On April 21, 1948, the United Nations Security Council approved Resolution 47 with provisions aimed at seeking a resolution to the Kashmir conflict between India and Pakistan.
(Taken from Indian-Pakistani War of 1947 – Wars of the 20th Century – Volume 2)
In early 1948, the battle lines settled in northern and western Kashmir – these lines held for the rest of the war. As the two sides prepared to settle down for the winter, the Indian government asked the United Nations (UN) to mediate in the war. Meanwhile, the Pakistan Army launched a surprise offensive in the west which, however, did not significantly alter the front lines.
The UN released two previously approved resolutions for a ceasefire and the future of Kashmir, which were accepted by India and Pakistan. The war officially ended on December 31, 1948.
On January 5, 1949, the UN approved the following:
1. Pakistan must withdraw its forces from Kashmir;
2. India must also withdraw its forces from Kashmir, but leave a small police contingent to maintain local peace and order;
3. After these two stipulations are met, Kashmiris will hold a plebiscite to decide the future of their land.
Neither India nor Pakistan carried out its part of the ceasefire agreement. Consequently, no plebiscite was held in Kashmir. Furthermore, India and Pakistan held on to their captured territories from the war. Pakistan held about one-third of Kashmir, while India occupied two-thirds, including the major cities and the best farmlands. Because the war failed to resolve Kashmir’s sovereignty, high tensions remained between India and Pakistan, which eventually led to another outbreak of war in 1965 (next article).
Background On August 15, 1947, the new state of Kashmir (Map 1) found itself geographically located next to India and Pakistan, two rival countries that recently had gained their independences after the cataclysmic partition of the Indian subcontinent. Fearing the widespread violence that had accompanied the birth of India and Pakistan, the Kashmiri monarch, who was a Hindu, chose to remain neutral and allow Kashmir to be nominally independent in order to avoid the same tragedy from befalling his mixed constituency of Muslims, Hindus, and Sikhs.
Pakistan exerted diplomatic pressure on Kashmir, however, as the Pakistani government had significant strategic and economic interests in the former Princely State. Most Pakistanis also shared a common religion with the overwhelmingly Muslim Kashmiri population. India also nurtured ambitions on Kashmir and wanted to bring the former Princely State into its sphere of influence. After Kashmir gained back its sovereignty, the British colonial troops departed; consequently, Kashmir was left only with a small native army to enforce peace and order.
War On October 22, 1947, when rumors surfaced that Kashmir would merge with India, Muslim Kashmiris in the state’s western regions broke out in rebellion. The rebels soon were joined by Pakistani fighters who entered the Kashmiri border from Pakistan. The rebels and Pakistanis seized the towns of Muzzafarabad and Dommel (Map 1) where they disarmed the Kashmiri troops, who thereafter also joined the rebels.