History of Post Independence India

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

History of Post Independence India BIG LEARNINGS MADE EASY An initiative of Group HISTORY OF POST INDEPENDENCE INDIA Civil Services Examination MADE EASY Publications Corporate Office: 44-A/4, Kalu Sarai (Near Hauz Khas Metro Station), New Delhi-110016 E-mail: [email protected] Contact: 011-45124660, 8860378007 Visit us at: www.madeeasypublications.org History of Post Independence India © Copyright, by MADE EASY Publications. All rights are reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photo-copying, recording or oth- erwise), without the prior written permission of the above mentioned publisher of this book. First Edition: 2017 Second Edition: 2018 Third Edition: 2019 © All rights reserved by MADE EASY PUBLICATIONS. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form without the written permission from the publisher. Contents History of Post Independence India Chapter - 1 Amul ....................................................................... 27 National Dairy Development Board ........................ 28 Nehruvian Era ............................................................... 1 Operation Flood ...................................................... 28 1.1 Integration of India ................................................... 1 Critical Analysis ...................................................... 29 Classification of Indian States .................................. 1 2.5 Green Revolution .................................................... 29 Integration of Princely States .................................... 2 Threat from the USA ............................................... 30 Partition and its Aftermath ........................................ 7 Towards Self-Reliance ............................................ 30 Linguistic Reorganization of States .......................... 8 Critical Analysis ...................................................... 30 Integration of Tribals in India .................................. 11 Conclusion .............................................................. 31 Issue of Official Language ...................................... 12 2.6 Food Corporation of India ....................................... 31 Hindu Code Bill ...................................................... 14 Achievements ......................................................... 31 Criticism ................................................................. 15 Challenges ............................................................. 31 1.2 Political Developments ........................................... 15 Prospects ............................................................... 31 Parliamentary Democracy ...................................... 15 2.7 Lal Bahadur Shastri Years: Critical Analysis ................. 31 One Party Dominated System ................................. 15 Achievements ......................................................... 31 Decline of Indian National Congress ...................... 15 Criticism ................................................................. 32 1.3 Foreign Policy ......................................................... 18 Conclusion .............................................................. 32 Bandung Conference (1955) .................................. 18 Non-Alignment Movement ...................................... 19 Chapter - 3 The Panchsheel Agreement ................................... 20 Indira Gandhi Era ........................................................ 33 1.4 India-China Relations ............................................. 21 3.1 Introduction ............................................................ 33 Tibetan Crisis .......................................................... 21 Challenges for Indira Gandhi.................................. 33 1962 War ................................................................ 22 3.2 Political Developments ........................................... 34 1.5 Analysis of Nehruvian Era ....................................... 23 Split in Congress .................................................... 34 Achievements ......................................................... 23 Single Party to Multi-party System .......................... 34 Shortcomings ......................................................... 23 Era of Coalition Governments ................................. 35 Conclusion .............................................................. 23 Politics of Defections .............................................. 35 Chapter - 2 J P Narayan and Total Revolution ........................... 36 Janata Government: Coalition at Centre ................. 36 Lal Bahadur Shastri Era .............................................. 24 Analysis of Coalition Politics ................................... 36 2.1 Introduction ............................................................ 24 3.3 Economic Developments ........................................ 37 Challenges ............................................................. 24 PL-480 Program...................................................... 37 Response ............................................................... 24 Nationalization: Banks and General Insurance ....... 37 2.2 Political Developments ........................................... 24 Public Distribution System (PDS) ............................ 38 Kamaraj Plan .......................................................... 24 Abolition of Privy Purse ........................................... 38 Rise of Regional Politics ......................................... 25 Garibi Hatao ........................................................... 39 2.3 Tashkent Agreement .............................................. 25 3.4 Other Major Developments ..................................... 39 Indo-Pak War (1965) ............................................... 25 The Naxalites .......................................................... 39 Tashkent Declaration .............................................. 26 3.5 Bangladeshi Refugee Crisis ................................... 41 2.4 White Revolution ..................................................... 26 3.6 Indo-Pak War, 1971 ................................................ 41 Background ............................................................ 27 Strategy of War ....................................................... 