CONFLICT LIFE CYCLE

Conflict between India and Pakistan over Kashmir

A conflict is an undeniable factor, from the starting of this world till now. People representing two opposite sides always had and are still struggling to maximize their benefits over power, interests and land, and society differences. Conflict in reality is an expression of disagreement over something important to both sides of groups or nations. (Peace Pledge Union, 2008). Conflicts can occur when matters are left unresolved between two opposing sides, like wise there is a dispute between India and Pakistan over Kashmir which shares a border with both the countries. Since the partition of British India into India and Pakistan, the Kashmir dispute has remained an unresolved question. A disagreement starts to cause conflict when people are competing for the same resources (such as territory, jobs and income, housing) when they arent fairly distributed or when there arent enough to go round. The same applies to natural resources. (Peace Pledge Union, 2008).

Conflicts can start from small matters and end up on critical ones, providing a room for opposing parties to continue their dispute over the concerned issue. This gives rise to form a "life cycle" which continues to germinate new events of clashes between two groups. The categorical stages of the conflict "life cycle" are known as: The beginning, early growth, Deadlock, Looking for a way out, Setting the dispute or resolving the conflict and Working together (Peace Pledge Union, 2008). Each of these stages of conflict is dealing with different intensity of problems caused by a certain issue between two groups. Both the opposing sides put forward an argument, which grows by degrees and takes it to the next level if not evaluated at the present level.

The first stage or the beginning stage of the conflict designs a shape for an argument between the conflicting sides over an issue. There is no violence at this point (Peace Pledge Union, 2008). The beginning of the conflict aroused, when India and Pakistan got independence in August, 1947. All the provinces of British India were distributed among both the countries and boundaries were marked according to their ethnical backgrounds except Kashmir which shares an Indo-Pak borderline.

India believes that Kashmir belongs to them according to the British mandate, which means that the local ruler can choose to go with either Pakistan or India, and Kashmir's Ruler at that time, Raja Hari Singh, chose to go with India without the consent of his people, who were Muslims in majority. Pakistan on the other side believes that Kashmir is their land because Pakistan, the nation, was born out to have a contagious Muslim State, and Kashmir was (and is) predominantly Muslim (Unknown, 2002).

The Early growth of the conflict starts when both the parties fail to deal with tensions in a smooth way; each side give open invitation to become the enemy to each other. Acts of violence begin (Peace Pledge Union, 2008). It is very difficult for the newly born states to handle the conflict soon after their independence, but struggling for something which is valuable and naturally inherited to both the countries provides a logic and necessity to fight over an issue. Soon after the decision of Raja Hari Singh to go with India, riots spilled into Kashmir, but Kashmir was made a part of India on October 22nd 1947. Watching the ruler of Kashmir, making a decision in India's favour, Pakistan viewed the decision as a fraudulent, unjust and completely unrecognized by the Pakistani government. A war broke out between both the countries. Pakistan sent troops to most of the areas of Kashmir. On the other hand India defended its territory and sent their armed forces to fight in the occupied part of Kashmir (Unknown, n.d). The first war started in 1947, in which Pakistan conquered some of the Kashmir area, the war ended in the late 1948 due to the UN (United Nations) involvement which was able to persuade both the countries to withdraw from battle to maintain the international peace. The cease-fire line (CFL) agreement became a de facto for both the countries. India took power over three major areas of Kashmir which were: The Valley, Ladakh and Jammu. This wasnt acceptable for Pakistan as the Soviet Union started backing India in Kashmir. Pakistan changed its military policies towards the Kashmir issue soon after the First Martial LAW in 1956 during the reign of General Ayub Khan. The war started again between both the countries to take power over Kashmir (Rajat Ganguly, n.d).

The situation became terrible to handle for both the countries as the war led to dangerous consequences. Both the countries suffered enough and spent a high amount of budget on armed forces, wasting the lives of innocent people. This situation gave birth to another level of conflict life-cycle called deadlock (Peace Pledge Union, 2008).

At this stage both the opposition sides are blatantly against each other. Each side regard itself as the protagonist of the game and other side as the antagonist. The Deadlock phase of conflict lifecycle has three levels which are: a stalemate with each side matching the other in violence; a surge of violence on one side; and exhaustion of strength and resources on both the sides. (Peace Pledge Union, 2008). This is the position from which the conflict can most readily move to its next stage. ( Peace Pledge Union,2008). Situation got worse and people of Kashmir lost and are losing their lives for nothing good. The economical condition of the two countries affected badly due to the war. There was a desperate need of a solution. India and Pakistan set low level meetings to minimize the tensions over Kashmir dispute (BBC, 1996).

It becomes important for the struggling countries to settle the dispute in order to improve their economical condition and save resources. A conflict reaches to a stage where both sides are unhappy of the violence, losses and no achievable results, this stage forces both the sides to start Looking for a way out (Peace Pledge Union, 2008). India and Pakistan started low-level meetings in 1996. Foreign Ministers of both the countries met to find a conclusion. Pakistani and Indian military officers met on the Line of Control (LOC) dividing the borderline into Jammu and Kashmir. United Nations played a vital role (BBC, 1996).

Both the countries started peace activity and removed their forces from the disputed territory. Both sides promoted trade through Kashmir, allowed tourism in Kashmir for both the countries to some extent.

At this stage the two sides start settling the dispute and working together (Peace Pledge Union, 2008). India and Pakistan have shown huge decline in violence against each other over Kashmir, both the countries Prime Ministers agreed to continue the peace process and are concerned about the peace situation in the South Asia. Kashmiri people are given liberty to live peacefully in some areas. However, it is almost impossible to resolve a long-term conflict, after so many confusions and wars, but ending the violence which caused great harm to humanity, is a great step for the time being (Peace Pledge Union, 2008).

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Peace,Pledge,Union 41b Brecknock Road, London, N7 OBT,Britain Page 3,Underlying Causes of Conflict Pages 4-7,The life cycle of a conflict, understanding peace

Unknown. (2002). Kashmir issue

Available at: http://vsbabu.org/mt/archives/2002/05/26/kashmir_issue.html Last Accessed on 19th January, 2012.

Unknown. (n.d). Summary: India-Pakistan Conflict over Kashmir Available at: http://userpages.umbc.edu/~nmiller/POLI388/SUMMARIES/SOMA.htm Last Accessed on 19th January, 2012.

Rajat Ganguly. (n.d). India, Pakistan and the Kashmir Dispute. Available at: http://www.victoria.ac.nz/slc/asi/publications/01-other-india-pakistan-kashmir-dispute.pdf Last Accessed on 19th January, 2012.

British Broad Casting (BBC). (1996). India-Pakistan: troubled relations Available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/south_asia/2002/india_pakistan/timeline/1996.stm Last Accessed at 20th January, 2012.