The recent violence between India and Pakistan marks a major resurgence in the fight over the long-disputed region of Kashmir, a popular tourist destination that lies at the foothills of the Himalayas at the northern tip of the Indian subcontinent.
India fired missiles into the Pakistani province of Punjab and Pakistan-run Kashmir in several locations Wednesday, killing at least 26 in what Pakistan’s leader called an act of war. India said it was striking infrastructure used by militants linked to last month’s killing of at least 26 tourists in India-administered Kashmir.
India has blamed Pakistan for backing the tourist attack, a claim Pakistani officials deny.
Kenneth MacDonald, human geography professor at the University of Toronto, says Kashmir has long been divided by caste, class and religion.
But the land dispute stems from the 1947 partition, when India and Pakistan gained independence from Britain.
‘Line of Control’ established in 1940s
During the partition, semi-autonomous states across the region were being granted to India and Pakistan. At the time, Maharaja Hari Singh was ruler of the state of Jammu and Kashmir. He chose for the state to join Hindu-majority India, despite having a majority Muslim population in line with Pakistan.
The 1947-48 war saw Pakistan gain control of roughly one-third of the larger region of Kashmir, and led to a heavily militarized ceasefire border in the middle called the “Line of Control.” Today, both countries claim all of Kashmir, but each controls a section of the territory on either side of the Line of Control, which is not a legally recognized internationally boundary.
A deadly militant attack targeting tourists in the disputed territory of Kashmir has added fuel to longstanding tensions between India and Pakistan, pushing them to the brink of war. CBC’s South Asia correspondent Salimah Shivji breaks down why the attack has stoked fears of wider conflict between two nuclear powers.
Armed insurgents in India-run Kashmir have resisted Indian rule, and some Muslim Kashmiris support either bringing the region completely under Pakistani rule or becoming an independent country.
MacDonald says there have been many “skirmishes” over the territory since, escalating into full-fledged wars in 1965, 1971 and 1999.
But after escalations of political violence through the 1980s and ’90s, Pakistan in 2002 began blocking Kashmiri fighters from entering India and banning extremist groups.
“The Pakistani government went to great lengths to put a stop to that in 2002-03, and was relatively successful,” MacDonald told CBC News. However, “periodic outbursts” continued, notably with significant attacks in 2008, 2016 and 2019, causing drawn-out violence.
Indian prime minister stoked anger in 2019
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi revoked India-administered Kashmir’s special status in 2019 — which had granted it limited autonomy — and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) instituted new rules allowing outsiders to buy land in the territory.
Both moves angered many Kashmiri residents.
MacDonald does not believe Pakistan was involved in the recent tourist attack, which singled out non-Muslims, saying the country “has next to nothing to gain” from supporting insurgents killing civilians in India. But Modi, whose popularity in India is floundering, nonetheless wants to “look strong” in addressing the attack, he said.
The latest escalation from India is seen as especially serious in part because it has moved beyond villages on either side of the border, with India attacking in Punjab, which MacDonald describes as “the heartland of Pakistan.”
Michael Kugelman, a Washington-based South Asia analyst and writer for the Foreign Policy magazine, says a sizeable Pakistani response can be expected, given the scale of India’s strike.
“We’ve had a strike and a counter-strike, and what comes next will be the strongest indication of just how serious a crisis this could become,” he said.
Countries including the United States have helped contain past conflicts in the region, fearing the consequences of escalation between the nuclear-armed nations.
But some are concerned that the current U.S. administration under Donald Trump, which has taken a more isolationist approach, won’t serve as a deterrent like in the past.
Trump called the escalating conflict between India and Pakistan “so terrible” on Wednesday and urged both sides to stop the violence.
