...7th year participating in MUN conferences, and my third as staff at WASMUN. I’m looking forward to meeting you all and chairing a committee that has so much depth and scope in its topics! The following background guide is meant to serve as a general guide to the issues on our agenda. Your research should not only involve reading the background guide, but should also focus on an in-depth analysis of the history and debates which concern the regions in question. If delegates have any questions concerning the committee, topics or background guides, feel free to contact me at maderk@cc.wwu.edu. I look forward to seeing you in March! Sincerely, Kristina Mader Chair, Special Political & Decolonization WASMUN 2007 Copyright © Washington State Model United Nations 2006-2007 Page 1 of 14 Wash in gt on St ate Mo del Unit ed Nati ons 2 007 History of the Committee At the advent of the United Nations, a system of committees was set up to deal with the many diverse issues before the General Assembly. The First Committee, Disarmament and International Security, was formed to deal with the regulation of armaments and the admission, suspension and expulsion of United Nations members, as well as other political and security issues. With the number of problems rising though, the burden for DISC grew too great, leading the committee to rethink its focus and capabilities. Out of this effort a new committee was created. In 1965 the Fourth Committee, Special Political and...
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...United Nations General Assembly Topic: Kashmir- Is it a symbol of failure of United Nations Machinery Country: Germany Delegate: Ruchi Gupta Since the partition of British India into India and Pakistan in 1947, the Kashmir conflict between them has become intractable. India first referred the case of Pakistani aggression in Kashmir to the United Nations Security Council under Article 35 of the UN Charter on January 1, 1948. This move was directed towards protecting India’s territorial integrity. United Nations was involved in mediating the Kashmir conflict from 1948 through 1965. Later, at the end of the Third Pakistan- India war of 1971, Pakistan and India signed the Simla Agreement in 1972 which emphasized the adoption of a bilateral framework to solve the crisis. UNSC resolution 47 of 1948 recommended Pakistan to withdraw all its tribesmen and Pakistani nationals. It also recommended Indian forces to be reduced to minimum strengths to maintain law and order so as to later hold a UN supervised plebiscite in the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir to determine the aspirations of her people. But Pakistan never vacated and later India also backed out. As a result the referendum never went through and UN declaration could not be implemented. Germany agrees that the Kashmir issue should be undertaken bilaterally as “one spark” could be disastrous for the entire region. Germany has always supported negotiated settlement of the Kashmir issue between Pakistan and India. We also...
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...Where Does Kashmir Belong? Avneel M, Gurleen D, Harshdeep P, Tajbir D WHAT IS KASHMIR? * Kashmir is a Himalayan region that borders India, Pakistan and China * India's side of Kashmir includes Jammu, Kashmir Valley, and Ladakh * Pakistan side of Kashmir includes the areas known as Azad (Free) Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan * The territory under dispute lies in India's Kashmir Valley, separated from Pakistan by the 450-mile Line of Control (border line) * Indian Kashmir is mostly Muslim; Jammu is Hindu * 65% of Kashmir is located in India while the other 35% is in Pakistan WHAT IS KASHMIR? * Kashmir is a Himalayan region that borders India, Pakistan and China * India's side of Kashmir includes Jammu, Kashmir Valley, and Ladakh * Pakistan side of Kashmir includes the areas known as Azad (Free) Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan * The territory under dispute lies in India's Kashmir Valley, separated from Pakistan by the 450-mile Line of Control (border line) * Indian Kashmir is mostly Muslim; Jammu is Hindu * 65% of Kashmir is located in India while the other 35% is in Pakistan HOW IT STARTED * India's Muslim leaders demanded a Muslim homeland as a condition for independence in 1947 * The British surrendered their hold on the Indian subcontinent, giving way to a predominantly Hindu India and a Muslim Pakistan * Kashmir was free to accede to either nation * Maharaja Hari Singh, the ruler of the kingdom, initially chose...
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...Kashmir conflict From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia [pic] [pic] The disputed areas of the region of Kashmir. India claims the entire erstwhile princely state of Jammu and Kashmirbased on an instrument of accession signed in 1947. Pakistanclaims all areas of the erstwhile state except for those claimed by China. China claims the Shaksam Valley and Aksai Chin. |[show] | |v | | | |d | | | |e | |Indo-Pakistani wars and conflicts | | | The Kashmir conflict (Hindi: कश्मीर विवाद, Urdu: مسئلہ کشمیر) is a territorial disputebetween India and Pakistan over the Kashmir region, the northwesternmost region ofSouth Asia. India claims the entire state of Jammu and Kashmir and as of 2010, administers approximately 43% of the region, including most of Jammu, the Kashmir Valley,Ladakh, and the Siachen Glacier. India's claims are contested by Pakistan, which controls approximately 37% of Kashmir, namely Azad Kashmir and the northern areas of Gilgit and Baltistan. India has officially...