42 (iii) Simla Agreement,1972 ........................................... 42 5.13 Operation Blackboard ............................................ 60 Indo Soviet Treaty of Peace .................................... 43 5.14 Bofors Scam ........................................................... 60 3.7 JP Movement .......................................................... 43 5.15 Indian Peace Keeping Force .................................. 61 3.8 National Emergency ............................................... 44 5.16 Rajiv Gandhi’s Assassination.................................. 62 Events that led to Emergency ................................. 44 5.17 Rajiv Gandhi Era: A Critical Appraisal .................... 62 Course of Emergency ............................................. 45 Tussle with Judiciary .............................................. 45 Chapter - 6 Forced Sterilization ................................................. 45 National Front Government....................................... 63 Jail Bharo Andolan ................................................. 45 Raj Narain Case ..................................................... 46 6.1 Pre 1989 Coalition: Third Front ............................... 63 Election of 1989 ...................................................... 63 3.9 Analysis of Emergency ........................................... 46 Beginning of Coalition Government ........................ 63 Chapter - 4 6.2 Events during the National Front Government ........ 63 Janta Government ...................................................... 47 6.3 Mandal Commission ............................................... 64 Recommendation ................................................... 64 4.1 Introduction ............................................................ 47 Aftermath ................................................................ 64 4.2 Rise of Regional Parties and Coalition Consequences ....................................................... 64 Governments .......................................................... 47 Analysis .................................................................. 64 44th Constitutional Amendment ............................... 48 Shah Commission Report ....................................... 48 Chapter - 7 Food for Work Programme ...................................... 49 Narsimha Rao Government ....................................... 66 4.3 Analysis of Janata Government .............................. 49 Achievements ......................................................... 49 7.1 Introduction ............................................................ 66 Failures ................................................................... 50 7.2 Economic Crisis and Reforms ................................ 66 4.4 Returns of Indira Gandhi Government .................... 50 Crisis ...................................................................... 66 Preconditions .......................................................... 66 4.5 Unrest in Punjab ....................................................
Recommended publications
  • India-Pakistan Conflict: Records of the Us State Department, February 1963
    http://gdc.gale.com/archivesunbound/ INDIA-PAKISTAN CONFLICT: RECORDS OF THE U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT, FEBRUARY 1963-1966 Over 16,000 pages of State Department Central Files on India and Pakistan from 1963 through 1966 make this collection a standard documentary resource for the study of the political relations between India and Pakistan during a crucial period in the Cold War and the shifting alliances and alignments in South Asia. Date Range: 1963-1966 Content: 15,387 images Source Library: U.S. National Archives Detailed Description: Relations with Pakistan have demanded a high proportion of India’s international energies and undoubtedly will continue to do so. India and Pakistan have divergent national ideologies and have been unable to establish a mutually acceptable power equation in South Asia. The national ideologies of pluralism, democracy, and secularism for India and of Islam for Pakistan grew out of the pre-independence struggle between the Congress and the All-India Muslim League, and in the early 1990s the line between domestic and foreign politics in India’s relations with Pakistan remained blurred. Because great-power competition—between the United States and the Soviet Union and between the Soviet Union and China—became intertwined with the conflicts between India and Pakistan, India was unable to attain its goal of insulating South Asia from global rivalries. This superpower involvement enabled Pakistan to use external force in the face of India’s superior endowments of population and resources. The most difficult problem in relations between India and Pakistan since partition in August 1947 has been their dispute over Kashmir.
    [Show full text]
  • "Demons Within"
    Demons Within the systematic practice of torture by inDian police a report by organization for minorities of inDia NOVEMBER 2011 Demons within: The Systematic Practice of Torture by Indian Police a report by Organization for Minorities of India researched and written by Bhajan Singh Bhinder & Patrick J. Nevers www.ofmi.org Published 2011 by Sovereign Star Publishing, Inc. Copyright © 2011 by Organization for Minorities of India. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, digital, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise or conveyed via the internet or a web site without prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. Inquiries should be addressed to: Sovereign Star Publishing, Inc PO Box 392 Lathrop, CA 95330 United States of America www.sovstar.com ISBN 978-0-9814992-6-0; 0-9814992-6-0 Contents ~ Introduction: India’s Climate of Impunity 1 1. Why Indian Citizens Fear the Police 5 2. 1975-2010: Origins of Police Torture 13 3. Methodology of Police Torture 19 4. For Fun and Profit: Torturing Known Innocents 29 Conclusion: Delhi Incentivizes Atrocities 37 Rank Structure of Indian Police 43 Map of Custodial Deaths by State, 2008-2011 45 Glossary 47 Citations 51 Organization for Minorities of India • 1 Introduction: India’s Climate of Impunity Impunity for police On October 20, 2011, in a statement celebrating the Hindu festival of Diwali, the Vatican pled for Indians from Hindu and Christian communities to work together in promoting religious freedom.
