The military conflict between India and Pakistan spread over the past month days after the first airstrikes that followed a fatal terrorist attack on the Indian-controlled side of the conflict-Kashmir region.
The conflict was the latest escalation of decades of conflict over Kashmir, the scenic Himalayas valley sandwiched between the two countries. Cassimiris rarely made a statement about their own destiny.
This is where the history of conflict is.
1947
A difficult beginning
The conflict over Kashmir began as soon as India and Pakistan were formed.
In 1947, Britain divided its former colony, India, into two countries. One was Pakistan, with a majority Muslims. The other, composed primarily of Hindus, maintained its name India. However, the fate of Kashmir remained undecided.
Within a few months, both India and Pakistan claimed territory. Military conflict continued. After the Pakistani militia moved to a part of his territory, the Hindu ruler of Kashmir, who initially refused to abdicate his sovereignty, refused to abdicate his sovereignty, but agreed to make the region of India part in exchange for security guarantees.
It was then the first war between India and Pakistan to fight Kashmir.
A few years later, in 1961, the former Kashmir ruler died in Bombay. In the obituary, The New York Times summarised his decision to give territory to India in words that prove to be true for decades to come. He said his actions contributed to “continuous intense debate between India and Pakistan.”
1949
A sparse ceasefire
Extremists killed 26 tourists on April 22nd
Extremist attacks
April 22nd
Extremist attacks
April 22nd
Extremists killed 26 tourists on April 22nd
In January 1949, the first war between Pakistan over India and Kashmir was concluded after the UN intervened to mediate a ceasefire.
Under the conditions of a ceasefire, lines were drawn that divide the territory. India will occupy about two-thirds of the region, while Pakistan will occupy another third.
The division line is assumed to be temporary and a more permanent political settlement is pending.
1965
The war breaks out again
In the summer of 1965, tensions were already high between India and Pakistan. In an area south of Kashmir, there was a skirmish between troops along the border earlier this year.
The battle quickly escalated into a full-scale war when Pakistan launched a secret attack on the Kashmir ceasefire line in August. The collision was short-lived – only three weeks but bloody.
In January 1966, India and Pakistan signed an agreement to resolve future conflicts through peaceful means.
But peace will not last.
1972
Official section
After the regional wars of 1971 that led to the creation of Bangladesh, Pakistan and India decided to revisit Kashmir's unresolved issues.
In December 1972, countries announced that they had resolved the impasse on the Kashmir ceasefire line. However, there was little change to anything other than the specified one. The temporary ceasefire line in 1949 became the official “control line.” Countries held sections of Kashmir that had already been held for over 20 years.
The agreement rarely changed the status quo in Kashmir, but it was accompanied by a desire to improve the unstable relations between India and Pakistan.
A Times correspondent who reported on the contract from New Delhi wrote about both countries: “Official sources here have shown they are happy with the settlement they say “we reached in an atmosphere of goodwill and mutual understanding.” ”
1987
The rise of rebellion
During a period of certain political turmoil, it was exacerbated by the conflict over local elections in 1987, with many ideas being equipped, but some of Kashmiris became extremists, and Pakistan ultimately rose to help.
Over the next decade or so, Kashmir's state police have recorded tens of thousands of bombings, firefights, aiding and rocket attacks.
The violence began to slow down around the 2000s, but years of intense rebellion further eroded vulnerable relations between Pakistan and India.
1999
Peace negotiations will be shorter
With the new millennium approaching, India and Pakistan appeared poised to establish a more lasting peace.
In a gesture of goodwill, the Pakistani Prime Minister hosted his Indian counterpart in February 1999 for redundant weekend diplomacy.
The summit has created a signature document confirming their mutual commitment to normalizing relations between enemy leaders, each with nuclear weapons.
Pakistan's prime minister, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, said at the press conference as Indian Prime Minister Atar Bihari Vappai smiled at him. “We must bring prosperity to people. We owe this to ourselves and future generations.”
Three months later, their country was at war. Again, Kashmir was a point of discord.
The fight broke out after intruders from Pakistan seized their position within India-promoted parts of Kashmir. India claimed that the intruders were Pakistani soldiers and that Western analysts would come to believe it too. Pakistan denied the involvement of its forces and claimed that independent freedom fighters were behind the operation.
The war ended when Sharif asked the intruders to retreat (he kept that Pakistan did not control them, not Pakistani forces). A few months later, Sharif abdicated in a military coup led by a Pakistani general.
2019
India cracks
After the war in 1999, Kashmir remained one of the most militarized zones in the world. Nearly constant territorial unrest led India and Pakistan to the brink of war several times over the next few years.
The last major flare-up was in 2019 when the bombing in Kashmir killed at least 40 Indian soldiers. Indian fighters carried out airstrikes in Pakistan in retaliation, but the conflict was escalated before it became an all-out war.
A more permanent movement occurred later that year when the Indian government stripped Kashmir of its precious position.
For all modern history of Kashmir, the territory enjoyed some degree of autonomy since the Hindu rulers were accused by India. Its relative independence was enshrined in the Indian constitution. However, in August 2019, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi rewinded Kashmir's privileged position.
A series of Draconia measures were swiftly taken in the crackdown. Thousands of Indian troops have surged into the territory. Your internet connection has been lost. The phone line has been disconnected. Modi's government began directly controlling New Delhi's territory and imprisoned thousands of Kashmiris, including political leaders who had long been allying India in the face of separatist extremists.
The government's forceful approach has surprised observers around the world. However, the results justified the means as far as India is concerned. It appears that a new era of peace has continued. The terrorist acts have declined. Tourism flourished.
It was an illusion.
2025
Terrorist attacks
On April 22nd, extremists shot 26 people dead, mostly tourists from various parts of India near Pahargam, Kashmir. Seven other people were injured. This was one of the worst terrorist attacks on Indian civilians in decades.
Shortly afterwards, Indian officials suggested that Pakistan was involved. Prime Minister Modi vowed harsh punishments for the attackers and those who gave them safe shelters, but he did not explicitly mention Pakistan. Pakistan quickly denied its involvement and said it was “ready to cooperate” with international investigations into terrorist attacks.
But India is not located.
That retaliatory move came on Wednesday. India said it attacked sites on Pakistan and Pakistan's Kashmiri side after accusing Pakistan of being involved in the April attack. Pakistan has denied these claims and vowed to retaliate, with witnesses and Indian officials saying at least two Indian jets had crashed.
Friday's clash escalated into the vastest military conflicts of the two cathedrals in decades. India said Pakistan launched attacks along the entire western border using drones and other weapons, but Pakistan rejected those claims. The fire and gunshots were exchanged on both sides of the conflicted border, trapping towns and killing civilians.
Mujib Mashal, Salman Masood and John Yoon contributed the report.
