India and Pakistan Conflict: How long has it been going on and how it started?

Essay by josdeaHigh School, 11th gradeA-, November 2003

download word file, 2 pages 4.3

Downloaded 86 times

The ongoing confrontation in India and Pakistan started with a fight over the city of Kashmir in India after independence in 1947. These conflicts have been going on for five decades and have drastically hindered economical and political development and growth of both countries. Two out of their three wars have been fought over the city of Kashmir, and many battles have ensued over rights for the land and intrusion in military or political affairs. On June 12, 1999 Pakistani Foreign Minister Sartaj Aziz was in New Delhi for talks aimed at ending a military confrontation in Kashmir, as well as refute that six Indian soldiers were abducted and tortured.

In 1999 Indian forces launched the 18th day of "Operation Vijay" (victory) against infiltrators in Indian Kashmir. Indian troops had recaptured a hilltop in the Batalik sector after fierce fighting with twenty-five Pakistanis dead. In February of 1999, four months previous, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee had come to an agreement to work to reduce the risk of nuclear conflict and strive harder on their key dispute over Kashmir.

The two prime ministers signed a joint statement issued after a day of meetings in Lahore, Pakistan. The statement said "We shall take immediate steps to reduce the risk of accidental or unauthorized use of nuclear weapons and discuss concepts and doctrines with a view to elaborating measures for confidence-building in the nuclear and conventional fields, and for the prevention of conflict."

Almost three years later in December of 2001, President George Bush phoned both Indian Prime Minister Atal Bahari Vajpayee and Gen. Pervez Musharraf, president of Pakistan, urging them to settle unrest in their countries. This was a follow-up call after Secretary of State Colin Powell had phoned both leaders after an...