Kashmir has often been described as the nuclear flashpoint of South Asia; and rightly so, because it continues to be a disputed territory between two nuclear powers- Muslim Pakistan and the predominantly Hindu India.

According to the principle of the partition of British India into two independent states of Pakistan and India in 1947, Kashmir with its overwhelming Muslim population and geographical contiguity with Pakistan had to be a part of Pakistan rather than India. But the later, in flagrant violation of that principle and the wishes of the people of Kashmir, invaded the territory and occupied the major portion of that former princely state. The part which had been liberated by Muslim freedom fighters became Azad Kashmir and is now on Pakistan's side. The rest of the former Kashmir and Jammu state continues to be under Indian military occupation, its people denied their basic rights, have been kept in perpetual subjugation by India for the last 60 years. Today the strength of the Indian occupation forces in Kashmir is 600,000; the largest concentration of the troops deployed any where in the world.

The Kashmir! Muslims never accepted the Indian rule and have waged a continuous struggle for their right to decide their political future. Their right to self determination has been recognized and supported by the Security Council of the United Nations since 1948. But India, dispute its earlier assurances, has defied the United Nations resolution on one flimsy pretext or the other.

India also had three wars with Pakistan in its effort to impose a military solution of the Kashmir dispute on Kashmiri people and on Pakistan.

The Kashmiri Muslims have, however, stubbornly refused to accept the Indian hegemony and have been fighting against the Indian yoke on all fronts. Since 1989-90 the Kashmiris' resistance has taken the form of armed uprising and, little known to the outside world, almost 100,000 Kashmiri Muslims have sacrificed their lives fighting the Indian occupation forces. During the last 17 years hardly a day has passed without any incident involving the Kashmiri militants and the Indian troops. It is a long tale of atrocities- killings, torture, kidnapping, rape and arson- by the Indian army and police on the Kashmiri Muslims. In the month of October '07 alone, 73 Muslim youths were martyred in acts of state terrorism by Indian troops. According to the Kashmir Media Service, five of the 73 persons killed, died while in the custody of the Indian army, 66 people were arrested, 76 persons subjected to severe torture, 14 women were widowed, 28 children were orphaned and 31 homes destroyed in mortar shelling.

Ever since the armed uprising 17 years ago, which the Indian government has dubbed as terrorism, the troops have been given extensive powers and violence has been intensified. Human rights violations in Indian occupied Kashmir would even surpass Israel's record in Palestinian territories. Statistics show that 66590 incidents of violence took place in the area during the last 18 years; the highest number of incidents, 5946 was recorded in 1995.

During the last few years Pakistan has made unprecedented gestures towards India to find a peaceful solution of the Kashmir dispute. It has even offered to drop the condition of implementation of UN resolution. Pakistan has also taken some unilateral steps to reduce the tension and ease the movement of people across the Line of Control between the two parts of Kashmir. Besides, President Pervez Musharraf has presented a four point formula to India towards resolving the Kashmir dispute.

These gestures have kindled a ray of hope among the Kashmiris and brought about some reduction in the armed resistance on the part of the Kashmiri militants. But alas, Pakistan's gestures have not evoked a reciprocal response from India. There has been no reduction in the troops and no real progress in the talks between the two countries. India has also been keeping the Kashmiri people, the real party to the dispute, out of the talks. In fact, India has been treating Pakistan's gestures of peace as an opportunity to consolidate its military hold over the occupied territory. But the Kashmiris have been getting impatient. The world may witness a new upsurge in the freedom movement in the Indian-held Kashmir before long.

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