Lal Khan looks at the history of post-partition Kashmir and role played in this tragic history by the Indian and Pakistani ruling classes. He also analyses the roots of the wars and the insurgency that have plagued Kashmir since partition.
More than half a century after the partition of India and the end of direct British rule, Kashmir is still a festering wound. The resolution of this conflict seems to be as far away as ever. Three and a half wars and several decades of official and “track two” diplomacy have failed to resolve this traumatic issue in the Indian subcontinent.
Lal Khan analyses the history of Kashmir from Mauryan Empire, to the conquest of the valley by the Mughals, to the Afghan invasion, and finally to the rule of the British and the Dogras. Pre-partition Kashmir was in reality a hellhole for the masses. This is the background behind which the criminal partition of the subcontinent was carried out. Fifty-eight years since partition, there has been no respite in this torment.