Kashmir at the Crossroads: Inside a Twenty-First-Century Conflict

Reviewed By Andrew J. Nathan

Over three-quarters of a century, the contested territory of Kashmir has been the locus of four wars between India and Pakistan, frequent firing and shelling incidents across the so-called Line of Control, Pakistani-sponsored terrorist incursions into the Indian-occupied sector called Jammu and Kashmir, conflict between the Muslim majority and the Hindu minority, a protracted insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir and an abusive Indian counterinsurgency, and, to the east, clashes between Chinese and Indian forces over the Chinese-occupied sector called Aksai Chin. More recently, Pakistani security agencies have disrupted peace talks by dispatching terrorist proxies to attack Indian interests, and Jammu and Kashmir has been swept by renewed waves of resistance; and in 2019, the Hindu nationalist government of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi imposed direct central government control over the sector in what is bound to be a futile attempt to crush all opposition. Meanwhile, China increased its military pressure in Aksai Chin. Bose traces these events in intimate detail. His analysis suggests that peace is more remote than ever.