The 70 Year Fight Over Kashmir Claims Eight More Lives
Erin Worley
February 12, 2017
Eight people have died and two dozen have been injured in Kashmir due to a gun battle between militants and security forces on Sunday. The fight began in the Kulgam District after security forces were given a tip about a house militants were hiding in.
Kashmir has been the source of major dispute between India and Pakistan since the Partition of India in 1947. Both countries claim ownership of the land and neither side seem willing to give up any time soon.
Despite the fact that India and Pakistan both try to keep this dispute hidden, (and there are therefore many things that are impossible to know about it), one thing for certain is that the fighting has claimed at least 43,000 lives in recent years. While Kashmir is arguably one of the most beautiful places in the world, the blood that has been shed over it is devastating.
A resolution needs to be put in place to stop the fighting. While no solution will be ideal or make everyone happy, measures can be taken that will formalize relations and slow down the violence. One such solution could be to divvy up the three sub-regions of the state--Jammu, Kashmir, and Ladakh in a way that makes sense demographically, politically, and religiously. I think this beats our current solution which mainly involves squeezing our eyes shut and pretending it isn't happening.
This video does an excellent job of explaining the background of this dispute.
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