Unravelling the Kashmir Knot

Book excerpt: 'Since the partition of India in 1947, Jammu & Kashmir has been a site of frequent unrest and violence. In Unravelling the Kashmir Knot, author and senior advocate Aman Hingorani applies a legal lens to ongoing debates surrounding the national identity of the region and its people, recounting how decades of misconceived policies have culminated in its current state of affairs. The book decrypts major milestones in the history of J&K, from the signing of the Instrument of Accession in 1947 and the Reference to the United Nations in 1948 to the Abrogation of Article 370 in 2023, critically examining their stipulations and impact on global opinion on the Kashmir issue. Drawing from personal correspondences and official documentation, Hingorani explores the role that larger-than-life figures like Jawaharlal Nehru, Mohammad Ali Jinnah and Louis Mountbatten played in shaping the Kashmir policies of their nations. He discusses the influence of Pakistan and China in J&K in the context of geo-political and strategic realities, and the possible depoliticization of the Kashmir issue through the International Court of Justice. Comprehensive yet accessible, Unravelling the Kashmir Knot plucks lesser-known details about J&K’s history from obscurity and emphasizes the importance of charting a realistic path forward to resolve the Kashmir issue.