The Kashmir conflict is a territorial conflict primarily between India and Pakistan over

the Kashmir region. The conflict started after the partition of India in 1947 as a dispute
over the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir and escalated into three wars
between India and Pakistan and several other armed battle . China has also been
involved in the conflict in a third-party role. Both India and Pakistan claimed the
entirety of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, although Pakistan has
recognized Chinese sovereignty over the Trans-Karakoram Tract and Aksai Chin since
1963. India controls approximately 55% of the land area of the region and 70% of its
population, Pakistan controls approximately 30% of the land, while China controls the
remaining 15%.
Since 1989, Kashmiri protest movements were created to voice Kashmir's disputes and
grievances with the Indian government in the Indian-controlled Kashmir Valley, with
some Kashmiri protester in armed conflict with the Indian government based on the
demand for self-determination. The 2010s were marked by further unrest erupting
within the Kashmir Valley. The 2010 Kashmir unrest began after an alleged fake
encounter between local youth and security forces. Thousands of youths charge security
forces with rocks, burned government offices, and attacked railway stations and official
vehicles in steadily build up violence. The Indian government blamed protester
and Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan-based militant group, for stoking the 2010
protests. The 2016 Kashmir unrest erupted after killing of a Hizbul
Mujahideen militant, Burhan Wani, by Indian security forces. Further unrest in the
region burst after the 2019 Pulwama attack.
According to scholars, Indian forces have committed many human rights abuses and
acts of terror against Kashmiri civilian population including extrajudicial killing, rape,
torture, and enforced disappearances. According to Amnesty International, no member
of the Indian military deployed in Jammu and Kashmir has been tried for human rights
violations in a civilian court as of June 2015, although there have been military court
martials held. Amnesty International has also accused the Indian government of
refusing to prosecute executioner of abuses in the region.

What Is Article 370, and Why

Does It Matter in Kashmir?
Article 370 was added to the Indian constitution shortly after the partition of British
India to give autonomy to the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir until a
decision was made about its rule. It limited the power of India's central government
over the territory. A related provision gave state lawmakers the power to decide who
could buy land and be a permanent resident -- a provision that irked many non-
Kashmiris.

Although it was intended to be temporary, Article 370 says that it can only be revoke
with the consent of the legislative body that drafted the state constitution. That body
dissolved itself in 1957, and India's Supreme Court ruled last year that Article 370 is
therefore a permanent part of the constitution.

The Modi government disagrees and says the president of India, who is beholden to the
ruling party, has the power to revoke the article.

Kashmir, a mountainous valley that borders Pakistan and India, has been a center of
conflict between the two nuclear-armed countries since the 1947 partition of British
India.

At the time of the partition, the British agreed to divide their former colony into two
countries: Pakistan, with a Muslim majority, and India, with a Hindu majority. Both
nations covet Kashmir, which is Muslim majority, and occupy portions of it with
military forces.

For decades, an uneasy stalemate has prevailed, broken by occasional military

incursions, terrorist attacks and police crackdowns.

The administration of Prime Minister Narendra Modi revoked Article 370 of the Indian
constitution, a 70-year-old provision that had given autonomy to the state of Jammu
and Kashmir, which includes the Hindu-majority area of Jammu and the Muslim-
majority Kashmir valley.

The government also introduced a bill to strip the region of statehood and divide it into
two parts, both under direct control of the central government.

But Mr. Modi, a Hindu nationalist, had campaigned for re-election in part by stoking
patriotic fervor against Muslim-led Pakistan. He promised the full integration of
Kashmir, a cause which his party has championed for decades, and now he is delivering
on that pledge.

Pakistan condemned India’s moves. Pakistan’s prime minister, Imran Khan, called on
President Trump to follow through on an offer he made two weeks ago to mediate the
Kashmir dispute.

A 2013 report by the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear

War warned that a nuclear war between India and Pakistan would set off a global
famine that could kill two billion people, “entering something that is clearly the end of
civilization.”