A Himalayan valley long called paradise on earth — celebrated for its lakes, gardens, shawls, and a syncretic culture of Hindu, Buddhist, and Sufi learning — that became the unfinished business of the 1947 Partition and one of the most militarized and bitterly disputed places on the planet, claimed in full by both India and Pakistan and partly held by China.
Mughal emperors called the Vale of Kashmir paradise on earth, and travelers crossed mountains to see its lakes and gardens. Today the same valley is among the most militarized places in the world, the fault line between two nuclear-armed states that each claim it in full. India and Pakistan have fought several wars over it, China holds a slice of it, and the people who live there have borne decades of violence from more than one side. A ceasefire line from the 1947-48 war, later renamed the Line of Control, still decides who lives under which flag — and crossing it can be deadly.