Planet Mundus

In mid-February this year, India and Pakistan again picked up on their long-standing conflict over the most heavily militarized part of the world – Kashmir. Can we best understand the recent events as a mere game of egos, or should we instead interpret them in light of India’s upcoming elections? Our guest journalists in the studio, Tamkinat from Pakistan and Hannah from India, debate what makes Kashmir the bone of contention and discuss its geopolitical and geo-economic relevance, as well as where China stands on the issue. We begin slowly, by contextualizing the conflict in history and questioning how British colonial rule has laid the ground for Pakistan’s and India’s decade-long “sibling rivalry”. We wrap up by questioning why territorial disputes are such a non-negotiable for states today.