{ "id": "R45877", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "number": "R45877", "active": true, "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "versions": [ { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 614197, "date": "2020-01-13", "retrieved": "2020-01-22T14:00:20.169613", "title": "Kashmir: Background, Recent Developments, and U.S. Policy", "summary": "In early August 2019, the Indian government announced that it would make major changes to the legal status of its Muslim-majority Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) state, specifically by repealing Article 370 of the Indian Constitution and Section 35A of its Annex, which provided the state \u201cspecial\u201d autonomous status, and by bifurcating the state into two successor \u201cUnion Territories\u201d with more limited indigenous administrative powers. The changes were implemented on November 1, 2019. The former princely region\u2019s sovereignty has been unsettled since 1947 and its territory is divided by a military \u201cLine of Control,\u201d with Pakistan controlling about one-third and disputing India\u2019s claim over most of the remainder as J&K (China also claims some of the region\u2019s land). The United Nations considers J&K to be disputed territory, but New Delhi, the status quo party, calls the recent legal changes an internal matter, and it generally opposes third-party involvement in the Kashmir issue. U.S. policy seeks to prevent conflict between India and Pakistan from escalating, and the U.S. Congress supports a U.S.-India strategic partnership that has been underway since 2005, while also maintaining attention on issues of human rights and religious freedom.\nIndia\u2019s August actions sparked international controversy as \u201cunilateral\u201d changes of J&K\u2019s status that could harm regional stability, eliciting U.S. and international concerns about further escalation between South Asia\u2019s two nuclear-armed powers, which nearly came to war after a February 2019 Kashmir crisis. Increased separatist militancy in Kashmir may also undermine ongoing Afghan peace negotiations, which the Pakistani government facilitates. New Delhi\u2019s process also raised serious constitutional questions and\u2014given heavy-handed security measures in J&K\u2014elicited more intense criticisms of India on human rights grounds. The United Nations and independent watchdog groups fault New Delhi for excessive use of force and other abuses in J&K (Islamabad also comes under criticism for alleged human rights abuses in Pakistan-held Kashmir). India\u2019s secular traditions may suffer as India\u2019s Hindu nationalist government\u2014which returned to power in May with a strong mandate\u2014appears to pursue Hindu majoritarian policies at some cost to the country\u2019s religious minorities.\nThe long-standing U.S. position on Kashmir is that the territory\u2019s status should be settled through negotiations between India and Pakistan while taking into consideration the wishes of the Kashmiri people. The Trump Administration has called for peace and respect for human rights in the region, but its criticisms have been relatively muted. With key U.S. diplomatic posts vacant, some observers worry that U.S. government capacity to address South Asian instability is thin, and the U.S. President\u2019s July offer to \u201cmediate\u201d on Kashmir may have contributed to the timing of New Delhi\u2019s moves. The United States seeks to balance pursuit of a broad U.S.-India partnership while upholding human rights protections, as well as maintaining cooperative relations with Pakistan.\nFollowing India\u2019s August 2019 actions, numerous Members of the U.S. Congress went on record in support of Kashmiri human rights. H.Res. 745, introduced in December and currently with 40 cosponsors, urges the Indian government to end the restrictions on communications and mass detentions in J&K that continue to date. An October hearing on human rights in South Asia held by the House Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific, and Nonproliferation included extensive discussion of developments in J&K. In November, the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission held an event entitled \u201cJammu and Kashmir in Context.\u201d\nThis report provides background on the Kashmir issue, reviews several key developments in 2019, and closes with a summary of U.S. policy and possible questions for Congress.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "active": true, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "https://www.crs.gov/Reports/R45877", "sha1": "71b46c393ad34c9fdee3704acf3e80de2cb5ef73", "filename": "files/20200113_R45877_71b46c393ad34c9fdee3704acf3e80de2cb5ef73.html", "images": { "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R45877_files&id=/1.png": "files/20200113_R45877_images_dbd544e4de76e8d20886312d6de4418eaebe3745.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R45877_files&id=/2.png": "files/20200113_R45877_images_113e2a1ccf7c43b6f8f4e90eaac8a294cd3edf9f.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R45877_files&id=/3.png": "files/20200113_R45877_images_56731c57065f86f22d88e6e8a8227408610c9948.