KASHMIR ACCORD 1975 IN RETROSPECT

Accords are the outcomes of successful negotiations between nations, groups or individuals. The basis of such accords is the negotiated settlement of the dispute between the parties. The Kashmir Accord (Indra-Abdullah) of 1975 concluded between prime minister Indra Gandhi and Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, was the culmination of the process of reconciliation between the two which had begin at around 1968 after the Sheikh’s release from around ten years imprisonment from different Indian jails, but it was only after Bangladesh War of 1971 that the process was converted into a serious dialogue for a permanent settlement. This accord also marked an end to two decade long political battle of Sheikh Abdullah to achieve the right to self determination for the people and the permanent autonomous status for Jammu & Kashmir state to maintain its separate personality.