Before reading the article:
What factors sometimes lead to conflict between neighboring countries? Brainstorm a list and share with a partner.
On Feb. 14, a suicide bombing in the disputed territory of Kashmir reignited a longstanding conflict between two neighboring nuclear powers, India and Pakistan.
Next, look at the map above and answer the following questions:
• What do you notice?
• What do you wonder?
• What story does this map tell about the conflict taking place in Kashmir?
Now, read the article, “Why Do India and Pakistan Keep Fighting Over Kashmir?” Then answer the following questions:
1. What are the key recent events in the escalating conflict between India and Pakistan? Give three examples.
2. What are the roots of the conflict between the two countries? In your opinion, what is the most significant historical factor?
3. Who controls Kashmir today, and why is it considered a territory rather than a country?
4. Explain the role religion plays in the conflict. What is the religious composition of India, Pakistan and Kashmir?
5. What are the political pressures facing India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, and Pakistan’s prime minister, Imran Khan? How might they influence what happens next in the conflict?
6. How has U.S. foreign policy toward India and Pakistan shifted under President Trump? What is the role of foreign powers in the current crisis?
7. The article concludes:
Mr. Khan, the Pakistani prime minister, urged India to settle matters through talks. “All big wars have been due to miscalculation,” he said in a televised address. “My question to India is that given the weapons we have, can we afford miscalculation?”
What does this statement mean? Can you think of other historical examples of miscalculations that led to war?
Finally, tell us more about what you think:
— What is your reaction to the recent events in Kashmir? How is the crisis shaped by geography?
In “‘We Will Always Live in Fear’: What Life Is Like for Civilians in Kashmir,” Sameer Yasir and Jeffrey Gettleman write:
Life on the India side is often disrupted by militant attacks, street protests or government crackdowns. Soldiers are everywhere: on the roads, in the apple orchards, standing with their guns behind giant coils of barbed wire. Schools shut down frequently. So do stores, roads and the cellphone network. Some young Kashmiris call their homeland “the world’s most beautiful prison.”
The article continues:
“Whenever India and Pakistan fight, we are the first ones to suffer,” said Mr. Khan, the cousin of the wounded farmer.
Aijaz Ashraf Wani, a professor of political science at Kashmir University, said Kashmir had become the major source of tension between India and Pakistan.
“We are the grass that suffers in the fight between two elephants,” Mr. Wani said.
“But,” he added, “we are also the biggest reason these two elephants are fighting.”
What does Mr. Wani mean by his elephant analogy? Do you agree with the analogy? Do you think there will ever be a resolution to the divided Himalayan region of Kashmir?
— How should the world respond to the crisis between these two nuclear powers? If you were advising President Trump, what would you recommend that the United States do?
Related Resources:
‘We Will Always Live in Fear’: What Life Is Like for Civilians in Kashmir
The Young Suicide Bomber Who Brought India and Pakistan to the Brink of War
