Towards a Kashmiri Settlement Beyond Jihad

Abstract

Since the January 2004 agreement between former Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and President General Pervez Musharraf to resume the process of normalizing the India-Pakistan relationship, hopes for resolving the more than half a century old Kashmir dispute have risen significantly. However, if history is any guide, any optimism over the Kashmir settlement must come with caution. Kashmir has led to two of the three major wars between India and Pakistan 1948 and 1965 and a limited war over Kargil in 1999 which could have gone nuclear. Between December 2001 and June 2002, the two countries faced two crises over Kashmir, either of which could have erupted into a war with potential nuclear risks.