The issue of Kashmir and its attendant bloodshed, like Palestine, will not be resolved soon.
Kashmir is a bloody legacy of the British. In his unholy haste to leave India, Lord Mountbatten allowed a partition that caused thousands of Indian Muslims, Indian Hindus, and Sikhs to die in racial riots. He left behind Kashmir unresolved.
Kashmir in 1947 was ruled by a tolerant Indian Maharaja with a population of majority Muslims.
The Maharaja of Kashmir, Hari Singh, signed the Instrument of Accession to India in October 1947. The political leader, then Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah, tied Kashmir’s fate to India.
Nehru wanted Kashmir.
He was ethnically a Kashmiri Pandit. His ancestors were from the Kashmir Valley. (See The Nehrus’ personal histories by Mushirul Hasan, 2006.)
He had a deep emotional connection to Kashmir, often describing it with great affection.
India and Pakistan have since then been fighting for ownership of Kashmir.
Forgotten in this conflict are the Kashmiris’ aspirations and dreams of aazadi, freedom. A promised referendum by Nehru has yet to materialise.
This book by Shahla Hussain (2021) aims to give the Kashmiris’ perspectives from Kashmiris in Kashmir and from the Kashmiri diaspora.