Kashmir, a bloodstained fault line between India, Pakistan at 75

By Sarwar Kashani

Srinagar, India, Aug 14 (EFE).- India and Pakistan approach the 75th year of their independence with fault lines, including Kashmir, that has plagued their ties and evaded peace in the volatile region.

It also marks 75 years of India-Pakistan partition along religious lines in the aftermath of their freedom from British rule that resulted in one of the bloodiest tragedies in human history, leaving up to a million people dead as Hindus and Muslims bayed for each other’s blood in 1947.

“Kashmir has remained a black spot (in 75 years of India’s independence),” political analyst and legal scholar Sheikh Showkat Hussain told EFE.

He said the situation in Kashmir was likely to flare up in the aftermath of what happens in Afghan where a Taliban return to power seems inevitable.

The nuclear-armed neighbors have fought two wars and a limited conflict over Kashmir.

Elusive Peace

Though there have been periods of calm in the more than seven decades of their existence, peace has generally evaded the region.

Tensions have escalated after India stripped Kashmir of its autonomy on Aug 5, 2019, accompanied by harsh security and communications clampdowns that confined 7 million people to their homes for months in Kashmir.

Pakistan called the move a violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions on Kashmir. It downgraded diplomatic ties with India and suspended all trade.