The Origins of War in South Asia

This is a truly authoritative study of the three Indo-Pakistani conflicts since 1947. Sumit Ganguly’s is a comprehensive exploration of the causes and consequences of these clashes. Reassessing the origins of war in South Asia and ongoing ethnic strife in the region, he identifies and examines key developments, including shifts in policymaking necessitated by the collapse of the Soviet Union and the incipient nuclear weapons programmes of both India and Pakistan. The uniqueness of the work lies in that it suggests that the Indo-Pak conflicts are irredentist in nature — that each country seeks confirmation of its national identity through Kashmir. For India, Kashmir is a testimonial for its secularism; for Pakistan, Kashmir is a contiguous Muslim-dominated area which should rightfully have been hers after the partition of India. The book incorporates recently published as well as newly declassified material and also highlights the origins, nature, and likely future of the insurgency in Kashmir.