ABSTRACT
Jammu and Kashmir as it existed before the partition of India is now broadly divided into two parts – administered by India and Pakistan, divided by a Line of Control. India’s policies towards Kashmir have been ad hoc and reactive, especially in the last fifteen years. Second, India has continually failed to appreciate the differences between the ‘problem of Kashmir’ and the ‘problem in Kashmir’. The failure of the State and Union governments to seize the conditions created between 1996 and 1998 led to the ‘problem in Kashmir’ deteriorating, with the Kargil conflict making the situation much worse. Militancy has come down significantly in Jammu and Kashmir in recent years and there has been a clear change in the pattern of attacks and their perpetrators. India has to carry out internal measures to reach this meeting point with the Kashmiris. At a broader level these measures have social, economic, political and military aspects.
