Introduction
The Indian subcontinent was partitioned into Hindu-dominated but nominally secular India and the newly created Muslim state of Pakistan after India’s independence from Great Britain in 1947. Severe rioting and population movement ensued and an estimated half a million people were killed in communal violence. About a million people were left homeless. Since partition, the largely Muslim territory of Jammu and Kashmir has remained in dispute, with Pakistan and India both holding sectors.
1947
India and Pakistan first went to war in October 1947 after Pakistan supported a Muslim insurgency in Kashmir. India agreed to a request for armed assistance from Kashmir’s Maharaja, in return for accession of the state to India. But the nature of that accession has long been the subject of debate. The war ended on Jan. 1, 1949, with the establishment of a ceasefire line sponsored by the United Nations. The status of the territory remained in dispute because an agreed referendum to confirm the accession was never held by Indian authorities.
1965
The two countries went to war again after Pakistan launched a covert offensive across the ceasefire line into Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir. India retaliated by crossing the international border at Lahore. The war ended without any resolution to the conflict.
1971
Hostilities flared into combat again as India intervened in an ongoing civil war in East Pakistan, which then became Bangladesh. The Kashmir front saw nominal fighting.
1989
Armed resistance to Indian rule broke out in the Kashmir valley in 1989, with some groups calling for independence and others calling for union with Pakistan. India accused Pakistan of supplying weapons and training to the militants. During the 1990s, with the emergence of militant Muslim groups in the aftermath of the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, the movement’s ideology became essentially Islamic in nature.
1998
Fears of a nuclear confrontation grew after both sides conducted nuclear tests, Pakistan showing a tit for tat response to India’s May blasts within two weeks. The United States ordered sanctions against both countries, with several European nations doing the same. Tensions were reduced early the following year after the two sides signed an accord pledging to intensify efforts to resolve all issues – including that of Jammu and Kashmir.
1999
Conflict again erupted after India launched air strikes against Pakistani-backed forces that had infiltrated Indian-administered Kashmir. Fighting built up toward a direct conflict between the two states and tens of thousands of people were reported to have fled their homes on both sides of the ceasefire line. Later that year, General Musharraf led a military coup in Pakistan, warning that any sort of Indian incursion would lead to total war.
2001
Tension along the ceasefire line continued. In October, 38 people were killed after an attack on the Kashmiri assembly in Srinagar. A month later, 14 people were killed in an attack on the Indian parliament in New Delhi. India again blamed Pakistani-backed
Kashmiri militants. A dramatic build-up of more than a million troops along the Indo-Pakistan border ensued, as did nuclear-capable missile tests on both sides.
2002
India announced negotiations with opposition groups in Kashmir as well as a fresh round of elections, which are currently in their final stage. While many have opted not participate in the polls, turnouts have ranged over 40 percent, despite armed action by militants. Pakistan and many Kashmiri opposition groups refuse to recognize the elections.
Waj Syed can be reached at paganism@umich.edu. BBC.com assisted in compiling this report.