From 1965 to Article 370 — The Kashmir Dispute in the Modern Era

If the first lesson traced how the Kashmir dispute began, this lesson traces how it has evolved — through three wars, multiple peace initiatives, an indigenous insurgency that erupted in 1989 and the dramatic Indian constitutional moves of August 2019.

The 1965 war and Tashkent

By the mid-1960s, both countries had built up substantial armies. In August 1965 Pakistan launched Operation Gibraltar — sending irregular fighters into Indian-administered Kashmir to spark an uprising — followed by Operation Grand Slam, an armoured push toward Akhnur to cut the Jammu-Srinagar highway.

India responded by opening the international border across Punjab, attacking toward Lahore and Sialkot. The full-scale war ended in stalemate after about three weeks, with a UN-brokered ceasefire on 23 September 1965.

The Tashkent Declaration (10 January 1966) — mediated by Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin — restored the pre-war status quo. Pakistani Foreign Minister Z.A. Bhutto, who opposed the settlement, resigned soon after, planting the seed for the political agitation that ended Ayub Khan's rule.

1971 and the Simla Agreement

The 1971 war — caused by the East Pakistan crisis — also reshaped Kashmir indirectly. India captured significant territory in the western sector. The Simla Agreement of 2 July 1972, signed by Indira Gandhi and Z.A. Bhutto, established three crucial principles:

The two countries are resolved to settle their differences by peaceful means through bilateral negotiations or by any other peaceful means mutually agreed upon between them. Pending the final settlement of any of the problems between the two countries, neither side shall unilaterally alter the situation.

India has since argued that Simla superseded the UN framework by establishing bilateralism. Pakistan counters that Simla did not extinguish the UN resolutions and that, in any event, India has itself unilaterally altered the situation — most dramatically in 2019.

The 1989 insurgency

After two decades of relative quiet, a mass uprising erupted in the Kashmir Valley in late 1989, triggered by allegations of rigged 1987 state elections and pent-up demands for self-determination. New militant groups — initially JKLF (pro-independence), later Hizbul Mujahideen and others (pro-Pakistan) — took up arms.

• Indian security forces deployed in large numbers, leading to severe human rights concerns documented by Indian and international bodies.
• The conflict claimed over 70,000 lives between 1989 and 2010 by Indian estimates, with thousands of disappearances.
• Pakistan provided diplomatic and, by widespread accounts, material support to militant groups — which India repeatedly cited at international forums.

Kargil (1999)

In the spring of 1999, Pakistani forces and irregulars occupied Indian-side positions across the LoC in the Kargil sector. Indian forces, after heavy fighting in May-July, recaptured most of the peaks. International pressure — particularly the Washington Declaration (4 July 1999) between US President Clinton and PM Nawaz Sharif — led to Pakistani withdrawal.

Kargil came barely months after the Lahore Declaration (February 1999), in which Nawaz Sharif and Atal Bihari Vajpayee had committed to a peace process. The conflict severely damaged Pakistan's diplomatic credibility and helped trigger the Musharraf coup of October 1999.

The Vajpayee-Musharraf back-channel and the 2003 ceasefire

Between 2001 and 2007, Pakistan and India explored a quiet "four-point formula": gradual demilitarisation, self-governance on both sides of the LoC, soft borders allowing free movement and joint mechanisms. A November 2003 LoC ceasefire largely held until the late 2010s.

The framework collapsed after Musharraf's domestic crises in 2007, the 2008 Mumbai attacks and the 2009-13 deterioration in bilateral relations.

August 2019 — the abrogation of Article 370

On 5 August 2019, the Indian government revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir granted under Articles 370 and 35A of the Indian Constitution, and bifurcated the state into two Union Territories — Jammu & Kashmir, and Ladakh.

Pakistan condemned the move as a unilateral violation of UN resolutions and the Simla Agreement, downgraded diplomatic ties and suspended bilateral trade. The Indian Supreme Court upheld the revocation in December 2023.

The 2019 move:

1. Ended the special legal status that had been the constitutional bridge between Indian sovereignty and Kashmiri identity.
2. Allowed non-Kashmiris to acquire property and domicile in the Valley — feared by Kashmiri leaders as a demographic-engineering measure.
3. Was accompanied by a prolonged communications blackout and mass detention of local leaders.

The contemporary picture

• LoC ceasefire was restored in February 2021 and has largely held.
• India-Pakistan dialogue remains frozen since 2019, although back-channel contact has continued intermittently.
• Kashmiri politics within Indian-administered Kashmir has been reshaped after the 2024 state assembly elections — the first under the new framework.
• International attention has waned as global focus has shifted to Ukraine, Gaza and US-China competition.

Pakistan's stated position today

Pakistan maintains that:

• The dispute remains unresolved and must be settled by the people of Jammu and Kashmir through a plebiscite under UN auspices.
• India's 5 August 2019 moves are null and void in international law.
• The dispute is a question of international human rights and self-determination, not merely a bilateral territorial argument.

Try Yourself

Quiz: Kashmir Issue