Pakistan and India Border Disputes
A border dispute that has been happening for decades
The border dispute between India and Pakistan has been present since 1947, when "Britain, as part of its pullout from the Indian subcontinent, divides it into secular (but mainly Hindu) India and Muslim Pakistan on August 15 and 14 respectively. The partition causes one of the largest human migrations ever seen and sparks riots and violence across the region." (Hashim).
Soon after this the first India-Pakistan war was fought over a region in the area called Kashmir.
India
This map shows the borders of India before 1947, when Britain pulled out of the Indian sub-continent (in red). Aswell as the area that has seen most of the conflict between India and Pakistan, Kashmir (in blue). This conflict is mostly caused by religious differences. When Britain left Indian sub-continent, they devided the country into, mostly Hindu "a polytheistic religion with a wide variety of individual beliefs and practices. Hinduism is a highly regional and individual religion and its polytheistic nature reflects this open understanding of belief. Of Hinduism’s over 1 billion followers, 95 percent live in India"(PressBooks), India and, mostly Muslim, Pakistan. This caused mass migrations and many border disputes, but the most prominite has been the Kashmir region. Other dominate religions in the Indian sub-continent, are Sikhism, which "emerged in the Punjab region of northwestern India and northern Pakistan in the 15th century. It is a monotheistic religion founded on the teachings of Guru Nanak that combines elements of both Hinduism and Islam"(Finlayson). And Buddhism, which "emerged out of Hinduism in northern India following the life and teachings of Hindu prince Siddhartha Gautama. According to Buddhist belief, Siddhartha lived a life of luxury, but became disenchanted with his life of privilege when he was faced with society’s injustices, such as illness and extreme poverty"(Finlayson).
With the forced migrations caused by the borders created by the United Kingdom when they left the Indian sub-continent. This has created conflict in regions like Kashmir, with all sides, Hindu, Buddhists, Muslims, Sikhs and others claiming that different regions in the India sub-continent belong to them. Most recently being "In May 2018, India and Pakistan agreed to a cease-fire along the disputed Kashmir border that would restore the terms of their 2003 agreement " (Conflict Between India and Pakistan). Which was fortatuately a step in the right direction.
Works Cited
Finlayson, Caitlin. “South Asia.” Pressbooks.pub, 14 June 2019, pressbooks.pub/worldgeo/chapter/south-asia/.
Hashim, Asad. “Timeline: India-Pakistan Relations.” Www.aljazeera.com, Aljazeera, 1 Mar. 2019, www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/3/1/timeline-india-pakistan-relations.
“Conflict between India and Pakistan.” Global Conflict Tracker, www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/conflict-between-india-and-pakistan#:~:text=In%20May%202018%2C%20India%20and%20Pakistan%20agreed%20to. Accessed 25 Sept. 2023.