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By Max Frost
Pahalgam is known as a place of unspoiled beauty, the “Switzerland of India.” On Monday, dozens of tourists were visiting a nearby field, a lush green meadow surrounded by snow-covered mountains.
Then all of a sudden, gunmen emerged from behind the tree line, opening fire indiscriminately. At least 26 tourists, both foreign and domestic, were killed in what appears to be Kashmir’s worst attack in years.
The slaughter risks putting nuclear-armed nemeses India and Pakistan on a knife’s edge. It’s also a reminder that the Kashmir conflict – a 75-year religiously-charged land dispute often compared to Israel/Palestine – remains as deadly as ever.
In today’s deep-dive, we break down that conflict and how it led to the mass murder of tourists on a Monday afternoon.
In 1947, the Indian subcontinent gained independence from Britain. The region became two independent countries: Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan.
Beyond the two countries, though, there were 565 “princely states.” These princedoms – which comprised about 40% of British India’s land mass – were essentially independent territories that Britain never conquered. Instead, they signed deals with the British that let them maintain a certain degree of autonomy without formally joining British India. When India and Pakistan became independent, each territory’s prince had to decide whether to join India or Pakistan.
In most cases, the decision was obvious: The princely states were either Muslim or Hindu – and therefore joined Pakistan or India, respectively – or were islands within one country and therefore given no choice about which to join.
But Kashmir was unique.
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Editor’s Note
Thank you for reading today’s report! Send us an email to let us know what you think: Why has the Kashmir conflict remained unresolved? Should Kashmir be allowed to become its own country, instead of joining either India or Pakistan? What role, if any, should foreign nations play in mediating the Kashmir conflict?
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That’s all, we’ll see you back here tomorrow.
–Max and Max