    [Show full text]
  • Compounding Injustice: India
    INDIA 350 Fifth Ave 34 th Floor New York, N.Y. 10118-3299 http://www.hrw.org (212) 290-4700 Vol. 15, No. 3 (C) – July 2003 Afsara, a Muslim woman in her forties, clutches a photo of family members killed in the February-March 2002 communal violence in Gujarat. Five of her close family members were murdered, including her daughter. Afsara’s two remaining children survived but suffered serious burn injuries. Afsara filed a complaint with the police but believes that the police released those that she identified, along with many others. Like thousands of others in Gujarat she has little faith in getting justice and has few resources with which to rebuild her life. ©2003 Smita Narula/Human Rights Watch COMPOUNDING INJUSTICE: THE GOVERNMENT’S FAILURE TO REDRESS MASSACRES IN GUJARAT 1630 Connecticut Ave, N.W., Suite 500 2nd Floor, 2-12 Pentonville Road 15 Rue Van Campenhout Washington, DC 20009 London N1 9HF, UK 1000 Brussels, Belgium TEL (202) 612-4321 TEL: (44 20) 7713 1995 TEL (32 2) 732-2009 FAX (202) 612-4333 FAX: (44 20) 7713 1800 FAX (32 2) 732-0471 E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] July 2003 Vol. 15, No. 3 (C) COMPOUNDING INJUSTICE: The Government's Failure to Redress Massacres in Gujarat Table of Contents I. Summary............................................................................................................................................................. 4 Impunity for Attacks Against Muslims...............................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Three Years Later, When Cell Phones Ring
    Best Breaking News THREE YEARS LATER, WHEN CELL PHONES RING Who spoke to whom, when Gujarat was burning Two CDs with more than 5 lakh entries have been lying with the Gujarat ** Using cellphone tower locations, the data also gives information on the police and are now with the Nanavati-Shah riots panel. These have records physical location of the caller and the person at the other end. of all cellphone calls made in Ahmedabad over the first five days of the riots which saw the worst massacres. PART ONE Two compact discs could change that. For, they contain records of all Tracking VHP’s gen secy on day 1,2 (published 21 November 2004) cellphone calls made in Ahmedabad from February 25, 2002, two days Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s General Secretary in Gujarat is a pathologist called before the horrific Sabarmati Express attack to March 4, five days that saw Jaideep Patel. He was booked for rioting and arson in the Naroda Patiya the worst communal violence in recent history. massacre, the worst post-Godhra riot incident in which 83 were killed, many of them burnt alive. The police closed the case saying there was not This staggering amount of data - there are more than 5 lakh entries - was enough evidence. Records show that Patel, who lives in Naroda, was there investigated over several weeks by this newspaper. They show that Patel when the massacre began, then left for Bapunagar which also witnessed was in touch with the key riot accused, top police officers, including the killings and returned to Naroda.
    [Show full text]
  • Breathing Life Into the Constitution
    Breathing Life into the Constitution Human Rights Lawyering In India Arvind Narrain | Saumya Uma Alternative Law Forum Bengaluru Breathing Life into the Constitution Human Rights Lawyering In India Arvind Narrain | Saumya Uma Alternative Law Forum Bengaluru Breathing Life into the Constitution Human Rights Lawyering in India Arvind Narrain | Saumya Uma Edition: January 2017 Published by: Alternative Law Forum 122/4 Infantry Road, Bengaluru - 560001. Karnataka, India. Design by: Vinay C About the Authors: Arvind Narrain is a founding member of the Alternative Law Forum in Bangalore, a collective of lawyers who work on a critical practise of law. He has worked on human rights issues including mass crimes, communal conflict, LGBT rights and human rights history. Saumya Uma has 22 years’ experience as a lawyer, law researcher, writer, campaigner, trainer and activist on gender, law and human rights. Cover page images copied from multiple news articles. All copyrights acknowledged. Any part of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted as necessary. The authors only assert the right to be identified wtih the reproduced version. “I am not a religious person but the only sin I believe in is the sin of cynicism.” Parvez Imroz, Jammu and Kashmir Civil Society Coalition (JKCSS), on being told that nothing would change with respect to the human rights situation in Kashmir Dedication This book is dedicated to remembering the courageous work of human rights lawyers, Jalil Andrabi (1954-1996), Shahid Azmi (1977-2010), K. Balagopal (1952-2009), K.G. Kannabiran (1929-2010), Gobinda Mukhoty (1927-1995), T. Purushotham – (killed in 2000), Japa Lakshma Reddy (killed in 1992), P.A.
