Kashmir is a beautiful region located between India, Pakistan, and China. The majority of the region's 13 million people live between the Himalayan Mountains and the Pir Panjal Mountains in the Kashmir Valley (Basinski, 4). Kashmir has two important water supplies that flow through it, the headwaters of the Indus River and the Jhelum, which flows through the Kashmir Valley. The climate of Kashmir is considered mild, which allows for moist soil all year round. The population is mainly Muslims who make up seventy percent with the remaining thirty percent primarily Hindu dominant Kashmir (Basinski, 4).
             The region of Kashmir has changed drastically over the last fifty years, largely due to human actions and the redrawing of its political borders. In 1947 Lord Maharajah, who controlled the area, signed an "Instrument of Accession" to India, which would give control of Kashmir to India in exchange for India's military assistance. The reason Maharajah was seeking military assistance was that Pakistan had invaded the land to unite all land that contained Muslims.
             The government of India promised the people of Kashmir that they would be able to for their future sovereignty. This never happened. Since 1947 the countries of Pakistan and India have fought three official wars with the United Nations stepping in and setting a "cease-fire line" each time. The conflict has never been settled and in 1998 both India and Pakistan detonated nuclear weapons during tests, which escalates the severity of the conflict between the two nations. Both Pakistan and India have claimed the region of Kashmir over the past fifty years. Both nations claim to have vested interests in the region. Pakistan has two major concerns/interests in the region. The first major concern is that headwaters of the Indus River begin in the Kashmir region. This is of huge importance to Pakistan because this river serves as a major resource to Pakistan. If the headwaters of thi...