But in Kashmir, although there was a majority of muslims, the hindu prince who ruled the region refused that it became Paki, and decided to join India

NAME : ADIER Thomas

TOPIC : The tensions between India and Pakistan REGION : Indian subcontinent

COUNTRIES INVOLVED : India, Pakistan

LEADERS INVOLVED (Name, country, specific role) : Mamnoon Hussain (president of Pakistan), Pranab Mukherjee (president of India)

INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTIONS INVOLVED: United Nations

MILITARY FORCES INVOLVED: Pakistan and Indian armies, islamist paramiitary groups CONTEXT (political, economic, social) :

India and Pakistan were created in 1947 when Brittany gave its independance to its Indian Empire. Pakistan was supposed to welcome muslim inhabittants of the old Indian Empire whereas hindus would live in India. But the strong conflicts between muslims and hindus, which existed long before the partition of India, remained, and the partition itself led to terrible massacres all over the country. During the partition, regions of India in which there was a majority of Muslims became Paki, and regions where there was a majority of hindus became Indian. But in Kashmir, although there was a majority of muslims, the hindu prince who ruled the region refused that it became Paki, and decided to join India. Since there, there has been four wars (1947, 1965, 1971 and 1999) and numerous provocations from both sides. Recently, on Sunday, November 2nd, a suicide bombing in Pakistan near the frontier killed 57 people, so the atmosphere is still really hot.

MAP / ILLUSTRATION (1 or 2)

SHORT AND LONG-TERM RISKS :

Although we don’t hear much about it these days, India and Pakistan both have the nuclear weapon, and they might be the two countries which are the most likely to use them in the world, because there is really an explosive atmosphere between these two countries (no pun intended). So even if wwe haven’t heard about the conflict for a while, a war might be crawling underground and could burst anytime. At longt term, by the game of alliances between Pakistan and India, it might involve other countries as well and even if a nuclear world war isn’t what we can actually fear the most, it remains that it’s a high risk zone in the world.