Timeline of tensions

Decades of division fuels conflict

1947

After partition, the Maharaja of Kashmir sparks a war between India and Pakistan by signing his Muslim-majority state over to Delhi following raids by Pakistani tribesmen. Kashmir is split in two in 1949.

1965

India attacks West Pakistan after Pakistan sends force into Indian-administered Kashmir seeking to foment insurgency. Short, sharp war results in stalemate.

1984

India seizes the unclaimed Siachen Glacier, which becomes the highest battleground on earth, left, as Pakistan tries to capture it several times until ceasefire in 2004.

1999

Pakistani soldiers disguised as Kashmiri militants cross into Indian-administered Kargil district. India repels attack and breaks off relations in first direct confrontation since both obtain nuclear arms.

2016

India blames Pakistan for a militant attack on an army outpost in Kashmir and carries out “surgical strikes” across the border. Pakistan rejects claims of casualties.

2019

Vehicle-borne suicide bomber kills 40 paramilitary police in an Indian security convoy in Kashmir, leading to retaliatory tit-for-tat airstrikes and the shooting down of an Indian jet.