The Princely States & Kashmir: The Indian-Pakistan Conflict Explained (Part 2)

Last week, we ended with how Sir Cyril Radcliffe drew the border between Pakistan and India, as well as the problems it caused. Today, we’re looking at the princely states, what they were, and the impact they had on the modern-day situation.

The Princely States

Unsurprisingly, the princely states were yet another consequence of colonial Britain.

These states were semi-sovereign countries within British India, ruled by local princes under British suzerainty. They were not directly ruled by the British, but Britain did control the states’ foreign policy and defense. Astonishingly, there were more than 500 princely states by 1947, making up approximately 40% of British India.

So why did Britain allow almost half of its precious colony to become semi-independent? Although it may seem like a blunder, it can also be considered strategy, taken as a result of complex historical circumstances.

The princely states, although seemingly gaining independence to a certain degree, were actually a useful means for Britain to maintain control of its colonies without the hustle of day-to-day matters. The British cleverly utilized the already established local governance structures within India, aiming to reduce resistance to colonial rule and maximize stability. This approach saved Britain resources otherwise spent on daily administration, freeing up money and manpower for critical areas in need of management.

However, despite this system lasting for roughly 200 years, it started showing significant cracks in the 20th century. On a local level, monarchs of princely states were starting to develop varying degrees of loyalty between the British crown and their own subjects, leading to instability and resistance. Not only that, as mentioned before, Britain was critically crippled after WWII. Coupled with the nationalistic movements arising in the region, the princely states were falling apart.

When Pakistan and India were declared independent, the princely states were given 3 options: join Pakistan, join India, or remain independent (the third one was more of a hypothetical possibility). So one by one, these princely states chose to become one of the two countries. Some rulers decided to listen to public sentiment, in which Muslim-majority states joined Pakistan and Hindu-majority states joined India.

But there were a few princely states that didn’t follow this mainstream decision-making, and instead reflected the interests of their rulers: Jammu and Kashmir, Junagadh, Hyderabad, and Bhopal.

Among them, the accession of Kashmir is especially relevant to our analysis of the India-Pakistan conflict.

Jammu and Kashmir

Roughly 77% of this princely state’s population was Muslim, though interestingly, it was ruled by the Hindu Maharaja (Maharaja translates to ‘great king’) Hari Singh.

In October of 1947, tribal militant groups from Pakistan backed by the Pakistani government invaded Kashmir, introducing chaos, threatening the rule of the Maharaja, and attempting to annex the region for Pakistan. Following this attack, Hari Singh signed the Instrument of Accession with India on October 26, 1947, in exchange for military assistance. This was much to the dismay of its Muslim-majority population. And that initial disagreement between a king and its people is what continues to fuel the on-going tensions between India and Pakistan.

After Kashmir Joined India

Following the accession of Kashmir, the region was pushed into the spotlight of controversy. In their half-century of existence, there were four major wars between the two countries, three of which involved Kashmir.

The First Indo-Pakistani War (1947-1948) was an immediate result of Kashmir’s accession to India, which was ended with an UN-mediated ceasefire. That ceasefire also lead to the establishment of the Line of Control (LoC), serving as a de facto border that divided Jammu and Kashmir. On the one hand, India administered Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. On the other hand, Pakistan administered Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan. The United Nations called for a referendum to determine the future of the Kashmir region, which was never conducted, causing the entire region to remain contested between the two states.

The Second Indo-Pakistani War (1965) was also fought over Kashmir. Not only had tensions lingered following the First Indo-Pakistani War, Pakistani forces infiltrated the Indian-administered side of Kashmir in an attempt to incite a rebellion (which was known as Operation Gibraltar). Instead of sparking a rebellion, it sparked a full-scale military conflict between the two countries, which ended in a stalemate and a ceasefire intermediated by the Soviet Union.

The Bangladesh Liberation War (1971) was ignited after rising tensions between East Pakistan (what is now Bangladesh) and West Pakistan. I’m not going to go deep into how these tensions escalated, but it had a lot to do with growing political, linguistic, and economic discrimination between the two parts of Pakistan. Key events of this war involved Operation Searchlight in March of 1971, where the Pakistani military launched a crackdown on civilians that lead to a humanitarian crisis and major atrocities. India subsequently intervened in December of the same year, supporting the Bangladesh independence movement. It ended with the creation of the sovereign state of Bangladesh, a defeat for Pakistan, and a core alteration of the geopolitical landscape of South Asia. It was the only significant conflict without Kashmir involvement.

The Kargil War (1999) was another conflict within Kashmir, though limited to the Kargil district. In this war, Pakistani militants and soldiers infiltrated across the previously established LoC into the Kargil region, causing India to launch extensive military operations to reclaim the territory. It ended in July with India pushing Pakistani forces out of the area.

So those are the four major wars between the two nations. But you may be wondering, why is Kashmir in the center of most conflict between India and Pakistan? Well, it turns out its not only Kashmir’s historical background that matters, its geography does as well.

The Geography of Kashmir

The former princely state currently adjoins Pakistan, India, and China. And its specifically because of its triangular borders that makes Kashmir such a valuable asset that both India and Pakistan want to control.

From the Tibet regions in China originate multiple rivers that flow through Kashmir and provide important water resources to the region. If India were to control the entire region of Kashmir, Pakistan would risk losing a substantial amount of that water. That would in turn threaten Pakistan’s agricultural prosperity, economic capabilities, and cause a huge humanitarian crisis. Although India is bound by the Indus Water Treaty (IWT), limiting the country’s ability to divert eastern rivers to western ones, Pakistan clearly still wants to control its own water source. That’s one reason for why Kashmir holds so much importance to both states.

In addition, Kashmir also unlocks a strategic military advantage to any side that manages to occupy the entirety of the territory, an upper-hand that would be especially crucial if a war were to break out.

Pakistan’s capital Islamabad is close to the borders of the former princely state, no more than 500 kilometers away. Probably too close. Because of this, the region of Kashmir is very important to both states. If India were able to take control of the region, it would be able to fire heavy artillery at Islamabad from the borders of Kashmir, posing a huge threat to Pakistan. Alternatively, if Pakistan takes control of the region, it can establish an effective ‘buffer zone’ between its capital and possible Indian forces, eliminating the threat of a surprise attack.

At the end of the day, it become apparent that the tensions between the two states aren’t intentional, yet their historical roots and unique geographical makeup inevitably would result in further military engagement in the future.

Why Does It Matter?

You’ve probably been wondering by now, why are many countries calling for the two states to calm down? Why does it matter at all?

The answer behind these questions is actually pretty simple: both India and Pakistan have more than 150 nuclear warheads each. The two countries developed nuclear weapons in the 1970s, a moment which meant both had become nuclear-capable countries. This causes a huge problem that persists to this day, the fact that nuclear warfare could break out at any moment and devastate Asia, while simultaneously blanketing the entire world in a gruesome nuclear winter. It’s this unnerving matter-of-fact which has bought so much attention to yet another India-Pakistan conflict; every one of them could bring about tremendous consequences.

Conclusion

That’s the end of this two-part series on the India-Pakistan conflict. I hope you learned something new in this article, and if you liked our in-depth news analysis, please consider liking subscribing and sharing this article. Thank you for reading, and come back next week for the latest news updates.