Issue of Holding Referendum in Jammu & Kashmir

The 1951 UNSC resolution asked for conducting of referendum in Jammu & Kashmir under UN supervision. The UN resolutions regarding Kashmir issue are not self-enforceable. They are only recommendatory in nature and they can be enforced only if the parties to the dispute viz India and Pakistan can accept it. But one of the conditions of the referendum was that Pakistan had to withdraw its troops from the part of Kashmir under its control. Pakistan refused to withdraw its forces and India refused to hold any referendum. Since then Pakistan maintained its position by not withdrawing forces.

The idea of holding referendum had its significance in 1951. But now the situation has completely changed. There are several reasons why India is not ready to hold a referendum in J&K.

1. Pakistan is not ready to withdraw its forces from the part of Kashmir under its control.
2. The Simla agreement of 1972 between India and Pakistan has reduced the possibility of holding a referendum as both the countries had accepted the LoC as an international border.
3. Now Kashmir is an integral part of India which it is not going to lose out.Till now India had spent a lot developmental expenditure in the state of J&K.
4. The demography of the state of J&K has changed a lot since 1950s. The referendum would have been done when its native population lived there. The insurgency encouraged by Pakistan in Kashmir region has changed the demography of the region.

Based on the above arguments, we can conclude that holding a referendum does not hold its validity in the present time.