

During the 1947 partition of the Indian subcontinent, Kashmir--a Muslim-majority area ruled by a Hindu maharaja--became a hotly disputed territory. Divided between India and Pakistan, the region has been the focus of international wars and the theater of political and military struggles for self-determination. The result has been great human suffering within the state, with political implications extending globally. Imagining Kashmir examines cinematic and literary imaginings of the Kashmir region's conflicts and diverse citizenship, analyzing a wide range of narratives from writers and directors such as Salman Rushdie, Bharat Wakhlu, Mani Ratnam, and Mirza Waheed in conjunction with research in psychology, cognitive science, and social neuroscience. In this innovative study, Patrick Colm Hogan's historical and cultural analysis of Kashmir advances theories of narrative, colonialism, and their corresponding ideologies in relation to the cognitive and affective operations of identity. Hogan considers how narrative organizes people's understanding of, and emotions about, real political situations and the ways in which such situations in turn influence cultural narratives, not only in Kashmir but around the world.

Understanding Pakistan: Emerging Voices from India is the outcome of a national seminar for research scholars on Pakistan organized by the Centre for Pakistan Studies at the MMAJ Academy of International Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. The aim of the seminar was to explore how young minds in India view Pakistan, the quintessential ‘enemy’ country or the ‘other’ of India. The range of topics included issues related to Pakistan’s politics, economy, popular culture, education, environment, sectarian divide, minorities, policy towards Jammu & Kashmir and foreign relations. The established academic discourse on Pakistan in India is largely dominated by concerns linked to security threats emanating from within Pakistan. Due to this overemphasis on security-related issues, Indian scholarship on Pakistan is considered to be highly subjective and partisan. However, in this volume, most of the young scholars distance themselves from the main thrust of Indian scholarship on Pakistan and provide a fresh perspective on Pakistan which can potentially rupture the established tradition of Indian scholarship on Pakistan. Hopefully, it will be these scholars who in the near future will be at the forefront of emerging scholarship on Pakistan in India.