The Indo-Pakistani War of 1947–1948, or the First Kashmir War, was a war fought between India and Pakistan over the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir from 1947 to 1948. It was the first of four Indo-Pakistani wars between the two newly independent nations. Pakistan precipitated the war a few weeks after its independence by launching tribal lashkar (militias) from Waziristan, in an effort to capture Kashmir and to preempt the possibility of its ruler joining India. The inconclusive result of the war still affects the geopolitics of both countries.
A ceasefire, also spelled cease fire, is a temporary stoppage of a war in which each side agrees with the other to suspend aggressive actions. Ceasefires may be between state actors or involve non-state actors.
The Karachi Agreement of 1949 was signed by the military representatives of India and Pakistan, supervised by the United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan, establishing a cease-fire line in Kashmir following the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. It established a cease-fire line which has been monitored by United Nations observers from the United Nations since then.
The Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) is a militant separatist organization active in both the Indian-administered and Pakistani-administered territories of Kashmir. It was founded by Amanullah Khan, with Maqbool Bhat also credited as a co-founder. Originally a militant wing of the Azad Kashmir Plebiscite Front, the organization officially changed its name to the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front in Birmingham, England on 29 May 1977; from then until 1994 it was an active Kashmiri militant organization. The JKLF first established branches in several cities and towns of the United Kingdom and other countries in Europe, as well as in the United States and across the Middle East. In 1982, it established a branch in the Pakistani-administered territory of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and by 1987, it had established a branch in the Indian-administered Kashmir Valley.
The Kashmir conflict is a territorial conflict over the Kashmir region, primarily between India and Pakistan, and also between China and India in the northeastern portion of the region. The conflict started after the partition of India in 1947 as both India and Pakistan claimed the entirety of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir. It is a dispute over the region that escalated into three wars between India and Pakistan and several other armed skirmishes. India controls approximately 55% of the land area of the region that includes Jammu, the Kashmir Valley, most of Ladakh, the Siachen Glacier, and 70% of its population; Pakistan controls approximately 30% of the land area that includes Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan; and China controls the remaining 15% of the land area that includes the Aksai Chin region, the mostly uninhabited Trans-Karakoram Tract, and part of the Demchok sector.
The following is a timeline of the Kashmir conflict, a territorial conflict between India, Pakistan and, to a lesser degree, China. India and Pakistan have been involved in four wars and several border skirmishes over the issue.
The United Nations has played an advisory role in maintaining peace and order in the Kashmir region soon after the independence and partition of British India into the dominions of Pakistan and India in 1947, when a dispute erupted between the two new States on the question of accession over the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir. India took this matter to the UN Security Council, which passed resolution 39 (1948) and established the United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan (UNCIP) to investigate the issues and mediate between the two new countries. Following the cease-fire of hostilities, it also established the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) to monitor the cease-fire line.
United Nations Security Council Resolution 39, adopted on January 20, 1948, offered to assist in the peaceful resolution of the Kashmir Conflict by setting up a commission of three members; one to be chosen by India, one to be chosen by Pakistan and the third to be chosen by the other two members of the commission. The commission was to write a joint letter advising the Security Council on what course of action would be best to help further peace in the region.
The United Nations Security Council Resolution 47, adopted on 21 April 1948, concerns the resolution of the Kashmir conflict. After hearing arguments from both India and Pakistan, the Council increased the size of the UN Commission created by the former Resolution 39 to five members, instructed the Commission to go to the subcontinent and help the governments of India and Pakistan restore peace and order to the region and prepare for a plebiscite to decide the fate of Kashmir.
United Nations Security Council Resolution 91, adopted on March 30, 1951, noting a report by Sir Owen Dixon, the United Nations Representative for India and Pakistan, stating that the main point of difference of preparing the state of Jammu and Kashmir for the holding of a plebiscite were as follows; the procedure for and extent of demilitarization, the degree of control over the exercise of the functions of government necessary to ensure a free and fair plebiscite.
