| Summary/Abstract |
Territorial conflicts have been among the most important fallouts of the modern
nation states, with the states advancing different kinds of justifications to claim
the territory in conflict. These justifications play an important role in shaping the
actions of the states and the solutions thereof. The states propound their claims
on ethnic, strategic, geographic proximity, economic and religious considerations.
As a result, there is an acute need to study the territory in conflict, not in terms of
objective attributes but as outcome of a dynamic relationship that exists between
an area, social processes and ideologies that give it meaning. This dynamic relationship
is visible in the territorial justifications that Pakistan has raised over Kashmir.
The justifications put forward by Pakistan are not grounded in a particular claim
like the two-nation theory, but they have varied with time to hide underlying economic,
geostrategic and other related motives in changing global and domestic
context. Shifting the claims from religious to strategic or economic basis affects the
nature of the solutions envisioned. The solutions in context of changing claims go
beyond Pakistan’s officially held position of United Nations sponsored plebiscite.
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