Editing Kashmir (section)

==Kashmir dispute==
=== Princely state ===
{{Main|Jammu and Kashmir (princely state)}}
[[File:Maharajah Gulab Singh (1792-1857) seated holding a sword against a bolster on a terrace.webp|thumb|[[Gulab Singh]], The first [[Dogra dynasty|Maharaja]] of [[Jammu and Kashmir (princely state)|Jammu and Kashmir]], which was founded in 1846.]]
[[File:NWFP-Kashmir1909-a.jpg|thumb|1909 Map of the Princely State of Kashmir and Jammu. The names of regions, important cities, rivers, and mountains are underlined in red.]]

In 1845, the [[First Anglo-Sikh War]] broke out. According to ''[[The Imperial Gazetteer of India]]:''

<blockquote>Gulab Singh contrived to hold himself aloof till the [[battle of Sobraon]] (1846), when he appeared as a useful mediator and the trusted advisor of [[Henry Lawrence (Indian Army officer)|Sir Henry Lawrence]]. Two treaties were concluded. By the first the [[History of Lahore|State of Lahore]] (i.e. West Punjab) handed over to the British, as equivalent for one crore indemnity, the hill countries between the rivers Beas and Indus; by the second the British made over to Gulab Singh for 75 lakhs all the hilly or mountainous country situated to the east of the Indus and the west of the Ravi i.e. the Vale of Kashmir.<ref name=imperialgazet-gulabsingh/></blockquote>

Drafted by a treaty and a bill of sale, and constituted between 1820 and 1858, the Princely State of Kashmir and Jammu (as it was first called) combined disparate regions, religions, and ethnicities:<ref name=bowers>Bowers, Paul. 2004. [http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/rp2004/rp04-028.pdf "Kashmir." Research Paper 4/28] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090326182755/http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/rp2004/rp04-028.pdf |date=26 March 2009 }}, International Affairs and Defence, House of Commons Library, United Kingdom.</ref> to the east, Ladakh was ethnically and culturally [[Tibetan people|Tibetan]] and its inhabitants practised [[Tibetan Buddhism|Buddhism]]; to the south, Jammu had a mixed population of Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs. In the heavily populated central Kashmir valley, the population was overwhelmingly [[Kashmiri Muslims|Muslim]]—mostly [[Sunni Muslim|Sunni]], however, there was also a small but influential Hindu minority, the [[brahmin]] [[Kashmiri Pandits]]. To the northeast, sparsely populated [[Baltistan]] had a population ethnically related to that of Ladakh, but which practised [[Shia Islam]]. To the north, also sparsely populated, [[Gilgit Agency]] was an area of diverse, mostly ''Shia'' groups, and, to the west, [[History of Poonch District|Punch]] was populated mostly by Muslims of a different ethnicity than that of the Kashmir valley.<ref name=bowers/> After the [[Indian Rebellion of 1857]], in which Kashmir sided with the British, and the subsequent assumption of [[British Raj|direct rule]] by Great Britain, the [[princely state]] of Kashmir came under the [[suzerainty]] of the [[The Crown|British Crown]].

In the British census of India of 1941, Kashmir registered a Muslim majority population of 77%, a Hindu population of 20% and a sparse population of Buddhists and Sikhs comprising the remaining 3%.<ref name=bose-sumantra-2005-p15-17>{{Harvnb|Bose, Roots of Conflict, Paths to Peace|2003|pp=15–17}}</ref> That same year, [[Prem Nath Bazaz]], a [[Kashmiri Pandit]] journalist wrote: "The poverty of the Muslim masses is appalling. ... Most are landless laborers, working as serfs for absentee [Hindu] landlords ...  Almost the whole brunt of official corruption is borne by the Muslim masses."<ref>Quoted in {{Harvnb|Bose, Roots of Conflict, Paths to Peace|2003|pp=15–17}}</ref> Under  Hindu rule, Muslims faced hefty taxation and discrimination in the legal system, and were forced into labor without any wages.<ref>{{citation |last1=Amin |first1=Tahir |last2=Schofield |first2=Victoria |chapter=Kashmir |title=The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World |year=2009 |chapter-url=http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t236/e0433 |access-date=19 June 2018 |archive-date=20 June 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180620003316/http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t236/e0433 |url-status=live }}</ref> Conditions in the princely state caused a significant migration of people from the Kashmir Valley to the Punjab of British India.<ref name="Bose2013">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=reiwAAAAQBAJ |title=Transforming India |date=2013 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-72820-2 |pages=211 |author=Sumantra Bose |access-date=19 June 2018 |archive-date=17 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230117140440/https://books.google.com/books?id=reiwAAAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref> For almost a century, until the census, a small Hindu elite had ruled over a vast and impoverished Muslim peasantry.<ref name=bose-sumantra-2005-p15-17/><ref name=talbot-singh-p54>{{Harvnb|Talbot|Singh|2009|p=54}}</ref> Driven into docility by chronic indebtedness to landlords and moneylenders, having no education besides, nor awareness of rights,<ref name=bose-sumantra-2005-p15-17/> the Muslim peasants had no political representation until the 1930s.<ref name=talbot-singh-p54/>