United Nations Security Council Resolution 96, adopted on November 10, 1951, having received a report by Mr. Frank Graham, the United Nations representative for India and Pakistan, as well as hearing his speech before the Council a basis for a program of demilitarization was noted with approval. The Council noted with gratification the declaration by both India and Pakistan that they would work for a peaceful settlement, continue to observe a cease-fire and accepted the principle that the accession of the State of Jammu and Kashmir should be determined by a free and impartial plebiscite under the auspices of the United Nations. The Council then instructed the UN Representative to continue in his efforts to obtain agreement of the parties on a plan for effecting the demilitarization of the State of Jammu and Kashmir and to report back on his efforts together with his view concerning the problems confided to him within six weeks.
United Nations Security Council Resolution 98, adopted on December 23, 1952, urged the Governments of India and Pakistan to enter into immediate negotiations under the auspices of the United Nations Representative for India and Pakistan in order to reach an agreement on the specific number of troops to remain of each side of the cease-fire line at the end of the previously established period of demilitarization. As proposed by the UN Representative this number was to be between 6000 Azad forces and 3500 Gilgit and northern scouts on the Pakistani side and 18000 Indian forces and 6000 local state forces on the Indian side. The resolution then thanked the UN Representative for his efforts, requested the Governments of India and Pakistan report to the Council no later than 30 days after the adoption of this resolution and asked the UN Representative to keep the Council informed of any progress.
Abdur Rasheed Turabi is a well-known politician of Azad Jammu & Kashmir. He was the Emir of Jamaat-e-Islami Azad Kashmir till July 2017. Dr Khalid Mahmood is his successor and newly elected Ameer of JI AJK. He is a well known columnist and also has written books giving the guidelines of solution of Kashmir dispute. He remained President of Islami-e-Jamiat Talaba Kashmir Chapter (1974–76). He participated greatly in the freedom movement of Kashmir. He is member of Legislative Assembly of Azad Jammu & Kashmir. He is also member of Muslim World league.
Constituent Assembly of Jammu and Kashmir was a body of representatives elected in 1951 to formulate the constitution of Jammu and Kashmir. The Constituent Assembly was dissolved on 26 January 1957, based on Mir Qasim resolution it adopted and ratified on 17 November 1956.
Pakistan officially joined the United Nations (UN) on 30 September 1947 just over a month after it came into existence. Today, it is a charter member and participates in all of the UN's specialised agencies and organisations. Pakistan has been elected seven times into the UN Security Council, with the most recent term in 2013. It is also one of the countries which has had a diplomat, Muhammad Zafarullah Khan, serve a term as the President of the United Nations General Assembly.
The history of Azad Kashmir, a part of the Kashmir region administered by Pakistan, is related to the history of the Kashmir region during the Dogra rule. Azad Kashmir borders the Pakistani provinces of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to the south and west respectively, Gilgit–Baltistan to the north, and the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir to the east.
The Azad Kashmir Regular Force (AKRF), formerly known as the Kashmir Liberation Forces, were the irregular forces of Azad Kashmir until 1948. They then were taken over by the government of Pakistan and converted into a regular force. In this form, the unit became part of the country's paramilitary forces, operating out of the nominally self-governing territory of Azad Jammu and Kashmir. The AKRF was altered from a functioning paramilitary force and merged into the Pakistan Army as an infantry regiment following the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971.
Elections for the Constituent Assembly of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir were held in September–October 1951. Sheikh Abdullah was appointed Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir. Following frictions with various groups such as the Jammu Praja Parishad agitation, Abdullah was dismissed in August 1953 and imprisoned. Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad was appointed as the next Prime Minister.
In spring 1947, an uprising against the Maharaja Hari Singh of Jammu and Kashmir broke out in the Poonch jagir, an area bordering the Rawalpindi district of West Punjab and the Hazara district of the North-West Frontier Province in the future Pakistan. The leader of the rebellion, Sardar Muhammad Ibrahim Khan, escaped to Lahore by the end of August 1947 and persuaded the Pakistani authorities to back the rebellion. In addition to the backing, Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan authorised an invasion of the state, by the ex-Indian National Army personnel in the south and a force led by Major Khurshid Anwar in the north. These invasions eventually led to the First Kashmir War fought between India and Pakistan, and the formation of Pakistan administered Kashmir. The Poonch jagir has since been divided across Kashmir, administered by Pakistan and the state of Jammu and Kashmir, administered by India.
The following is a timeline of the Kashmir conflict during the period 1846–1946.
