Timeline: 75 Years of Divide and India-Pakistan Tensions | India-Pakistan Divide News

India and Pakistan emerged 75 years ago from the bloody division of the subcontinent by colonial Britain, an event commonly referred to as the Partition.

Today, the two nuclear-weapon states are deeply troubled neighbors, mainly over the disputed territory of Kashmir.

Below are key dates in the tense relationship between nuclear rivals.

1947: Partition of India

On the night of August 14-15, 1947, India’s last governor, Sir Louis Mountbatten, ended two centuries of British rule. The Indian subcontinent is divided into predominantly Hindu India and Muslim-majority Pakistan.

Poorly prepared partitions have thrown lives into chaos, displaced some 15 million people, caused sectarian bloodshed and killed nearly two million.

1949: Kashmir Division

In late 1947, war broke out between two neighboring countries over Kashmir, the Muslim-majority region of the Himalayas.

The UN-backed 770 km (478 mi) ceasefire line of January 1949 became a de facto frontier dividing the territory, now known as the Control Line, heavily militarized on both sides.

About 37% of the territory is controlled by Pakistan and 63% by India, both of which are fully claimed.

1965: World War II

In August 1965, Pakistan went to war against India for control of Kashmir. It ends inconclusive seven weeks after a ceasefire brokered by the Soviet Union.

1971: Bangladesh is born

Neighbors fought a third war in 1971 over Islamabad’s rule in what was then East Pakistan, with New Delhi backing Bengali nationalists seeking independence for the region that became Bangladesh in March 1971. Three million people die in a short war.

1974: Nuclear War

India detonates its first atomic bomb in 1974, but Pakistan’s first public test will not take place until May 1998. They are her sixth and her seventh nuclear powers in the world respectively, causing global concern and sanctions.

1989: Kashmir uprising

The 1989 uprising in Indian-controlled Kashmir against the rule of New Delhi erupted, and thousands of fighters died in the years that followed as fighting between security forces and Kashmiri rebels threw the region into chaos. and civilians were killed.

Widespread human rights abuses are being recorded on both sides of the conflict as the rebellion takes hold.

Since 1990, thousands of Kashmiri Hindus have fled to other parts of India for fear of reprisal attacks.

1999: Kargil conflict

In 1999, Pakistan-backed rebels crossed the disputed Kashmir border and occupied an Indian military post in the icy highlands of the Kargil Mountains.

Indian forces pushed back the invaders, ending a ten-week conflict. The battle ends with pressure from the United States.

A series of attacks in 2001 and 2002, which India blames on Pakistan-based militant groups, have led to new mobilizations of troops on both sides.

A ceasefire was declared along the border in 2003, but the peace process that began the following year ended inconclusively.

2008: Attack on Mumbai

In November 2008, a group of heavily armed attackers attacked the Indian city of Mumbai, killing 166 people. India accused Pakistani intelligence services of carrying out the attack and suspended peace talks.

Contacts will resume in 2011, but the situation is marred by sporadic fighting.

Indian forces conduct cross-border raids against separatist positions in Kashmir.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a surprise visit to Pakistan in December 2015.

2019: Abolition of autonomy

India vows revenge after a 2019 suicide bombing in Kashmir claimed by Pakistan-based militant groups killed 41 paramilitary members.

A retaliatory air raid pushes the two countries to the brink of war.

Later that year, India abruptly revoked Kashmir’s limited constitutional autonomy, detaining thousands of political opponents in the territory.

Authorities will impose the world’s longest internet shutdown and send troops to bolster the estimated 500,000 security forces already stationed.

Since 1990, tens of thousands of people, mostly civilians, have been killed in the rebellion.