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...The Kashmir Issue: Some options towards solution By Dr. Misbah Islam As we all know the Kashmir issue has been has been a perennial problem ever since the birth of Pakistan. Kashmir is one of the two most intractable problems that have stymied the world for so long resulting in horrendous loss of life and negative impact on the development of the belligerants. Nature of the Problem: The origins of the Kashmir issue lie in the illegal instrument of accession to India signed on October 26, 1947 by Raja Hari Singh that violated the rights and hopes of 77% Muslim population of Kashmiris to join Pakistan. It has resulted in or associated with at least four major wars: 1948, 1965, 1971 and 1999. Besides loss of liberty for 10 million people it has entailed loss of lives (more than 102,000), in the form of executions, bombardment and disappearances, horrendous tortures, injuries, crimes against women, destruction of property, businesses and the list goes on [Ref 1]. No value can ever be assigned to the psychological losses. So far India has refused visits by Amnesty International to investigate and report impartially. We have also to take into account other costs. The purpose of this exercise is to highlight the seriousness of the issue and to prove Pakistan’s commitment to the cause. The Kashmir issue has involved direct expenditure in terms of resources: military, diplomatic, journalistic and so on. Resources, that could have been better spent for mitigating and solving...
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... and sparks riots and violence across the region. 1947/48 - The first Indo-Pak war over Kashmir is fought, after armed tribesmen (lashkars) from Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (now called Khyber-Pakthunkhwa) invade the disputed territory in October 1947. The Maharaja, faced with an internal revolt as well an external invasion, requests the assistance of the Indian armed forces, in return for acceding to India. He hands over control of his defence, communications and foreign affairs to the Indian government. Both sides agree that the instrument of accession signed by Maharaja Hari Singh be ratified by a referendum, to be held after hostilities have ceased. Historians on either side of the dispute remain undecided as to whether the Maharaja signed the document after Indian troops had entered Kashmir (i.e. under duress) or if he did so under no direct military pressure. Fighting continues through the second half of 1948, with the regular Pakistani army called upon to protect Pakistan's borders. The war officially ends on January 1, 1949, when the United Nations arranges a ceasefire, with an established ceasefire line, a UN peacekeeping force and a recommendation that the referendum on the accession of Kashmir to India be held as agreed earlier. That referendum has yet to be held. Pakistan controls roughly one-third of the state, referring to it as Azad (free) Jammu and Kashmir. It is semi-autonomous. A larger area, including the former kingdoms of Hunza and Nagar, is...
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...years of Independence, India and Pakistan tackle numerous obstinate predicaments that the British marooned for these novel countries to settle. Kashmir lives to be the solitary of the many legacies of their distrust and uncertainty. The origins of the calamity extend to the tragic partition of the two countries in 1947, when the British government departed India after a rule of 250-years characterized by mistreatment and divide and conquer approaches. The British Empire’s divisive strategies, which were intended to generate rifts between Hindus and Muslims in order to attenuate any potential cohesive opposing forces. This began in the early 1900s, when the British started to dread the perceived mounting potency of the Hindu nationalist movement. In order to repress the perils, the British government began to vigorously support the Muslim League, a political party led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah who aimed to signify the subcontinent’s Muslim interests. The British pinned these two groups adjacent to one another, and eventually the Muslim League was compelled to stipulate the creation of a separate state, to be called Pakistan, because they believed that their interests would not be portrayed in a Hindu majority India. The severance of both countries paved a way to their joint antagonism into three wars (of which two were directly over Kashmir), which have affected their alliance till today. On August 15, 1947 the British left the realms of India, leaving behind British controlled states...
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...animosities towards India and this was accelerated when India conducted its first nuclear detonation in 1974. Although India later declared a moratorium on nuclear testing after the first nuclear testing that lasted for 24 years, it was broken in 1998 with the rise of Hindu hardliners party, Bharatiya Janata (BJP). Casting the Pakistani-supported insurgencies in Kashmir as a crisis of national security, military expenditure was increased with the resumption of nuclear weapon testing such as Pokhran-ll and Kirana-l. Provocative statements such as India adopting a “pro-active” policy in Kashmir to crush insurgencies were also directed at Pakistan as a warning to stop its military campaign against India. In retaliation to India’s moves, Pakistan was convinced that India would launch a preemptive strike to capture Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir and hence directed its resources to nuclear testing of Chagai-l and ll despite the threat of sanctions from the international community. The prospect of a nuclear exchange was then escalated onto a new level as seen in Kargil conflict of 1999 where Pakistan believed that the only way to claim back Kashmir was through force. Hence, nuclearisation of the conflict had escalated tensions and fear between both countries since nuclear weapons have potentially large-scale destructive effects, and the unwillingness of both parties to back down or compromise protracted and...
