Why do both India and Pakistan believe that Kashmir control is so important? The people of Kashmir are still tribal in nature. The geography is mainly rural, with fierce mountains, deserts, and valleys. The industry is not developed. If this region has natural resources like oil, gold or silver in any quantity, this has not yet been discovered. Why so much fuss? • The headwaters of the Indus River are in Kashmir. Whoever controls the headwaters, controls the river. Indus is vital. It brings green and fertile life wherever it flows. Indus begins in Kashmir, then flows through Pakistan, then flows into mainland India. If India chose, since Kashmir is part of India, they could dam the Indus and change the flow of the river. Without fertile land to cultivate, Pakistan would become a desert and its people would starve. Pakistan does not trust India, nor does India trust Pakistan. They will not share control of the Indus. They both want full control. Both Pakistan and India have sites in Kashmir that are important to their respective religions. * Pakistan is predominantly Muslim. Kashmir is predominantly Muslim. * India is predominantly Hindu. • For India, Kashmir acts as a buffer. For Pakistan, Kashmir offers a fertile path to India for a possible invasion.

Who controls Kashmir today and why? About sixty years ago, the UN offered Kashmir the option of becoming part of India, part of Pakistan, or becoming independent. To secure Kashmir for Pakistan, in what the Muslim forces perceived as holy war, Pakistan invaded Kashmir. The ruler of Kashmir fled to India and agreed to place Kashmir under Indian rule if India would protect Kashmir from invasion. If there had been a vote in Kashmir, a vote of the people, the majority would probably have voted to be part of Pakistan for religious reasons. As there was no vote, Pakistan never accepted India's control over Kashmir. Pakistan believed then and still believes today that Kashmir should be part of Pakistan. However, for many years, Kashmir has been part of India, just as Hawaii, California and Alaska are part of the United States. The people of Kashmir have the same rights as any citizen of India. They have excellent schools. They have television. They have access to the computer like the rest of India. Kashmir is predominantly Muslim. Muslims only believe in Islamic learning. Therefore, although the people of Kashmir do not always use the benefits available, they are available.

Both India and Pakistan are convinced that they are right and that they will prevail if they continue their fight as they are, although this plan has not worked in six decades. In the past 60 years, Pakistan and India have had War and Terrorism: they fought three wars over Kashmir property. India won all three. Today, the fight continues with acts of terrorism. The people of Kashmir are probably wondering why the UN will not help them and why the United States will not help them.

Indian perspective: • India claims that Maharaja Hari Singh signed the Instrument of Accession in October 1947, handing control of the Kingdom of Jammu and Kashmir to India. India accuses Pakistan of spreading anti-India sentiment among the people of Kashmir. According to India, most regions of Pakistani Kashmir, especially northern areas, continue to suffer from a lack of political recognition, economic development and basic fundamental rights. India claims Pakistan has not eliminated its military forces from the region India accused Pakistan of funding military groups in Kashmir to create instability

(From the Indian perspective you just read, describe what the person sees, feels, hears, knows, and smells about the conflict.)