===1947 and 1948===
{{Further|Kashmir conflict|Timeline of the Kashmir conflict|1947 Poonch Rebellion|Indo-Pakistani War of 1947|1947 Jammu massacres|1947 Mirpur massacre}}
[[File:Brit IndianEmpireReligions3.jpg|thumb|The prevailing religions by district in the 1901 Census of the Indian Empire]]

Ranbir Singh's grandson [[Hari Singh]], who had ascended the throne of Kashmir in 1925, was the reigning monarch in 1947 at the conclusion of British rule of the subcontinent and the subsequent [[Partition of India|partition]] of the British [[British India|Indian Empire]] into the newly independent [[Dominion of India]] and the [[Dominion of Pakistan]]. According to [[Burton Stein]]'s ''History of India'', <blockquote>Kashmir was neither as large nor as old an independent state as [[Hyderabad State|Hyderabad]]; it had been created rather off-handedly by the British after the first defeat of the Sikhs in 1846, as a reward to a former official who had sided with the British. The Himalayan kingdom was connected to India through a district of the Punjab, but its population was 77 per cent Muslim and it shared a boundary with Pakistan. Hence, it was anticipated that the maharaja would accede to Pakistan when the British paramountcy ended on 14–15 August. When he hesitated to do this, Pakistan launched a guerrilla onslaught meant to frighten its ruler into submission. Instead the Maharaja appealed to [[Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma|Mountbatten]]<ref>Viscount Louis Mountbatten, the last Viceroy of British India, stayed on in independent India from 1947 to 1948, serving as the first Governor-General of the Union of India.</ref> for assistance, and the [[Governor-General of India|governor-general]] agreed on the condition that the ruler accede to India. Indian soldiers entered Kashmir and drove the Pakistani-sponsored irregulars from all but a small section of the state. The United Nations was then invited to mediate the quarrel. The UN mission insisted that the opinion of Kashmiris must be ascertained, while India insisted that no referendum could occur until all of the state had been cleared of irregulars.<ref name=stein>Stein, Burton. 2010. ''A History of India''. Oxford University Press. 432 pages. {{ISBN|978-1-4051-9509-6}}. Page 358.</ref></blockquote>

In the last days of 1948, a ceasefire was agreed under UN auspices. However, since the [[plebiscite]] demanded by the UN was never conducted, relations between India and Pakistan soured,<ref name=stein/> and eventually led to two more wars over Kashmir in [[Indo-Pakistani War of 1965|1965]] and [[Kargil War|1999]].

{{anchor|Current status and political divisions}}

===Current status and political divisions===
[[File:Kashmir map.svg|thumb|The disputed territory of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir: divided between [[Pakistan-administered Kashmir|Pakistan]] (green), [[India-administered Kashmir|India]] (blue) and [[China administered Kashmir|China]] (yellow)]]
India has control of about half the area of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, which comprises [[Jammu and Kashmir (union territory)|Jammu and Kashmir]] and [[Ladakh]], while Pakistan controls a third of the region, divided into two provinces, [[Azad Kashmir]] and [[Gilgit-Baltistan]]. [[Jammu and Kashmir (union territory)|Jammu and Kashmir]] and [[Ladakh]] are administered by [[India]] as [[union territory|union territories]]. They formed a single state until 5 August 2019, when the state was bifurcated and its [[Revocation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir|limited autonomy]] was revoked.<ref>{{cite news|title=Article 370: What happened with Kashmir and why it matters|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-49234708|publisher=[[BBC News]]|date=6 August 2019|access-date=2020-11-30|archive-date=29 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211029201641/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-49234708|url-status=live}}</ref>

According to ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]'':

<blockquote>Although there was a clear Muslim majority in Kashmir before the 1947 partition and its economic, cultural, and geographic contiguity with the Muslim-majority area of the Punjab (in Pakistan) could be convincingly demonstrated, the political developments during and after the partition resulted in a division of the region. Pakistan was left with territory that, although basically Muslim in character, was sparsely populated, relatively inaccessible, and economically underdeveloped. The largest Muslim group, situated in the Valley of Kashmir and estimated to number more than half the population of the entire region, lay in India-administered territory, with its former outlets via the [[Jhelum Valley (Kashmir)|Jhelum valley]] route blocked.<ref name="britannica-kashmir" /><ref name=britannica-intro/></blockquote>

