Wedged between two enemies—India with its Hindu majority and Muslim Pakistan—Kashmir has been caught in the cross fire for a half century. Each country holds a portion of the disputed territory, divided by a shaky cease-fire line drawn by the United Nations in 1949. Kashmiri Muslims struggle violently against India's rule and in the process turn Hindu Kashmiris, like anguished Sartha Devi, into refugees.

—From "Kashmir: Trapped in Conflict," September 1999, National Geographic magazine