I belive it is true, as Anil Kumar Yadav says, that India does not
regard the present conflict in Kashmir as a Hindu vs Muslim one, but
rather as a response to an invasion by militants, what the Guardian
has described as Muslim militants from Pakistan, probably with
backing from Islamabad (cue here, I suspect, for a lot more letters
from Pakistani members of CGF) - but that is what the English papers
are saying.
However the background to this war theatre does have a religious
background. The division of the Indian subcontinent into what is now
India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, was done on religious grounds, with much
movement of refugees to the country appropriate to their religion in
1947. Kashmir then, I beleive, became something of an anomaly with
its large Muslim population but with it joining India. Also in the
current war China recognises a religious dimension; it has held back
from supporting its ally Pakistan, because, again according to The
Guardian...China does not want to encourage Muslim separatists in
its own western provinces.
Of course I admit it is far too simplistic to try to explain every
conflict in terms of religion - eg in World War Two both Britain and
Germany were Protestant Christian countries, as was largely America.
But I also think it is true that religious differences do play a
large part in firing up many ongoing conficts, obvious examples being
theArab/ Israeli/ one and Northern Ireland.
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