ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on what appears to be merely one strand—namely, the British factor—which historically has been diminishing in significance since 1947, the temptation to treat it as something relatively simple may seem compelling and even inherently justifiable. The British government tried to be even-handed and non-partisan as between India and Pakistan, even though there were outspoken individuals and groups of Britons who were openly partisan either in favor of India or Pakistan's case. In the 1970s and the 1980s, as more Kashmiris came to settle in Britain as immigrants, the issue of Kashmir became to some extent more complex and entwined in British politics. In the 1990s, the UK-based scholar bent on utilizing records and publications in British Sources regarding Kashmir faces a curiously uneven assortment of evidence. This is particularly true regarding the critical period 1945-1947, when the British paramountcy over the subcontinent, including Kashmir, came to an end rather rapidly.
