Kashmir Must Be Free to Decide Its Own Future
A cease-fire deal pulled India and Pakistan back from the brink of conflict, but the danger hasn’t gone away. The ongoing denial of democratic rights in Kashmir ensures that the region will remain a source of instability and potential conflict.
A Kashmiri resident inspects his damaged house on May 12, 2025, after cross-border shelling between Pakistan and India. (Muzammil Ahmed / AFP via Getty Images)
A fragile peace was reached on May 10 between India and Pakistan after four tense days of escalation following India’s Operation Sindoor missile strikes, officially aimed at “terrorist infrastructure.” This recent conflagration follows the killing of at least twenty-six tourists and civilians by armed militants in the picturesque meadow of Pahalgam in Kashmir on April 22.
The dastardly attack on civilians in Pahalgam deserves to be condemned in no uncertain terms. However, actions taken in the name of “national security” by India have marginalized ordinary Kashmiris and fueled anger that has the potential to bring about further militancy.
Democracy Denied
The Kashmir conflict, though not a thousand years old, as Donald Trump has claimed, does have a long and tortuous history. The rulers of Kashmir, before, during, and after British colonization, have always considered the political aspirations of Kashmiris secondary to the geopolitical and strategic importance of the land.
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