Essay about Religion and Conflicts: The Future of Kashmir

Disputes over land seem to be a catalyst for almost every hostility and war since the dawn of time. The addition of politics and religion into the matter only serves to aggravate an already tense situation. Kashmir knows this all too well. The conflict between Hindus and Muslims seems to be an ever reoccurring battle. This is also evidenced in population battles. Hindus make up the social majority of the population of India by almost eighty percent. Feelings of tension and uneasiness are a natural reaction to being dominated by a majority and are a problem unto itself.

India is a country full of mysteries and differences. It has a long history, a profound yet unique culture, with diversified nationalities, races, religions, languages and a huge population. The pursuit of secularism and inveteracy of sectarianism have brought huge influence to the Indian society. As the mainstream culture in India, Hinduism plays an important role in the Indian society and has dominated almost 2000 years of its history. Although in the following years since, the Indian culture gradually becomes a combination of different races, religions and languages, Hinduism still remains to be the key to dig into the development of the culture and society of India.

The ongoing conflict between India and Pakistan has been the subject of speculation and study by political scientists and historians for a number of years. The ethnic conflict seems to have been sparked at the very beginning in 1947, when the British used Muslim and Hindu mercenaries against each other before the area finally split into today’s countries of India and Pakistan (Spiegel et al. 2015, 185). The timeline since then has been full of conflicts, both major and minor. Brutal tactics used by security forces and a high rate of unemployment have added to the issue (BBC News 2016).

This French article discusses the current cultural and religious conflict in India. The author cites various individuals who argue that Muslims are purposely blamed for violence that affects both communities. As well, it stresses that the government is lacking actions in order to resolve the conflict. This article applies to psychology.

One thing that the world does not always acknowledge, is that many countries have actually been demanding for independence ever since the 1800’s. The partition that created Pakistan was a long and tedious process before it got approved. Before World War II, Great Britain had full control over the country of India and its resources, even though the people were demanding for self-rule for several years. At the time, India consisted of both Muslim and Hindu cultures, and the tensions between the two

Faith, particularly Christian Protestantism, played a principal role in American foreign policy towards the Middle East from the Revolution through the Civil War. Evangelization and later Zionism would be two major themes of religious interest in the region; however, since most civic organizations of the time were based on some sort of religious congregation missionary efforts also served to spread American ideas about democracy and patriotism. While trade, piracy, and a need to project American power all influenced Middle East foreign policy during this time period religion appears to have been the source of the greatest fervor among American citizens.

The captivating sound of an indigenous ritual being performed, the quiet sigh of a Dalit, and a sneer from a radical Muslim all have one thing in common: religion caused them. Religion has been around for over thousands of years, and has left a deep impact on all levels of community. Indigenous religions influence local community and its deep bond, Hinduism affects India’s social structure, and radical Islam has had a violent impact on the global community.

A reply to Singh, Jayal and Adeney” the various religious minority groups in India are closely examined and how the federal state attempts to transition them into accepting the traditions and values of Hinduism in efforts to create harmony between the oppressed and majority based states. She articulates on this by saying “while the central state in India used accommodation to maintain unity within core states, it used coercion against peripheral states” (Chadda 2003). This makes it evident that a healthy democracy cannot be maintained on the basis of religion, as religion is pertinent to perspective. Additionally, historical government leaders of India had started referring to the nation as “Hindustan” causing this notion of India being dominated by the Hindu population to be validated. By doing so, India moves further away from becoming truly democratic, since the whole Indian population does not conform to being identified as a “Hindustani”. Accordingly, the minority religions begin to revolt and create their own sub-nation in the country they are being alienated in, causing there to be a gap between the federal government and the minority and creating an ongoing

Hinduism and Islam are two largely practiced religions, specifically in India and the subcontinents. Both Hinduism and Islam have unique practices and traditions, which can vary depending on the town, region or people. They share a common belief in a supreme god, that being either Brahma or Allah respectively. The traditions differ on the central texts used, as well as differences in the process of reaching the afterlife and basic beliefs.

In this essay I hope to look at the issues of conflict in South Asia focusing on India and in particular the continuing Hindu-Muslim tensions, and look at possible reasons for the continuing conflict which appears to have escalated since the withdrawal of British Rule from India. Multiple events had shaped the Indian subcontinent with

Kashmir is conflict territory after the partition of India and Pakistan. Conflict is not only between India and Pakistan but also India and the religious militants. Religious Militants are conducting a jihad to govern by the religious law. Historically, Kashmir included Sufis Muslim not orthodox Muslim. Numerous international events had influenced in the growth of Islamic fundamentalism in Kashmir. Jihad is not originally from Kashmir but they are foreign militancy bought during the end of the Soviet –Afghanistan War. Additionally, they are trained in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Pakistan Inter service Intelligence helped them to incorporate into organized militant groups. Pakistan helped Jihad group with full moral,

The Kashmir Conflict has been an ongoing battle between India and Pakistan for decades. At its very basis, it is a territorial dispute between the governments of India and Pakistan and Kashmiri insurgent groups over control of the region of Kashmir. However, at it’s core it is religious quarrel that has been affected by the presence of nuclear weapons and the desire for local autonomy. The potential for peace is a topic still widely debated and rarely agreed upon by scholars. Through the decades-long conflict and continuous disaccord between India and Pakistan, the path to peace is paved solely by the Kashmiri people and their desires for their future, and with the resolution of this conflict, India and Pakistan may finally be able to contain the forces of communalism and religious extremism that has plagued them for decades.

India thinks that Kashmir is not the issue for an international concern and India does not consider UN’s take on any political action over Kashmir. India’s apprehension of Kashmir is reasonable somehow because India has fought three times with Pakistan regarding Kashmir’s issue. On the contrary, resolution does not come through military action. According to India, if India is ready to establish Kashmir as a democratic province with all the privileges of an autonomous, there is no guarantee to Kashmir will be under the Indian union. Because there are lots of terrorist groups are fighting against India. Pakistan is supporting them by providing materials as well as financial backing (Schofield, V. 2000).

No better understanding of the Kashmir issue could be achieved, other than studying the issue within the context of colonialism and then the eventual process of decolonization. In the 17th and 18th century, colonialism had reached its zenith and almost every known territory on planet earth was in some way or the other was related to a colonial power. The idea of self-determination in the modern-era is in fact the product of the concept of political sovereignty as developed after the Treaty of Westphalia. Then came the Industrial Revolution and during and after the revolution, the colonies slowly gravitated towards the idea of self-determination, as they became more aware of their rights.

India forces us to think sometimes in tragic moments, of the function of religious thought within secularism. This is again a challenge for the times. If you look around the world today this is a very important issue; this particular kind of sometimes fundamentalist, of other times religious orthodoxy erupting within secularism, not simply in opposition to it.