Kashmir: What do Kashmiris want?
Kashmir as a territorial dispute has many issues at stake. Potentially,
there are many remedies that could solve the difference between India and
Pakistan. The previous post presented “A Kashmiri Equation” (its abstract) in
which Dr. Parasaran Rangarajan
summarizes the current situation.
Today’s post centers the attention on one of these parties: people. What do Kashmiris want?
Today’s post centers the attention on one of these parties: people. What do Kashmiris want?
In
2009 a poll was commissioned and administered in this territory. The study was published in 2010 by Chatham House (the
Royal Institute of International Affairs) under the name “Kashmir: Paths to
Peace.” This was the first poll to be conducted on both sides of the Line of
Control that has separated Indian and Pakistani controlled Kashmir since the UN
ceasefire on 1 January 1949.
The
sample was of 3,774 people with face to face
interviews. The respondents were adults aged over 16. Of the total respondents
2,374 were from 11 of the 14 were in 11 of the 14 districts in which is divided
Jammu and Kashmir. The rest of the respondents, 1400 people, were from seven of
the eight districts in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
For
the majority, the sovereignty issue was an important problem. However, when
compared to other realities the poll showed clearly that the people of Kashmir
on both sides of the Line of Control have other concerns they believed more
relevant. A vast majority thought unemployment was the most significant problem
(66% in AJK and 87% in J&K). Kashimiris were also
concerned about Government corruption (22% AJK and 68% J&K), economic
development (42% AJK, 45% J&K), human rights abuses (19% AJK, 43% J&K)
and the Kashmir conflict itself (24% AJK, 36% J&K).
The complete study is available at:
The brief on the main website in which this study can be found states:
“The ongoing dispute has poisoned relationships
between the two countries, led to thousands of deaths, and blighted the lives
of millions of Kashmiris, and in the first decade of this century been a source
of terrorist-led violence with a reach well beyond South Asia. The purpose of
the poll was to establish current attitudes in Kashmir on both sides of the LoC
to alternative scenarios for the resolution of the conflict. The poll took as
its starting point the assumption that Kashmiri opinion represents a vital
foundation for the region's political future peace and stability, and for wider
global security.”
It
does result interesting to know what Kashmiris think about this territorial
dispute. In particular, because they are the ones that live in that region and
therefore, any decision affects them directly (and their future generations).
This study (like any other) has a main flaw: although it gives us a glimpse on
what Kashmiris may think about the territorial dispute, it remains questionable
to argue that this is what most of them want. After all, like any study, it is
based on a sample. Hence, as a tool is indeed thought provoking. It would be
desirable to have a more indepth questionnaire including clear conceptual
references for the respondents, a broader sample, and a more in detail
analysis.
NOTE:
This post is based on Jorge Emilio Núñez, “Territorial Disputes and State
Sovereignty: International Law and Politics,” London and New York: Routledge,
Taylor and Francis Group, 2020 (forthcoming)
Previous
published research monograph about territorial disputes and sovereignty by the
author, Jorge Emilio Núñez, “Sovereignty Conflicts and International Law and
Politics: A Distributive Justice Issue,” London and New York: Routledge, Taylor
and Francis Group, 2017.
NEXT
POST: Kashmir, one territorial dispute and several accounts
Wednesday 02nd October 2019
Dr Jorge Emilio Núñez
Twitter: @London1701
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