ABSTRACT
This chapter summarizes the genesis of the Kashmir problem, seeks to identify the cause of the current crisis and suggests some practical solutions. Since the early 1980s, the Indian and Pakistani contest over Kashmir has resurged. Kashmir is in many ways representative of the long-term instabilities in the new arc of crisis: ethnicity, religion, territory, irredentism, hypernationalism, protracted inter-state and intra-state conflict. Kashmir reflects the growing and larger crisis of India's political institutions, a crisis that has inextricably linked domestic and international politics, intertwining national security with domestic order and governance. The crisis poses a direct challenge to Indian federalism. Kashmiri militants have made clear their view of the desirability and credibility of Indian federalism: seemingly no reform or amendment will satisfy. Indian federalism is already segmented into three tiers: most states are included in one tier; in the second tier there is Kashmir; and a third tier consists of the Union Territories.
