The risk of a total war between India and Pakistan increased this week this week, despite diplomatic attempts to defuse fights after a fatal terrorist attack two weeks ago in Cashmere, a region on which the two nations have fought since 1947.
Civilians were killed on Wednesday while India deepened Pakistan that before. Thursday, fatal shots and bombings were exchanged along the disputed border. While this continued on Friday, the Pakistani drones hit Indian soil, the Indian army said.
Here is what you need to know about longtime tensions between India and Pakistan, the cashmere attack, this week’s clashes and attempts to resolve the conflict.
What is the last of the fights?
The Indian army said on Friday that Pakistan had launched attacks using drones and other weapons along its western border and that it had thwarted these attacks. Pakistan rejected these statements.
India responded by hitting Pakistan air defense systems and radars. Pakistan accused India of what it called an illegal assault and said that its forces had shot down more than two dozen Indian drones that had entered Pakistan airspace.
In the rapid development situation, the assertions on both sides could not be verified independently. The missiles and shots have stolen on the shared border of countries since Thursday, killing civilians on both sides.
On Wednesday, the Indian government said that its forces had struck sites on Pakistani territory. Pakistani military officials said they had killed Indian planes. They added that the jets had not entered Pakistan airspace during their attacks against Pakistan.
More than 20 people were killed after six sites were affected on the side controlled by Pakistan in Kashmir and in Punjab province in Pakistan, the country’s military officials said. At least 10 people were killed in bombing on the Pakistani side since India has made its strikes, residents said in the controlled part of Kashmir.
What is he doing to stop fighting?
The Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, spoke with leaders of the two countries on Thursday and underlined the need for an “immediate de -escalation”, according to the stories of the State Department of Calls.
On Thursday, there was a wave of diplomatic meetings in New Delhi and Islamabad. The best diplomats from Iran and Saudi Arabia, crucial regional actors who have close ties with the two countries at war were in New Delhi for meetings.
The diplomatic thrust was focused on the hope that the heaviest military engagement could be contained in actions early Wednesday. The two parties could plausibly win the victory, because India has deepened Pakistan at any time in recent decades, and Pakistan has shot down several Indian planes.
Diplomats and analysts have expressed some hope that the events of the day could offer both parties an offramp. The question is now whether Pakistan will decide that it must respond to the strikes of India in Punjab, the Pakistani heart, with a clean attack on Indian soil.
What happened during the Kashmir attack?
On April 22, activists shot and killed 26 people in the Baisaran valley in Kashmir. 17 others were injured.
With the exception of a local cashmere man, a statement by the government of the dead showed that all were Hindu tourists. The accounts of the wounded and survivors suggested that many were targeted after their interrogation on their religion. The attack, which occurred near Pahalgam, a city in southern cashmere administered by the Indians, was one of the worst Indian civilians for decades.
A group called the resistance front emerged on social networks to assume responsibility. Indian officials say in private that the group is an indicator of Lashkar-E-Taiba, a terrorist organization based in Pakistan.
In cashmere, Indian security forces began a radical repression, arresting thousands of people.
What is the Sindoor operation?
India has appointed its Sindoor military action operation.
Sindoor, or Vermilion powder, is a traditional marker of the matrimonial state of Hindu women. Married women wear it either in the separation of their hair or on their forehead, and they wipe it if they become widowed. During the terrorist attack on April 22, many women lost their husbands, who were targeted because they were Hindu.
The choice by the Indian government of Operation Sindoor reported its intention to avenge women widow.
“The Sindoor operation” also points out to the right -wing Hindu groups – many of which promote more traditionally defined gender roles – than the Hindu nationalist government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi listens to their revenge requests.
But some feminists have criticized the use of the word Sindoor.
Hindu nationalism is mainly motivated by a male vision of the world, said V. Geetha, a feminist historian who writes on gender, caste and class. “Women are there as objects to protect or as a mother figures by cutting their men to prove their heroism,” said Geetha.
What are the origins of the dispute?
The roots of the cashmere conflict date back to the partition of British India in 1947, which led to the creation of a predominance Hindu India and a Muslim predominance Pakistan.
In October of the same year, the Hindu monarch of the princely Muslim state in cashmere reached India, but Pakistan claimed the territory and sought to take it by military force. An agreement not marketed in 1949 established a ceasefire line, dividing the cashmere.
After the 1965 and 1971 wars, the ceasefire line became the line of control, India having about two-thirds of cashmere and Pakistan the rest. But the dispute remains unresolved.
Here is A chronology of decades of tensions Between India and Pakistan on cashmere.
Has Pakistan supported activism in cashmere?
An insurrection in the undivided Indian part of cashmere began in the 1980s, mainly motivated by local grievances, Pakistan ultimately supporting certain groups, according to experts.
Among the groups of insurgents focused on the cashmere that emerged, some supported the independence of the region, while others wanted the Indian side of cashmere to be taken up by Pakistan.
In the 1990s, Pakistan provided training and other support for several militant groups operating in cashmere and Pakistan. This involvement was then recognized by several senior Pakistani officials, notably the former military sovereign Pervez Musharraf. The peak of insurrection in the 1990s forced an exodus of the minority Hindus of Kashmir, many of them leaving for New Delhi and other cities after having faced targeted attacks.
The insurrection began to alleviate 2002, while Pakistan prohibited at Lashkar-E-Taiba and Jaish-E-Muhammad, another major militant group, although Lashkar-E-Taiba continued to operate under alias. A ceasefire has been declared and a peace process with India has been initiated, a change that certain observers linked to pressures by the United States after its intervention post-September 11 in Afghanistan.
The peace process collapsed after attacks in Mumbai, India, in 2008, which killed 166 people and was allocated to Lashkar-E-Taiba.
What is the status of cashmere now?
Since the last time the war broke out in 1999, cashmere has remained one of the most militarized places in the world. India and Pakistan came several times on the verge of war, especially in 2019, when a bombardment of suicide in cashmere killed at least 40 Indian soldiers.
In 2019, the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi revoked part of the Indian Constitution which had given semi-autonomy to the state of Jammu-et-Cachemire. This decision, to fully integrate Jammu-et-Cachemire, as the Indian part of the region is known, was part of its Hindu nationalist program.
Pakistan has condemned the movements of India. But violent disorders also broke out in the part of the cashmere controlled by Pakistan. The demonstrations reflected a general feeling of dissatisfaction with the Pakistani domination.
The direct rule of India attenuated epidemics of violence in the part of the cashmere that it controlled. The vote also resumed last year. But dissatisfaction with Mr. Modi’s party, in particular for the way in which he is strongly the life of the Kashmiris, remains.
John Yoon Contributed reports.
