Kashmir Issue

Kashmir has been an apple of discord between India and Pakistan for the very long time.Every now and then, we hear news of firing at LoC (Line of Control). Due to Kashmir, which is also called Switzerland of India, many wars have been fought between the two Asian giants. Although we have won all the three major wars yet we need to know that these wins didn't solve the Kashmir Issue. Moreover
1) We lost many of our soldiers in the war
2) Wars brought Economic instability
3) Purpose of wars, that is Kashmir issue,    was not solved.

Let's see geography of J&K to better understand territory issues of India with its neighbours.

Geography of J&K

Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK) is a disputed area between India and Pakistan.
Pakistan calls it Azad Kashmir (green part in the map above).
This Azad Kashmir is very important for us for the following reasons

1) Connectivity to Afghanistan by land is blocked as only Azad Kashmir shares its border with it. As already mentioned, this part is in control of Pakistan. So we can't trade with Afghanistan via POK,which further means it blocks our reach to the Middle East and Europe.

To overcome this problem, we are developing a port, named Chabahar, in Iran, by which we can trade with Afghanistan via sea route.

Have a look at this sea route in the map below to understand the whole picture clearly.

So from this Chabahar port we can connect to Afghanistan and from there to other Middle East countries.

This alternative is good but if Azad Kashmir were our part, we could have achieved the same in easy way. Moreover developing a port in another country is very costly.

2)Security- China is making a economic corridor in Pakistan named CPEC(China Pakistan Economic Corridor) to boost the trade with Pakistan and to get connectivity to Middle East under its ambitious project OBOR(One Road One Belt) initiative.
This corridor will connect Xinjiang city of China to Gwadar port (developed by China) in Pakistan.

But as you can see, this Gwadar-Xinjiang corridor is passing through Azad Kashmir. If it were part of India, we could never have allowed China to build it, because we already know China's aggression towards our north-eastern states. So if Chinese troops start making their presence in Azad Kashmir​ region also it will be a major security threat for us.

3) Tourism  is being affected very badly in J&K. Every now and then, it remains in news for terror activities.
If Kashmir issue were solved peacefully, we could boost our tourism sector.

4) Normal life  of common masses is also affected there. Due to terrorist activities, no development is coming in J&K.
There you will not find good schools, universities and good medical facilities.

Aksai Chin is a disputed area with our eastern neighbour China.
Due to this region, we had a war with China in 1965 in which they won and from then, Aksai Chin is in control of China.

These issues must be resolved as soon as possible to address all the issues described above.


Why Kashmir issue is in news again?

Modi led Government has just taken a step to bring a dialogue amongst all the parties involved in the issue.
India has appointed former IB chief Dineshwar Sharma as an interlocutor to resolve the issue peacefully. Dineshwar Sharma has openly stated that he is ready to have talks with any one who is interested in dialogue.

Most probably three parties will be involved in this

1)Tehreek e hurriyat (separatist group) who wants Kashmir to be independent of both India and Pakistan.
2) Pakistan, and
3)India.

So let's see, whether this issue will remain a bone of contention between two neighbours or be solved in near future.

Some facts 

LoC is Line of Control between India and Pakistan. At LoC Border Security Forces (BSF) keeps patrolling.
LaC is Line of Actual Control between India and China, where ITBP(Indo-Tibetan Border Police) keeps patrolling.
J&K is given special status under article 370 of Indian constitution.

Words of the day

Interlocutor a person who takes part in important discussions.
Dialogue discussion.

Commonly used phrases

Apple of discord cause of quarrel.
Bone of Contention cause of quarrel.