ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the concepts spelt out earlier to explain the origins of the first Kashmir war. It discusses the salient features of the rival ideological claims advanced by the Congress and the Muslim League and shows how the divergent social visions provided the basis for post-independence conflict. A key factor in setting India and Pakistan on a course of conflict and war was the process by which the British disengaged from the subcontinent, and the impact of that process on Hindu-Muslim relations. The chapter describes how the actions taken by the British colonial regime exacerbated the strained relations between the opposing political organizations and their adherents. Jirmah and the Muslim League saw that the growing secularization of politics in Kashmir boded ill for the fortunes of the League. For Pakistan, the possession of Kashmir was crucial to her ideology, namely that religious ideology could serve as the cornerstone of a state.
