Long-running tensions between nuclear-armed rivals Pakistan and India dangerously escalated on Wednesday after New Delhi launched deadly strikes into Pakistani territory.
According to Pakistan, the missiles killed at least 26 people, and the nation announced it had begun retaliating in what marks a major escalation between the South Asian neighbors.
India accuses Pakistan of backing the deadliest attack in years on civilians in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) on April 22, which resulted in the deaths of 26 people.
Islamabad has denied the accusation. Since then, both countries have exchanged gunfire along the Line of Control (LoC), the de facto border separating Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) from IIOJK, a heavily fortified zone of contested Himalayan outposts.
Meanwhile, India has reportedly expelled citizens and ordered the closure of the border.
The two sides have engaged in multiple conflicts — ranging from minor skirmishes to full-scale war — since their violent partition in 1947.
1947: Partition
Two centuries of British rule ended on August 15, 1947, with the sub-continent divided into predominantly Muslim-majority Pakistan and Hindu India.
The poorly planned Partition triggered widespread bloodshed, resulting in the deaths of possibly over a million people and the displacement of 15 million others.
As the princely state of Kashmir hesitated between acceding to India or Pakistan, tensions rose. A UN-backed, 770-kilometer (480-mile) ceasefire line in January 1949 partitioned Kashmir.
1965: Kashmir
Pakistan initiated a second war in August 1965 in an attempt to reclaim IIOJK. Thousands were killed before a September ceasefire brokered by the Soviet Union and the United States.
1971: Bangladesh
In 1971, Pakistan deployed troops to suppress an independence movement in what is now Bangladesh, a region it had governed as East Pakistan since 1947.
An estimated three million people were killed during the nine-month conflict, and millions more fled into India.
India intervened militarily, leading to the creation of the independent nation of Bangladesh.
1989-90: Kashmir
An uprising erupted in IIOJK in 1989 as long-simmering grievances over the disputed territory reached a boiling point. Tens of thousands of soldiers, freedom fighters, and civilians were killed in the subsequent decades.
India accused Pakistan of funding the fighters and aiding in their weapons training.
1999: Kargil
Pakistan seized Indian military posts in the icy heights of the Kargil mountains.
Pakistan eventually yielded after intense pressure from Washington, which was alarmed by intelligence reports indicating Islamabad had deployed part of its nuclear arsenal closer to the conflict zone. At least 1,000 people were killed over a period of 10 weeks.
2019: Kashmir
A suicide attack on a convoy of Indian security forces in Pulwama resulted in the deaths of 40 personnel.
India, in the midst of campaigning for general elections, dispatched fighter jets to conduct air strikes on Pakistani territory.
One Indian jet was shot down over AJK, and the pilot, Indian Air Force (IAF) Wing Commander Abhinandan, was captured. He was apprehended by Pakistan after his MiG 21 Bison aircraft was shot down by a Pakistan Air Force (PAF) jet. He was later handed over to India at the Wagah border as a gesture of peace.