    [Show full text]
  • India-Pakistan Conflicts – Brief Timeline
    India-Pakistan Conflicts – Brief timeline Added to the above list, are Siachin glacier dispute (1984 beginning – 2003 ceasefire agreement), 2016- 17 Uri, Pathankot terror attacks, Balakot surginal strikes by India Indo-Pakistani War of 1947 The war, also called the First Kashmir War, started in October 1947 when Pakistan feared that the Maharaja of the princely state of Kashmir and Jammu would accede to India. Following partition, princely states were left to choose whether to join India or Pakistan or to remain independent. Jammu and Kashmir, the largest of the princely states, had a majority Muslim population and significant fraction of Hindu population, all ruled by the Hindu Maharaja Hari Singh. Tribal Islamic forces with support from the army of Pakistan attacked and occupied parts of the princely state forcing the Maharaja Pragnya IAS Academy +91 9880487071 www.pragnyaias.com Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Tirupati & Pune +91 9880486671 www.upsccivilservices.com to sign the Instrument of Accession of the princely state to the Dominion of India to receive Indian military aid. The UN Security Council passed Resolution 47 on 22 April 1948. The fronts solidified gradually along what came to be known as the Line of Control. A formal cease-fire was declared at 23:59 on the night of 1 January 1949. India gained control of about two-thirds of the state (Kashmir valley, Jammu and Ladakh) whereas Pakistan gained roughly a third of Kashmir (Azad Kashmir, and Gilgit–Baltistan). The Pakistan controlled areas are collectively referred to as Pakistan administered Kashmir. Pragnya IAS Academy +91 9880487071 www.pragnyaias.com Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Tirupati & Pune +91 9880486671 www.upsccivilservices.com Indo-Pakistani War of 1965: This war started following Pakistan's Operation Gibraltar, which was designed to infiltrate forces into Jammu and Kashmir to precipitate an insurgency against rule by India.
    [Show full text]
  • Gujrat Pogrom – a Flagrant Violation of Human Rights and Reflection of Hindu Chauvinism in the Indian Society
    Gujrat Pogrom – A Flagrant Violation of Human Rights and Reflection of Hindu Chauvinism in the Indian Society The Incident: Five and half years ago, during the last week of February 2007, the Muslims living across the Indian state of Gujarat witnessed their massacre at the hands of their Hindu compatriots. On 27 February, the stormtroopers of the Hindu right, decked in saffron sashes and armed with swords, tridents, sledgehammers and liquid gas cylinders, launched a pogrom against the local Muslim population. They looted and torched Muslim-owned businesses, assaulted and murdered Muslims, and gang-raped and mutilated Muslim women. By the time the violence spluttered to a halt, about 2,500 Muslims had been killed and about 200,000 driven from their homes. The Gujrat pogrom, which has been documented through recent interviews of perpetrators of the pogrom, was distinguished not only by its ferocity and sadism (foetuses were ripped from the bellies of pregnant women, old men bludgeoned to death) but also by its meticulous advance planning with the full support of government apparatus. The leaders used mobile phones to coordinate the movement of an army of thousands through densely populated areas, targeting Muslim properties with the aid of computerized lists and electoral rolls provided by state agencies. It has been established by independent reports that the savagery of the anti-Muslim violence was planned, coordinated and implemented with the complicity of the police and the state government. The Gujarat carnage was unprecedented in the history of communal riots in India. Never such communal violence took place with so much active collaboration of the state.
