According to the India Today newspaper, security officials announced that a clash broke out between the insurgents and security forces in the Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir. The officials said that the security forces, who were conducting a “search” operation, chased the insurgents in difficult terrain conditions. After the chase that lasted for hours, another clash broke out in the forest area, and the officials said that four soldiers were injured there.
The Indian army announced that 4 soldiers, including a captain, lost their lives in the conflict. The statement said that the Indian Army Chief of Staff, General Upendra Dwivedi, expressed his sincere condolences for the dead soldiers.
On July 9, in the Machedi countryside of the Kathua district of Jammu and Kashmir, a vehicle carrying Indian soldiers was attacked with grenades and automatic weapons by insurgents, and in the clashes between the insurgents and the security forces, 5 Indian soldiers and 6 insurgents were killed.
The historical issue of Kashmir When Britain withdrew from India, which it ruled as a colony, in 1947, Kashmir, which was a princedom at the time, was faced with the choice of uniting with either India or Pakistan, which had just gained its independence. Although the people of Kashmir, whose population was 90 percent Muslim, were in favor of joining Pakistan in 1947, the prince of the time decided to unite with India. The Muslim people of Kashmir opposed the decision.
The parties first fought in 1947 when Pakistan and India sent troops to the region. Wars broke out between the two countries for the same reason in 1965 and 1999. As a result of the temporary ceasefires that followed the wars, 45 percent of Kashmir remained under Indian and 35 percent under Pakistani administration. The eastern 20 percent of the region was given to the control of neighboring China.
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has been envisaging the demilitarization of Kashmir and the determination of its future by referendum, with the decisions it has taken since 1948. While the Indian administration has adopted a stance against the referendum, Pakistan wants the UNSC decisions to be implemented.
On the other hand, India had abolished the special status of Jammu and Kashmir on August 5, 2019 and divided the region into two “Union Territories”, “Jammu and Kashmir” and “Ladakh”, which were directly under the central government. Pakistan had also given Kashmir, which was a part of itself, the status of two autonomous regions, “Azad Kashmir (Independent Kashmir)” and “Gilgit Baltistan”.
