International relations, theory and practice: the Second Kashmir war

Résumé du document

I will deal in this essay with the Second Kashmir War, which was a war between India and Pakistan in 1965. We will see how we can interpret the causes and the origins of the war, and the way it was ended and solved. I chose to use two different theories to interpret the Indo-Pakistani war of 1965: the realist theory and the idealist theory.First I would like to remind the historical context of this conflict and why it is called the Second Kashmir war. This war occurred between April 1965 and September 1965 in the region called Kashmir, located on the northern border of India and Pakistan in the Himalayan Mountains. Kashmir is divided between the Indian and the Pakistani states since the First Kashmir war, which followed the partition of the British empire of India in 1947 and lasted until 1949. This conflict opposed India and Pakistan on the question of the belonging of the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Jammu and Kashmir was a princely state, inhabited mainly by Muslims, that was the reason why the Pakistani leaders claimed that it should be part of their state. But the maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir, Hari Singh was Hindu, and after a quite long period of hesitations he decided that his state should join the Indian union, even though it was mainly composed of Muslim inhabitants. Pakistan decided to invade Jammu and Kashmir and the Indian army retaliated. The fight lasted two years, and after three resolutions of the UN Security Council the protagonists finally agreed on a ceasefire which took place in 1949. At the end of the First Kashmir war 65% of Jammu and Kashmir was under Indian control, and the rest was controlled by Pakistan; both parts were separated by the so-called Line of Control.

Extraits

[...] Then the war between China and India in 1962 also showed that the tensions between India and Pakistan were still important, as Pakistan decided to support China. The second official conflict between India and Pakistan in Kashmir began on August when the Indian troops crossed the Line of Control and launched an attack on Pakistan administered Kashmir. The official motive for this attack was a response to the massive armed infiltrations by Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir State, controlled by India. On the contrary the Pakistani officials argued that this attack had been unprovoked, and retaliated. [...]

[...] International relations, theory and practice : the Second Kashmir war I will deal in this essay with the Second Kashmir War, which was a war between India and Pakistan in 1965. We will see how we can interpret the causes and the origins of the war, and the way it was ended and solved. I chose to use two different theories to interpret the Indo-Pakistani war of 1965: the realist theory and the idealist theory. First I would like to remind the historical context of this conflict and why it is called the Second Kashmir war. [...]

[...] Pakistan had a clear aim when it sent armed forces in Jammu and Kashmir. The Pakistani leaders wanted indeed the Kashmiri people to revolt against the Indian oppressor. They thought it was the good time to use this to destabilize India. Thus they thought they would have had more power at the regional level. Moreover they were supported by China, and they also believed that the United States would support their military retaliation, even though they were disappointed on this side. [...]

[...] We can first try to analyse the end and the aftermath of the conflict by the idealist way. As we have said it in the first part of the essay the main tenants of the idealist thought are the importance of domestic system and rules but also the role of international organizations. The second Indo- Pakistani conflict finished thanks to the intervention of the United Nations, and this shows the importance of international organizations on the international stage. The United Nations Security Council passed a resolution calling for an unconditional cease-fire of both countries on September and the military conflict between India and Pakistan ended on the 23rd. [...]

[...] Pakistan decided to invade Jammu and Kashmir and the Indian army retaliated. The fight lasted two years, and after three resolutions of the UN Security Council the protagonists finally agreed on a ceasefire which took place in 1949. At the end of the First Kashmir war 65% of Jammu and Kashmir was under Indian control, and the rest was controlled by Pakistan; both parts were separated by the so-called Line of Control. The situation was a bit appeased at the end of the war, even though there were still a lot of tensions between India and Pakistan. [...]