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R45877_files&id=/0.png": "files/20200113_R45877_images_be3e269709762262c560d1308d9b8cfb5e109972.png" } }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "https://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/R45877", "sha1": "4be8539e882a4f23da3730135b3237da64989990", "filename": "files/20200113_R45877_4be8539e882a4f23da3730135b3237da64989990.pdf", "images": {} } ], "topics": [ { "source": "IBCList", "id": 4931, "name": "South & Southeast Asia" } ] }, { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 603910, "date": "2019-08-16", "retrieved": "2019-08-21T22:13:40.832324", "title": "Kashmir: Background, Recent Developments, and U.S. Policy", "summary": "In early August 2019, the Indian government announced that it would make major changes to the legal status of its Muslim-majority Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) state, specifically by repealing Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, which provided the state \u201cspecial\u201d autonomous status, and by bifurcating the state into two successor \u201cUnion Territories\u201d with more limited indigenous administrative powers. The former princely region\u2019s sovereignty has been unsettled since 1947 and its territory is divided by a military \u201cLine of Control,\u201d with Pakistan controlling about one-third and disputing India\u2019s claim over most of the remainder as J&K (China also claims some of the region\u2019s land). The United Nations considers J&K to be disputed territory, but New Delhi, the status quo party, calls the recent legal changes an internal matter, and it generally opposes third-party involvement in the Kashmir issue. U.S. policy seeks to prevent conflict between India and Pakistan from escalating, and the U.S. Congress supports a U.S.-India strategic partnership that has been underway since 2005, while also maintaining attention on issues of human rights and religious freedom.\nIndia\u2019s August actions sparked international controversy as \u201cunilateral\u201d changes of J&K\u2019s status that could harm regional stability, eliciting U.S. and international concerns about further escalation between South Asia\u2019s two nuclear-armed powers, which nearly came to war after a February 2019 Kashmir crisis. Increased separatist militancy in Kashmir may also undermine ongoing Afghan peace negotiations, which the Pakistani government facilitates. New Delhi\u2019s process also raised serious constitutional questions and\u2014given heavy-handed security measures in J&K\u2014elicited more intense criticisms of India on human rights grounds. The United Nations and independent watchdog groups fault New Delhi for excessive use of force and other abuses in J&K. India\u2019s secular traditions may suffer as India\u2019s Hindu nationalist government\u2014which returned to power in May with a strong mandate\u2014appears to pursue Hindu majoritarian policies at some cost to the country\u2019s religious minorities.\nThe long-standing U.S. position on Kashmir is that the territory\u2019s status should be settled through negotiations between India and Pakistan while taking into consideration the wishes of the Kashmiri people. The Trump Administration has called for peace and respect for human rights in the region. With key U.S. diplomatic posts vacant, some observers worry that U.S. capacity is thin, and the U.S. President\u2019s July offer to \u201cmediate\u201d on Kashmir may have contributed to the timing of New Delhi\u2019s moves. The United States seeks to balance pursuit of a broad U.S.-India partnership while upholding human rights protections, as well as maintaining cooperative relations with Pakistan.\nThis report provides background on the Kashmir issue, reviews several key developments in 2019, and closes with a summary of U.S. policy and possible questions for Congress.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "active": true, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "https://www.crs.gov/Reports/R45877", "sha1": "14edb0e66ccb131980131106564e61b287774b60", "filename": "files/20190816_R45877_14edb0e66ccb131980131106564e61b287774b60.html", "images": { "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R45877_files&id=/1.png": "files/20190816_R45877_images_dbd544e4de76e8d20886312d6de4418eaebe3745.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R45877_files&id=/2.png": "files/20190816_R45877_images_2401679b2e4f4fc0a6e56be3bcb4f630bafbffb8.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R45877_files&id=/0.png": "files/20190816_R45877_images_6f7882ae8824babfb6c0832cdf77b584d071baee.png" } }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "https://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/R45877", "sha1": "4190e8a23b61f076204a2ce714e17859617198b6", "filename": "files/20190816_R45877_4190e8a23b61f076204a2ce714e17859617198b6.pdf", "images": {} } ], "topics": [] } ], "topics": [ "Asian Affairs", "Constitutional Questions", "Foreign Affairs", "Intelligence and National Security", "National Defense", "South Asian Affairs" ] }