Part of Other Country
On this date, India and Pakistan officially announced the ceasefire agreement (Ankit 2013: 20). Both countries agreed on a ceasefire line, which parts Kashmir to this day. Albeit the border between Pakistani and Indian Kashmir was intended to represent religious distribution, the population of Indian Kashmir was still largely Muslim. As such, they faced continuous discrimination from the nation of India (Rai 2004). Additionally, Sheikh Abdullah, the founder of Muslim nationalism in Kashmir, was jailed for treason in 1953, which led to more intense protest and, ultimately, to the Second Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 (Arakotaram 2009: 38). On 10/17/1949 the Constituent Assembly of the State of Jammu and Kashmir under Prime Minister Sheikh Abdullah approved of an accession to the Union of India, but under unique conditions within the terms of Article 370 of the Constitution of India (Noorani 2011). The State of Jammu and Kashmir was now an autonomous state with its own constitution, a singular case in the Union of India. In 1962, border conflicts with China escalated and set the Sino-Indian War in motion, resulting in the Chinese occupation of Shaksgam Valley and Aksai Chin. On 11/21/1962, China unilaterally declared a ceasefire and occupies the north-western regions to this day. In 1989, unwilling to further wait for redress for experienced injustices, large parts of Muslim Kashmiris militarized themselves. Consequently, an approximated 70% (around 100,000 people) of the Kashmiri Pandits (Hindu) sought refuge in other parts of India (Rai 2004: 286). FH issues reports on Indian Kashmir since 1990-1991. Per FH’s classification from 1990 to 2001, the territory scores between 6 and 7 as partly free and is categorized as rather free in our interpretation. According to FH for 2002-2008, the territory is classified as free with a score of 5 and falls under the rather free category in our interpretation. As per FH from 2009-2019, the territory is classified as free with a score between 2 and 4 and falls under the free category in our interpretation. On 08/05/2019 the Indian government announced the revocation of Article 370, as well as Article 35A, revoking also Kashmir’s autonomy and integrating it back into India (Lalwani/Gayner 2020: 13). As per FH, from 2020 to 2023 Indian Kashmir is classified as not free and is categorized as rather not free in our interpretation. In 2024 the country achieved an FH score of 10, which we categorize as rather not free. Violence against journalists, oppositional politicians and the civil population are continuous problems, as well as military presence and regular combat engagement (Karatnycky 2000, Puddington 2010). Polity5 only mentions Kashmir concerning the military conflicts. V-Dem and LIED do not provide any data for Indian Kashmir.
Part of Other Country [of India, Electoral Hybrid Regime] as of 07/01/2025 continued.