Conflict Between India and Pakistan

This up-to-date encyclopedia examines the conflict between India and Pakistan from Independence to the present day, with an authoritative treatment that presents the issues evenhandedly and from both countries' perspectives.

Tensions between India and Pakistan are deeply rooted. Many go back to 1947 or earlier, when, with the partitioning of the provinces of Punjab and Bengal, British India was succeeded by two independent countries: a primarily Hindu India and a Muslim Pakistan. Subsequently, the two countries have fought three wars and come close to open war several other times, especially over Kashmir.

Conflict Between India and Pakistan begins with a discussion of the partition of India and those who figured prominently in it, notably: Mohammed Ali Jinnah, Clem Attlee, the last viceroy, Admiral Louis Mountbatten, and Jawaharlal Nehru. Then, in a series of evenhanded, carefully crafted portraits, it describes the people, political parties, foreign and domestic policies, and economic, religious, and cultural pressures that have played a role in the conflicts between these nations from 1947 to the present.

• Detailed entries deal with towns, cities, and geographic areas, including Jammu, Srinigar, and the Siachen Glacier; major figures involved in the conflict, including General Pervez Musharraf; the religious divide between Hindus and Muslims; and the dispute over Kashmir
• A thorough chronology provides year-by-year treatment of the main issues in Indo-Pakistan relations

Peter Lyon is a senior research fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, London, England, and reader emeritus in international relations at the University of London, London, England.