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...Kashmir Issue: Causes and Effects Sana Iqbal December 5, 2010 Outline 1. Introduction 2. History 3. Causes of the Conflict 4. Beginning of the Confrontation 5. Conclusion Introduction Ever since territorial changes have taken place in history, issues pertaining to affiliation and independence of some state have always been there. Although history is full of territorial conflicts, the two most recent ones include the Palestine issue and the Kashmir issue. While Palestine issue was the result of the First World War and did create a huge impact on the international politics and foreign relations of several countries, however, the Kashmir issue is relatively a more regional conflict with its nucleus being the Indian subcontinent, and can be resolved if flexibility is shown by the conflicting parties. History Kashmir was initially ruled by Muslims, and was an integral part of the Pashtun Durrani Empire, which was primarily a dynasty of Afghan origin. The foundation of the Durrani Empire was laid by an Afghan commander, Ahmed Shah Durrani. When the East India Company started to lay its political foundations in the Indian subcontinent, they started massive annexations of areas that were previously ruled by local princes, nawabs and maharajas. During 1840s Kashmir went under the British control after they signed the Treaty of Lahore with the Sikhs. A few years British rewarded Kashmir to Gulab Singh Dogra, a Hindu general who helped British to annex Punjab. British...
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... War and Peace: An Analysis Of The Kashmir Issue And A Possible Path To Peace By: Iveshu R. Bhatia Dated: Friday, December 3rd 2004 Table of Contents Topic Pg. no. An introduction to Kashmir and a history of the region…………….1 Why is Kashmir so important? …………………………………………3 Analysis of terrorism in Kashmir and the India-Pakistan dispute…7 Other factors supporting the rise of terrorism in Kashmir……….10 Impact of terrorism and the proxy war……………………………..12 Potential steps towards a peaceful solution………………………..15 Latest developments………………………………………………….18 Appendix I: List of Works Cited/Bibliography……………….......20 Appendix II: Map of the region.……………………………………21 Appendix III: Copy of instrument of Accession of Kashmir to India…22 War and Peace: An Analysis Of The Kashmir Issue And A Possible Path To Peace Today, the word Kashmir has become synonymous with death, destruction and religious genocide in South Asia. Although the roots of the Kashmir issue lie in a territorial dispute between India and Pakistan, it has evolved into a multi-faceted issue over the years. This paper discusses this dispute, its history, its effects and potential steps towards a peaceful resolution. An introduction to Kashmir and a history of the region Kashmir is a landlocked region in South Asia, sandwiched...
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...Indian-Pakistani confrontation from the partition of the British Indian Empire to these days. Over the Kashmir issue DATE: 06/JAN/2013 Introduction to the Indian-Pakistan conflict: Since 1946 the British began dynamically to negotiate a shift of authority, but this did not prove to be an easy affair, for as independence was established in August 1947 it was not to a single unitary state, but to two- India and Pakistan. The detachment of India occurred as Congress and the Muslim League had principally incompatible thoughts about how to represent a single successor state to British rule. Put plainly, The Muslim League preferred a weak political centre and the devolution of power to groups of provinces, which would permit the Muslim-majority areas a superior deal of self-government, while Congress sought the construction of a sturdy centralized state in order to become conscious on its social and economic goal. With neither side enthusiastic to compromise at the country on the brink of chaos. The easiest resolution was partition. The outcome was that the Muslim-majority areas of Baluchistan, Sind, the North-West Frontier, the western half of the Punjab and Eastern half of Bengal were amalgamated into the state of Pakistan underneath the premiership of the leader of the Muslim League. Muhammad Ali Jinnah. In the meantime India gained its independence under the leadership of Jawaharlal Nehru, the leader of the Congress party. In addition, it hastily added to its territorial...
