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 Democratic Security & Transition in Pakistan, edited by Professor Shaun Gregory
Chapter 7: Kashmir and its regional context, self-determination and prospects for peace
Excerpt:
When the Indian subcontinent (South Asia) gained independence from Britain in 1947 the future of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, geographically contiguous to both new Dominions of India and Pakistan, remained undecided. Having been created by force of arms in the mid-19th century, and established according to the terms of the Treaty of Amritsar in 1846 as a buffer by the British to counter the rising power of the Sikhs, the state had no cultural, religious or linguistic homogeneity. Ruled by Maharaja Hari Singh, a Dogra Hindu from the Jammu region, the duality of the state’s name – Jammu and Kashmir – hid the fact that it comprised several more distinct regions. Although the majority of the inhabitants were Muslims, constituting – according to the 1941 census - three-quarters of the population, they different culturally and linguistically. One-fifth of the population was Hindu with lesser numbers of Sikhs and Buddhists.
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