Although a growing number of peace activists in India have called for a radical new thinking towards Pakistan, the positive sentiment has not often been matched by an appreciation of the sources of the conflict in Kashmir.

The strength of Behera’s work lies in bringing political realism to bear upon our understanding of the Kashmir question. In the sixtieth year of our independence, we badly needed a historicisation of the conflict with Pakistan.

Behera — a professor of political science at Delhi University — does this with a clinical precision as she walks us through the local, regional and international dimensions of the Kashmir conflict. Her analysis of the multiple notions of self-determination in the state of J&K is an especially valuable antidote to the traditional sloganeering on the subject. Her chapter on “Azad Kashmir” and the “Northern Areas” fills an important gap in the Indian understanding of the complex politics in J&K on the other side of the Line of Control.

Behera succeeds brilliantly in her attempt at demystifying the Indo-Pak conflict over Kashmir. Her work will serve as a definitive source, as we begin to cope with what could be one of the great debates on the future of Kashmir and the potential transformation of Indo-Pak relations.