The eastern region of the former princely state of Kashmir is also involved in a boundary dispute that began in the late 19th century and continues into the 21st. Although some boundary agreements were signed between Great Britain, Afghanistan and Russia over the northern borders of Kashmir, China never accepted these agreements, and China's official position has not changed following the [[Chinese Communist Revolution|communist revolution of 1949]] that established the People's Republic of China. By the mid-1950s the [[People's Liberation Army|Chinese army]] had entered the north-east portion of Ladakh.<ref name="britannica-kashmir">Kashmir. (2007). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 27 March 2007, from [https://www.britannica.com/eb/article-214222 Encyclopædia Britannica Online]. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080113042440/https://www.britannica.com/eb/article-214222 |date=13 January 2008 }}</ref>

<blockquote>By 1956–57 they had completed a military road through the [[Aksai Chin]] area to provide better communication between [[Xinjiang]] and western [[Tibet Autonomous Region|Tibet]]. India's belated discovery of this road led to border clashes between the two countries that culminated in the [[Sino-Indian War]] of October 1962.<ref name="britannica-kashmir" /></blockquote>
[[File:Border_of_Azad_Kashmir_And_Indian_state_of_Jammu_and_Kashmir.jpg|thumb|A white border painted on a suspended bridge delineates [[Azad Kashmir]] from [[Jammu and Kashmir (union territory)|Jammu and Kashmir]]]]
The region is divided amongst three countries in a [[Kashmir conflict|territorial dispute]]: Pakistan controls the northwest portion (Northern Areas and Azad Jammu Kashmir), India controls the central and southern portion (Jammu and Kashmir) and Ladakh, and the People's Republic of [[China]] controls the northeastern portion (Aksai Chin and the Trans-Karakoram Tract). India controls the majority of the [[Siachen Glacier]] area, including the [[Saltoro Mountains|Saltoro Ridge]] passes, whilst Pakistan controls the lower territory just southwest of the Saltoro Ridge. India controls {{cvt|101338|km2|sqmi}} of the disputed territory, Pakistan controls {{cvt|85846|km2|sqmi}}, and the People's Republic of China controls the remaining {{cvt|37555|km2|sqmi|0}}.

Jammu and Azad Kashmir lie south and west of the [[Pir Panjal range]], and are under Indian and Pakistani control respectively. These are populous regions. Gilgit-Baltistan, formerly known as the ''Northern Areas'', is a group of territories in the extreme north, bordered by the [[Karakoram]], the western [[Himalayas]], the [[Pamir Mountains|Pamir]], and the [[Hindu Kush]] ranges. With its administrative centre in the town of [[Gilgit]], the Northern Areas cover an area of {{convert|72,971|km2}} and have an estimated population approaching 1&nbsp;million (10 [[lakh]]s).

Ladakh is between the [[Kunlun Mountains|Kunlun]] mountain range in the north and the main Great Himalayas to the south.<ref name="Ladakh">{{Citation |title=Ladakh: The Land and the People |last=Jina |first=Prem Singh |year=1996 |publisher=Indus Publishing |isbn=978-81-7387-057-6 }}</ref> Capital towns of the region are [[Leh]] and [[Kargil]]. It is under Indian administration and was part of the state of Jammu and Kashmir until 2019. It is one of the most sparsely populated regions in the area and is mainly inhabited by people of [[Indo-Aryan peoples|Indo-Aryan]] and Tibetan descent.<ref name="Ladakh" /> Aksai Chin is a vast high-altitude [[desert]] of salt that reaches altitudes up to {{convert|5000|m|ft}}. Geographically part of the [[Tibetan Plateau]], Aksai Chin is referred to as the Soda Plain. The region is almost uninhabited, and has no permanent settlements.

Though these regions are in practice administered by their respective claimants, neither India nor Pakistan has formally recognised the accession of the areas claimed by the other. India claims those areas, including the area "ceded" to China by Pakistan in the [[Trans-Karakoram Tract]] in 1963, are a part of its territory, while Pakistan claims the entire region excluding Aksai Chin and Trans-Karakoram Tract. The two countries have fought several declared wars over the territory. The [[Indo-Pakistani War of 1947]] established the rough boundaries of today, with Pakistan holding roughly one-third of Kashmir, and India one-half, with a dividing [[line of control]] established by the United Nations. The [[Indo-Pakistani War of 1965]] resulted in a stalemate and a UN-negotiated ceasefire.