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...Pathans from the North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan entered the territory of Maharaja Hari Singh of Kashmir, who was yet undecided on the issue of accession to either India or Pakistan. Indian military help was sought by the Maharaja to fend off the invasion. Forces arrived on October 27, after the Maharaja decided on accession of Kashmir to Indian Union. Despite early successes, the Indian Army suffered a setback in December because of logistical problems. Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (Azad Kashmir) troops forced Indian army to retreat from the border areas. Following spring, the Indian side mounted another offensive to recapture some of the ground that it had lost. As the conflict escalated, the India realised the war could not be ended unless Pakistani support to occupied Kashmir forces was stopped. Accordingly, India filed a complaint against Pakistan at the United Nations on December 31, 1948, despite some opposition from within the Cabinet. In August, the UN Commission for India and Pakistan called for an end to hostilities with a truce, to be followed by a referendum for self-determination among Kashmiris. Both the parties agreed to the UN resolution. The UN Security Council eventually brought about a ceasefire between Pakistani and Indian troops on January 1, 1949. In all, 1,500 soldiers died on each side during the war, which left about 30 per cent of Kashmir-including areas of Gilgat, Hunza, Nagar, and Baltistan-under Pakistani control. SECOND INDO-PAK WAR...
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...flows through four different countries: Tibet, Afghanistan, India and Pakistan to end in the Arabian Sea. The Indus River catchment area is as follows: sixty percent of the area belongs to Pakistan, about twenty percent belongs to India, five percent belongs to Afghanistan and fifteen per cent belongs to Tibet (Aljazeera, 2011). There are a total of six main tributaries: Sutlej, Ravi and Beas flow through Punjab and the other three rivers of the Indus basin - Indus, Jhelum and Chenab run through the territory of Jammu and Kashmir (Harvard, 2011). Since the partition of the British Indian empire in 1947, Pakistan and India have fought over the province of Punjab and the state of Kashmir, which resulted in a partition of the area between the two countries. The water dispute is also closely related to partition of the Kashmir region, too. The six rivers run through India which controls Jammu and Kashmir, before reaching Pakistan and the part of Jammu and Kashmir governed by Pakistan (Harvard, 2011). The geological allocation described above brought out significant disadvantages to Pakistan in early the1950s as a consequence of the political conflicts between the two countries. The help of the World Bank together with other third parities made possible the signing of the Indus Water Treaty (IWT) between India and Pakistan in 1960, relieving political tensions on the both sides. Due to the high demand of water resources over sixty years and the insufficient supply, the Indus Water Treaty...
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...India's growth 4. Westernization of Indian culture 5. solution to Kashmir issue 6. Saas Bahu serial Vs Reality shows 7. Capital Punishment should it be abolished? 8. Corruption 9. Impact of globalization on insurance. 10. Is India ready to host Olympics 11. Common wealth games. 12. The world is flat. 13. Which is better employer public sector or private sector.(asked by Reliance General Insurance Co.) 14. "impact of Obama's visit to India".-(asked by TATA AIG general insurance co) 15. Corruption in democracy (Bajaj Allianz & HDFC Ergo) 16. The world is round (SBI General) 17. Quick promotion or long term growth in an organization (SBI General) 18. Obama's visit to India (Tata Aig & Reliance General) 19. Kashmir issue (Bajaj Allianz) 20. Leaders r born not made (If co Tokyo) 21. Regulations in insurance industry (HCL) 22. Globalization n its impact on insurance (If co Tokyo) 23. Common wealth games (Bajaj Allianz) 24. Importance of IT in insurance (HCL & Accenture) 25. Should India host the Olympics (Tata Aig) 26. role of media in our country 27. patience is a bitter plant but it bears a sweet fruit 28. role of technology in insurance 29. Should capital punishment be given more often? 30. The world is flat! 31. The biggest problem in our country is? 32. should India bid for Olympics 33. Corruption in our country Adarsh scam 34. men and women are not equal at work place 35. Role of UN in peace keeping 36. Challenges faced by banking industry in...
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...parliamentary relations. The Foreign Minister mentioned that Germany friendship group in Pakistan Parliament headed by Speaker National Assembly, has been established in the Parliament. Mr. Klose and Khar agreed on the need to establish a Pakistan Friendship Group in the German parliament. They also agreed on having more frequent parliamentary exchanges between the two countries. Foreign Minister expressed the hope that President of German Parliament would soon visit Pakistan on the outstanding invitation of Speaker of Pakistan’s National Assembly. Meanwhile, Pakistan Tuesday said it has taken “bold and unprecedented” steps to improve ties with “vital neighbour” India and to resolve all bilateral disputes, including the key issue of Jammu and Kashmir. “As a democratic government, we have taken bold and unprecedented decisions. Granting the Most Favoured Nation status by Pakistan to India has injected a new momentum into the Pakistan-India normalisation process,” Foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar said in her speech at the German Council on...
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