Just before England gave India independence in 1947, they decided to royally screw the country one last time. So they separated the Hindus & Muslims by creating East & West Pakistan. (Now the two different countries of Pakistan & Bangladesh.) But this meant 8.5 MILLION people had to move. One of the largest exoduses in world history.

At that time most Indian states were ruled by kings & the kings were allowed to decide which side to join. One Muslim kingdom, Hyderabad, which was totally surrounded by Hindu kingdoms, was taken by force by India. But the big problem was Kashmir. The king of Kashmir was Hindu but 85% of his people were Muslim & the area borders both countries. While the king really just wanted his own independent country, both India & Pakistan also wanted the area & they've been fighting wars over it ever since. The UN helped a bit by creating a temporary border giving both countries half the state.

But the fight took an evil spin in 1989 when Afghans & Arabs turned it into a holy war & started helping the Pakistanis fight for the Indian area. While originally they just wanted the people to vote in a fair election which side to join, now terror & mayhem is the higher objective. And the result... the death of over 47,000 people.

But it's not just the Muslims... the Indian army's repeatedly been accused of human rights violations. Which leads to the current problem... last week someone was executed in jail without a hearing but why people have been protesting & rioting in cities for the past week -- the rape & murder of two Muslim women. A tactic not uncommon for the Indian army. Sickening.

(And for me... not too keen going somewhere with all shops, banks & restaurants closed, roads barricaded, curfews & people being tear gassed. So, currently sitting tight in Jammu waiting for things to calm down...)