When is a border not a border? The Line of Control in Kashmir

A border is a line that two states agree on. The Line of Control in Kashmir is a line that two states guard, but have not agreed to call a border. It is a military control line between the Indian- and Pakistani-controlled parts of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir. It is not a legally recognized international boundary, yet it serves as the de facto border.

How does a line like that arise? After the partition of India, both countries contested Jammu and Kashmir. India pointed to the ruler's accession to India, and Pakistan to the state's Muslim-majority population. The First Kashmir War of 1947 lasted more than a year, until a ceasefire arranged through UN mediation, and both sides agreed on a ceasefire line. After another war in 1971, the two countries agreed in the Simla Agreement to rename that line the Line of Control. They pledged to respect it "without prejudice to their respective positions", and that neither side would seek to alter it unilaterally.

That phrase carries the whole point. The line records where the armies stood, not who owns what. Each side keeps its claim, and both undertook to refrain from the threat or use of force in violation of the line. Even the meaning of Simla is disputed: many Indian bureaucrats later argued that a tacit agreement turned the line into a border, and Pakistani bureaucrats denied any such thing.

For ordinary people, a line that is not a border still divides. It split Kashmir in two, severed many villages and separated family members. Trade across it took place in 2008 for the first time in 61 years, and it was barter trade. A line of control, in short, is a promise to stop fighting, written on the ground.