Home › Policy › Strategic Challenges › Intra-Asia

Discuss: Cost of Kashmir Conflict

Share

Kashmiris shout anti-India slogans near the body of Zahid Farooq, 17, who died on February 5, 2010 after an altercation broke out between troops and a group of boys in Srinagar. (Tauseef Mustafa/AFP/Getty Images)
enlarge image

Kashmiris shout anti-India slogans near the body of Zahid Farooq, 17, who died on February 5, 2010 after an altercation broke out between troops and a group of boys in Srinagar. (Tauseef Mustafa/AFP/Getty Images)

The India-Pakistan conflict over Kashmir has lingered for six decades. Even though sides have made several efforts to resolve the issue through talks, international mediation, and by fighting three wars, there has not been any significant progress toward peace.

The cost of the Kashmir conflict is always cited in terms of lives lost, and the cost of maintaining large-standing armies to ensure victory in a full-scale war. But children living at the heart of the conflict suffer the most from the effects of decades of turmoil and violence.

Join the discussion below: What happens to culture in times of violence, particularly over many years?  For children, what does it mean to grow up in a culture of violence?

And what do you think are the prospects for solving the Kashmir conflict? Is a resolution possible?

anonymous | 01:29:11 05:39am
did u know about cost of kashmiri "Magira Zar"
Rajeev Dubey | 08:18:10 02:24pm
It is very easy for those who want to divide India to claim a part of India belonging to them and then start asking for separation. We in India share a history that dates thousands of years and Kashmir is close to our hearts. We will not allow the separatists to divide India again. We will create a huge movement against the demands of separation over the next few years. We will not give up. India is a democracy and the issues are resolvable by dialogue. Separation is not an option.
shafat | 09:02:10 11:47am
Mr Rajeev you only speak your emotion without looking at the real world. India is on it's knees already. My generation has created an upheavel that is stronger then any uprising kashmir (or even India), ever saw. This is not going to stop. It can spread though. It can spread to Punjab and Tamil Nadu. If it does you wont be able to count the number of pieces that india will break into. It is time to act now, remove this ailing part surgically rather than having painfully severed off. It is the beauty of our generation that inside India's parliament, Main oppositions leader said. "Kashmiris do not want a economic package or employment schemes. THEY ONLY WANT FREEDOM" . Half the audience of your parliament was thumping it's desks when that was said. This in itself is a glorious vicotry for kashmiris and a sign of times to come.
rajeev dubey | 10:02:10 09:53am
Dear Shafat, We will bring peace and harmony against your upheavals. We will bring love and integration against your separation. We will win you my friend. Regards, Rajeev Dubey
queenquerry | 05:14:10 07:55am
In 77 day Kargil Conflict of 1999, more Indian soldiers lost their lives than combined loss of 1947 - 1949, 14 month old Kashmir War, 23 day 1965 Indo - Pak war & 14 day 1971 War for Bangladesh formation. Many divisions were eliminated , it is learnt. Though real figure is never disclosed but people have a rough idea from media reports. During Kargil conflict, Indian TVs were showing only one Bofors gun firing all the time & Pakistan TVs were showing captured Indian soldiers alive. Many Indian people were saying that it is was pre-planned drama for forthcoming General Elections in India with full understanding with Pakistan's establishment to make BJP win which actually happened too. Later on , figures were disclosed by either side within 300 no of lives lost at either sides. Few years later, Nawaz Sharif said that Pakistani side lost 2,700 men. Later, it was disclosed in the news that the loss of life in India was so many that the stock of caskets was exhausted & fresh caskets were imported very quickly in which allegations of large amount of kickbacks were disclosed on defence & other top Indian ministries. Now some recently retired armymen who were posted in Kashmir state during the war told so many individual & general stories. I too heard many stories. All are ananymous on the point that most of Indian soldiers were of not very cold places having no experience & withstandability on snow heights & suffered so much that ratio of loss of life was 100 : 1 against the enemy. If that is correct, it means that India lost 2,70,000 soldiers at least in that conflict & then casket scandal is understandable. In Kashmir, recently most of the soldiers who want to leave the valley at any cost said that entire Gulmarg & many such places were evacuated of the troops & all were sent to kargil . Only few came back. Is BJP hiding that fact & not talking anything on Kargil even during election campaign. Is the information of that high figure correct ? All Kashmiris happily say so. What is the truth ?
Atimad A | 10:11:11 07:07am