    [Show full text]
  • Mrs. Zakia Ahsan Jafri V/S Mr
    IN THE COURT OF THE 11th METROPOLITAN MAGISTRATE, AHMEDABAD MRS. ZAKIA AHSAN JAFRI V/S MR. NARENDRA MODI & OTHERS PROTEST PETITION ON THE COMPLAINT DATED 8.6.2006 & AGAINST THE FINAL REPORT OF THE SPECIAL INVESTIGATION TEAM DATED 8.2.2012 (PART I) 1 MAIN INDEX TO PROTEST PETITION Sr.No. Subject Page Nos Opening Page of the Protest Petition Filed on 15.4.2013 1. Main Petition:- PART I 2. Main Petition:- PART II Main Petition Continues PLUS Compilation of Supreme Court Orders in SLP1088/2008 & SLP 8989/2013 Graphic Depicting Distances from Sola Civil Hospital to the Sola Civil Police Station, Commissioner of Police, Ahmedabad’s Office, Airport, Two Crematoriums at Hatkeshwar near Ramol and Gota; Naroda & Gulberg Chart of PCR (Police Control Room Messages) Showing Aggressive Mobilisation at the Sola Civil Hospital Chart of SIB Messages recording the arrival of the Sabarmati Express from Godhra at the Ahmedabad Railway station at Kalupur on 27.2.2002 & Murderous Sloganeering by the VHP and Others Map showing Gujarat-wide Mobilisation through aggressive Funeral Processions on 27.2.2002, 28.2.2002 & 1.3.2992 onwards & attacks on Minorities Map showing Scale of Violence all over Gujarat in 2002 Map showing Details of Deaths, Missing Person, Destruction on Homes, Shrines in 2002 3. ANNEXURES -VOLUME I (Sr Nos 1- 51) 1 – 304 pages News reports related to Provocations, Sandesh Articles, SIB Statistics, Important Letters from SIB, Rahul Sharma, Statistics on Police Firing & Tables Extracted from the SIB Messages/PCR messages from the SIT Papers, VHP Pamphlets & Petitioners Letters to Investigating agency 1 – 162 pages 4.
    [Show full text]
  • Adobe Photoshop
    CEPT U\I ' / C: RSITY CENTRE I FOR URBAN EQUITY I ~CfD SAFE AND INCLUSIVE CITIES POVERTY, INEQUALITY AND VIOLENCE IN INDIAN CITIES: TOWARDS INCLUSIVE POLICIES AND PLANNING Housing with secure tenure* is necessary for poverty alleviation, reducing inequalities and realizing the right to the city. However, the development paradigm in Indian cities plays a central role in creating and perpetuating insecure tenure for a large majority who are unable to access formal housing due to lack of affordability. This insecure tenure exposes them to chronic structural violence. While issues of tenure security in slums that are squatter settlements are widely known, we know less about informal commercial subdivisions that tend to dominate the urban peripheries in many Indian cities. These are residential developments on agricultural lands which have involved builders informally acquiring land from farmers, sub-dividing it into plots and informally constructing societies without taking planning and development permissions, and then selling the plots I tenements to generally low-income and middle-income households. Ahmedabad's southern periphery comprises of large areas of "Poverty, Inequality and Violenoe in Indian Cities: Towards informal subdivisions, which have, due to religious segregation in Inclusive Policies and Planning," a three-year research project the city since the mid-1980s and more so after the 2002 riots, (2013-16) undertaken by Centre for Urban Equity (CUE), developed as Muslim ghettos (see Box 1). One such locality is CEPT University in Ahmedabad and Guwahati, and Institute Bombay Hotel, comprising of about 25,000 households living in an for Human Development in Delhi and Patna, is funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada area of about 1 sq.km, located beside the Pirana garbage dump and Department of International Development (DFID), UK, along the Sarkhej-Narol highway.
