As a result of British imperialism, nationalism – which is (was) strongly associated with religion in the Indian subcontinent – escalated among the people of India from the 19th century onwards. The intertwining of the great world religions, especially Hinduism and Islam, associated with the struggle for independence under British supremacy, led to great tensions between the two due to the diversity of ideologies of one and the other. After all, 1947 saw not only India’s independence, but also the emergence of a new, Muslim state of Pakistan. The present master's thesis focuses on the history of disagreements between different religious groups in South Asia, which led to four Indo-Pakistani wars in the second half of the 20th century and some other situations when wars could occur. Most of the blood was shed because of an area on the northern border between the two countries called Kashmir. Given the fact that both India and Pakistan possess nuclear weapons, and at the same time relations between the two countries remain competitive even seventy-three years after the division of India, this part of the world is considered one of the most important crisis hotspots in the world.
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