Today, I would like to wander somewhere near to our home, a beautiful land with an ugly history, precarious present and equally uncertain future: Kashmir. Kashmir passed through the control of the Durrani Empire of Afghanistan and series of Muslim rules under the Moghuls, Persians and Afghans to the conquering Sikh army during the nineteenth century. The Dogras, who were predominantly hindu people around Jammu, ruled Kashmir during the latter part of the nineteenth century, since 1846. They were installed as the kings by the Sikh rulers and paid tribute to them. Dogras were the part of the Sikh Empire which rose following the collapse of the Durrani Empire. The Sikh Empire suddenly crumbled before the English forces, thus the Dogras purchased independence from the British and began to rule over the kingdoms of Kashmir, Ladakh and Emirates of the north. The Dogras kings, who originally ruled only from Jammu, now also started ruling from Srinagar in the summer. As a result, Dogra kingdom developed into a sort of ?Dual Monarchy?, the Dogra kingdom of Jammu and Kashmir. Kashmir, a very beautiful valley, has a long tradition of being one of the centres of Hindu philosophical, literary and religious cultures. After the partition of the former British colony into the Hindu majority India and Muslim majority Pakistan, the state of Jammu and Kashmir, though having a Muslim majority, was ruled by the Hindu Dogra rulers, opted to remain a part of India. Pakistan and other Muslims believed this to illegal. India and Pakistan have fought three wars for Kashmir, in 1947, 1965 and 1971. India has ignored the call for a referendum to decide Kashmir?s fate because she fears that the result would go on to Pakistan?s favour, due to the majority of Muslim population. There has been regular human rights violations, murder, rape and crime in Kashmir which reflects discontent of the local residents. Some groups are spreading terror, demanding an independent Kashmir. Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashmir http://www.boogieonline.com/revolution/multi/war/kashmir/history.html Map source: http://www.pakwatan.com/main/government/kashmir.gif