Timeline of the Kashmir conflict
The following is a timeline of the Kashmir conflict, a territorial conflict between India, Pakistan and, to a lesser degree, China. India and Pakistan have been involved in four wars and several border skirmishes over the issue.
1846–1945: Princely state
- Kashmir Valley was a Muslim-majority region speaking the Kashmiri language and had a distinct culture called Kashmiriyat.
- The Maharaja accepted these recommendations but delayed implementation, leading to protests in 1934. The Maharaja granted a constitution providing a legislative assembly for the people, but it was powerless.
- Soon afterwards, the younger leaders of the Muslim Conference pled for broadening the party to include all the people of the state.
- Two independent candidates that won were said to have joined the Muslim Conference afterwards.
- At the same time, the National Conference joined the All India States Peoples Conference, a Congress-allied group of movements in princely states.
1946–1947: Kashmir unrest and accession
1946
Early 1947
April 1947
- The exodus increased in June and continued until August.
May 1947
June 1947
July 1947
August 1947
- According to Major General Henry Lawrence Scott, the Chief of Staff of State Forces, they had been incited by 30 Muslims from West Punjab that entered the State a few days earlier.
September 1947
- Henry Lawrence Scott, the Chief of Staff of the State Forces left his position. About 100,000 Muslims from East Punjab and an equal number of non-Muslims from West Punjab were safely escorted through Jammu by the State Forces.
October 1947
- , stated to be the beginning of the 1947 Jammu violence.
- This stalled due to the impending invasion.
- Thousands of Pashtuns from Pakistan's North West Frontier Province, recruited covertly by the Pakistani Army, invaded Kashmir along with the Poonch rebels, allegedly incensed by atrocities against fellow Muslims in Poonch and Jammu. The tribesmen engaged in looting and killing along the way. Pro-Pakistan members of the Maharaja's army rebelled at Domel and took control of the Jhelum river bridge.
- Batra carried a message from the Maharaja which requested military assistance and proposed accession to India.
- until such time as the will of the people could be ascertained.
- Tribesmen again poured into Kashmir.
November 1947
- 6 November became a remembrance day in Pakistan and Azad Kashmir.
- The day is remembered as the "Mirpur day" in Indian-administered Jammu.
- However, the agreement was vetoed by Jinnah: "No commitments should be made without my approval of terms of settlement. Mr. Liaquat has agreed and promised to abide by this understanding," read his note to the ministers. The next day, India's Defence Committee was informed that Pakistan was reinforcing the tribesmen.
December 1947
1948: War and diplomacy
January 1948
February–April 1948
- No reinforcements were possible due to closure of the Zoji La pass by winter snows. The Ladakhis appealed to Nehru for help.
May 1948
July 1948
August–December 1948
1949–1962: Plebiscite conundrum
1949
- As per the 1948 and 1949 UNCIP Resolutions, both countries accepted the principle that Pakistan would secure the withdrawal of Pakistani intruders followed by withdrawal of Pakistani and Indian forces, as a basis for the formulation of a truce agreement, the details of which were to be determined, followed by a plebiscite. However, the countries failed to arrive at a truce agreement due to differences in interpretation of the procedure for and extent of demilitarisation, one of them being whether the Azad Kashmiri army was to be disbanded during the truce stage or the plebiscite stage.
1950
1951
- Liaquat Ali Khan displayed a clenched fist in defiance.
- The UN Security Council passed Resolution 91 to the effect that such elections did not substitute a plebiscite.
1952
- , which provided for the autonomy of the State within India and the autonomy for regions within the State.
1953
- Large protests were held in Delhi and other parts of the country.
- A plebiscite would be held in all regions and the state partitioned on the basis of the results.
1954
- He stated his concerns about the cold-war alignments and that such an alliance affects the Kashmir issue. India resisted plebiscite efforts from this point.
1955–1957
- India's Home Minister, Pandit Govind Ballabh Pant, during his visit to Srinagar, declared that the State of Jammu and Kashmir was an integral part of India and there can be no question of a plebiscite to determine its status afresh. India continued to resist plebiscite efforts.
1959–1962
1963–1987: Rise of Kashmiri nationalism
1963–1969
- Sheikh Abdullah was released after 11 years.
1970–1979
- The Plebiscite Front was dissolved and renamed the National Conference. Sheikh Abdullah assumed the position of Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir after an 11-year gap.
- Amanullah Khan was elected as its General Secretary the following year.
- The Mujahideen so recruited would, in the late 1980s, take on their own agenda of establishing Islamic rule in Kashmir.
1980–1986
- Bari travelled to Indian-administered Kashmir and conferred with the Jamaat-e-Islami Kashmir. Through his own later recollection, he told them, "You will have to do the fighting and they will provide all assistance."
- His son, Farooq Abdullah, later assumed office as Chief Minister of J&K.
- Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence sought their help in preparing the groundwork for the liberation of Jammu and Kashmir from India. Amanullah Khan established JKLF in Azad Kashmir.
1987–present: Kashmir Insurgency
1987–1989
- The MUF candidate, Mohammad Yousuf Shah, a victim of the rigging and state's mistreatment, took the name Syed Salahuddin and would become chief of the militant outfit Hizb-ul-Mujahideen. His election aides called the HAJY group - Abdul Hamid Shaikh, Ashfaq Majid Wani, Javed Ahmed Mir and Mohammed Yasin Malik - would join the JKLF. Amanullah Khan took refuge in Pakistan, after being deported from England, and directed operations across the LOC. Young disaffected Kashmiris in the Valley such as the HAJY group were recruited by JKLF.
1990–1999
- through the 1990s with an estimated half a million Indian security forces deployed in the Kashmir Valley. Increasing violence and human right violations by all sides led to tens of thousands of civilian casualties.
2001–2009
2010–2018
- Indian authorities claimed that this was a vote of the Kashmiri people in favour of democracy of India.
2019-present
- 2019–20 Jammu and Kashmir lockdown refers to a security lockdown and communications blackout imposed to prevent protests following Revocation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir via scrapping of the Article 370 of the Constitution of India, Article 35A of the Constitution of India and the introduction of Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019.
- Since 5 August 2019, thousands of people, mostly young men and children aged 14 years, have been detained in disputed region Jammu and Kashmir, and no foreign journalists have been granted permission from the Indian government to report in Kashmir.
- According to a 6 September report of the Indian government, nearly 4,000 people have been arrested and many were tortured. Besides young men and children, old people were also arrested and more than 200 politicians, including two former chief ministers of Jammu and Kashmir, along with more than 100 leaders and activists from All Parties Hurriyat Conference were detained in the disputed region.