India and Pakistan Relationship

India and Pakistan, as two nations united by historyAugust 1947. Under the partition plan provided by the
but divided by destiny, are almost like two estrangedIndian Independence Act of 1947, Kashmir was free
siblings. Their rivalries over five decades haveto accede to India or Pakistan.The Maharaja, Hari
prevented both the countries from realizing their fullSingh, wanted to stay independent but eventually
economic and geopolitical potential.Since the foundingdecided to accede to India, signing over key powers
of India and Pakistan as separate states in 1947, theto the Indian Government - in return for military aid
dispute over who should control Kashmir has beenand a promised referendum.Since then, the territory
one of the world's most enduring and violent conflicts.has been the flashpoint for two of the three
There are also signs of a religious conflict at play,India-Pakistan wars: the first in 1947-48, the second
pitting predominantly Hindu India against Muslimin 1965. In 1999, India fought a brief but bitter conflict
Pakistan.There has been a paradigm shift since thewith Pakistani-backed forces that had infiltrated
initial stages of insurgency in Kashmir. The direct, bold,Indian-controlled territory in the Kargil
loudly eulogized direct strategy of the insurgentsarea.Theoretically speaking, there was a sudden
establishing themselves as protectors of the peoplemushrooming of a number of jihadi groups in
of Kashmir and suitable spreading their cause throughmid-1990s in J&K. With the purse strings tightly
the media, has since seen many changes in thecontrolled by the Pakistani leadership, the supposedly
methodology.It is worth recalling that the territory ofindigenous struggle of freedom for all in Kashmir
Kashmir was hotly contested even before India andbecame a Pakistan-sponsored fight of terror.
Pakistan won their independence from Britain in