the dispute between India and Pakistan
over Kashmir is one of the
longest-running conflicts in the world
and all started with the creation of the
South Asian countries in 1947 Britain
gave its Indian colonies independence
forming two nations Pakistan for the
Muslims and India for everyone else
August 15 1947 found the partitioning
going into effect the partition forced
14 million people on both sides of the
new divide to migrate across the border
this process was marked by ethnic and
religious violence causing between 1 and
2 million deaths caught in the middle of
it all was the hotly contested Kashmir a
scenic mountain region located on the
border between the two countries and
slightly bigger than the state of Kansas
under the partition plan provided by the
Indian independence act Kashmir was free
to decide which country it would join
because it was a Muslim majority state
most wanted to join Pakistan because
mears Hindu ruler Maharaja Hari Singh
preferred to keep the region independent
but Kashmiri Muslims weren't happy with
this decision and began a revolution
which was later joined by armed
tribesmen from Pakistan's Northwest
Frontier Province in October 1947 Hari
Singh turned to India for military
assistance in exchange he signed push
Mir over to India pending a referendum
which would allow the citizens to vote
on the future status of the region
Pakistan did not recognize the
Instrument of Accession as a legal
document triggering the first war
between India and Pakistan the fighting
lasted until the United Nations helped
Roper a peace deal known as the Karachi
agreement that agreement created what's
now known as the line of control a de
facto border split in Kashmir into but
the violence continued in 1965 and 1971
two more Wars broke out and thousands
have been killed in smaller military
conflicts over the years both countries
had developed nuclear weapons by 1999
when Pakistani troops invaded
indian-controlled Kashmir the conflict
sparked concerns about a nuclear war but
India won in a ground battle that killed
hundreds on both sides for the past two
decades intermittent violence and
reports of human rights violations by
security forces have continued today
both India and Pakistan claimed own
Kashmir entirely but India currently
governs about 45% the central and
southern part while Pakistan controls
35% the
Western Area in the meantime 20% the
north eastern part of the region is
heavily influenced by China in 2003 the
rivals agreed in principle to a
ceasefire along the line of control
flights which were previously severed
resumed and a new bus service was
started between the two border towns but
over the years both sides have continued
to square off again and again accusing
one another of violating the terms of
the ceasefire and blaming each other for
a number of attacks on each other soil
hostilities reached a boiling point on
February 14 to 2019
a Pakistani based terror group claimed
responsibility for an attack involving a
suicide bomber in Kashmir which killed
40 Indian paramilitary police this was
followed by a series of tit-for-tat
airstrikes Pakistan then captured an
Indian pilot but released him days later
calling it a gesture of peace however
this has not yet diffused concerns from
the international community as tensions
between the two nuclear powers reached
the highest level in decades
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