    [Show full text]
  • Committee on External Affairs (2016-17)
    COMMITTEE 16 ON EXTERNAL AFFAIRS (2016-17) SIXTEENTH LOK SABHA MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS INDO-PAK RELATIONS SIXTEENTH REPORT LOK SABHA SECRETARIAT NEW DELHI AUGUST, 2017/Shravana, 1939 (Saka) SIXTEENTH REPORT COMMITTEE ON EXTERNAL AFFAIRS (2016-17) (SIXTEENTH LOK SABHA) MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS INDO-PAK RELATIONS Presented to Lok Sabha on 11 August, 2017 Laid in Rajya Sabha on 11 August, 2017 LOK SABHA SECRETARIAT NEW DELHI August, 2017/Shravana, 1939 (Saka) COEA NO. 129 Price : Rs. ................ © 2017 by Lok Sabha Secretariat Published under Rule 382 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha (__________Edition) and Printed by CONTENTS COMPOSITION OF THE COMMITTEE (2016-17) INTRODUCTION Chapter 1: Introductory 1-2 Chapter 2: Indo-Pak Relations: An Overview- 3-22 I. Historical Background II. Dialogue Process III. Approach and policy towards Pakistan Chapter 3 : Strategic Dimension of the Relationship 23-64 I. Border Management and Security II. Subversive Activities by Pakistan and Cross Border Terrorism III. The Issue of Jammu & Kashmir IV. Nuclear & Missile Programme V. Recent Surgical Strikes Chapter 4: Economic & Cultural Aspects 65-81 I. Economic Engagement/Cooperation II. Cultural Aspect Chapter 5: Reaction/Role of Global Actors and Institutions 82-93 Chapter 6: Miscellaneous 94-103 I. Sharing of Water II. Humanitarian Exchanges III. TAPI Chapter 7: Roadmap For Future 104-109 I. Impediments to Normalization of ties II. Roadmap for Future Appendices I. Minutes of the Second Sitting of the Committee (2016-17) held on 18.10.2016 110-112 II. Minutes of the Sixth Sitting of the Committee (2016-17) held on 12.1.2017 113-115 III.
    [Show full text]
  • India's Wars: the Indo-Pakistani Wars and the India-China Border Conflict
    India’s Wars: The Indo-Pakistani Wars and the India-China Border Conflict Takenori Horimoto Since India gained its independence in 1947, it has waged four wars intermittently by the 1970s against Pakistan (Indo-Pakistani Wars) and China (the India-China War). While all of these wars were caused by territorial disputes, the termination of the wars was largely influenced by internal factors as well as the contemporary international situation on each occasion. I. Indo-Pakistani Wars 1. The Kashmir dispute as a root cause of the Indo-Pakistani Wars The Kashmir dispute was the root cause of the Indo-Pakistani Wars. The map below shows all of South Asia (inset) and Kashmir. Pakistan and India in the maps were formerly integrated and made up British India. Kashmir was also a part of British India, and a “princely state” ruled by the Maharaja. Although the Maharaja was Hindu, about three-fifths of the population of the princely state was Muslim (followers of Islam). The difference in religion between the Maharaja and the population was the starting point of the Kashmir dispute, and remains so to the present.1 India and Pakistan were respectively founded by being partitioned and gaining independence from British India in August 1947. When being partitioned and gaining their independence, the territory was divided into India, which was predominantly Hindu, and Pakistan, which was predominantly Muslim. As a result, Pakistan consisted of East and West Pakistan, where many Muslims lived. In the case of Kashmir, the Maharaja was granted a degree of authority to decide whether to belong to India or Pakistan.
    [Show full text]
  • Alive and Kicking: the Kashmir Dispute Forty Years Later James D
    Penn State International Law Review Volume 9 Article 5 Number 1 Dickinson Journal of International Law 1991 Alive and Kicking: The Kashmir Dispute Forty Years Later James D. Howley Follow this and additional works at: http://elibrary.law.psu.edu/psilr Part of the International Law Commons Recommended Citation Howley, James D. (1991) "Alive and Kicking: The Kashmir Dispute Forty Years Later," Penn State International Law Review: Vol. 9: No. 1, Article 5. Available at: http://elibrary.law.psu.edu/psilr/vol9/iss1/5 This Comment is brought to you for free and open access by Penn State Law eLibrary. It has been accepted for inclusion in Penn State International Law Review by an authorized administrator of Penn State Law eLibrary. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Alive and Kicking: The Kashmir Dispute Forty Years Later I. Introduction The Kashmir dispute between India and Pakistan involves a struggle between two powers for the possession of a tract of territory which each wants for its own valid reasons. The stakes are of major economic, political and strategic significance to Pakistan, while to India, Kashmir has become a symbol of national prestige and inter- national justice.1 Charges of aggression and violations of interna- tional law have been asserted by both parties. In considering a solu- tion to the Kashmir dispute, it is necessary to look beyond the blatant facts and see the elements that gave rise to the dispute and the circumstances under which it occurred. A purely legalistic approach never solves large political problems. With this in mind, this Comment begins with an examina- tion of the roots of the conflict: Kashmir's economy, geography, predominantly Moslem population and Hindu ruler.
    [Show full text]