What is this bloody hell discussion, Pakistan has last Bangladesh which is bigger than Kashmir. India has flood of poor and hunger population without education and health, how better it would be to feed them and educate them. Lets encourage India and Pakistan to leave the occupied Kashmir and let them leave independently as United States of Jammu and Kashmir. Leave Kashmir and live happy India and Pakistan, leave Kashmir no begging India and Pakistan, leave Kashmir no war India-Pakistan. Live and lets live.....
Atimad Ahmad

Adnan | 06:23:10 01:04pm
Appreciate your quest for truth. The truth is that india's politicians have no character to speak the truth. IF a political party X accepts the kashmir truth, this political party X will never ever come to power again. Nehru had the guts to take Kashmir to UN , Mahatma Gandhi (ask me when) showed tremendous respect for kashmiris but todays poiliticians lack moral integrity. The fallout is that India spends billions on defence. This is your tax payers money which was meant to be spent on your education, your health, your living std, your district , your state but is instead spent on kashmir. At the end of the day kashmiris come out and demand freedom. Do you see the fool here? Quoting Arundhati Roy: Indians need freedom from kashmir as much as kashmiri's need freedom from India. Please read my post below, in reply to Mr Dhar, you will be able to connect the dots better or so I HOPE.
hoppkings | 05:10:10 11:51pm
I think kashmir conflict is serious issue. To me all residents of kashmir has full right of living happy lives without fear of terrorism.. I think pakistan should either fight a final war jus to decide on this property claim issue.Or take some lumsum cash as compensation..instead of using terrorism to get kashmir back.
Atmo Jayakumar | 04:16:10 04:33pm
Kashmiri became enemy in his own home land. The security forces, government and media spread an image like that.India and Pakistan has no claim over the Kashmir. kashmir should be left to Kashmiris. On the Indian side in Kashmir there are 1 million security forces and Kashmir has only five million and odd as population. It shows that every five Kashmiri is behind a gun point. How can he live in peace. I will be publishing my book of poems "India, my beloved" in it 17 poems about the plight of Kashmiris and their hard life. Freedom is the only means by which every Kashmiri can keep his head high and walk without fear in the valley. Also see www.atmojaya.com I will be discussing the matter in detail.
Vasant Dhar | 04:12:10 05:31pm
With all due respect, I find the comments above an exercise in hollow rhetoric rather than reality. The Kashmir problem has religion at its core. Religion has been exploited by short-sighted Kashmiri leaders over the decades and let the people down at every turn. I grew up in Kashmir, so this isn't an armchair view from the sidellines. Kashmiri people haven't been excluded from the dialog. It is Pakistan that has been excluded from the dialog. And for good reason. Look at that country's abysmal history. Ironically, religion, the basis for the creation of Pakistan has become its undoing. If there's one thing we should learn from Pakistan and Israel, it is this: religion cannot form the basis for a country that values diversity and plurality. Kashmiris would be wise to learn from this. Their future lies with themselves, not with a country that is out of control. Kashmiris need to build on what they already have going for them.

Post new comment

Your comments are welcome, please adhere to our guidelines

Be respectful. Personal attacks will not be tolerated; nor will profane, abusive or threatening posts.

Keep it short (150 words or less), Stay on topic.

Asia Society reserves the right to moderate all comments and remove or edit for guideline violations. Thank you.

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
Type the characters you see in this picture. (verify using audio)
Type the characters you see in the picture above; if you can't read them, submit the form and a new image will be generated. Not case sensitive.