India and Pakistan are on the precipice of a possible military confrontation, nearly two weeks after a deadly terrorist attack on the Indian-controlled side of the troubled Kashmir region set off aggressive statements between the archrival nations.
India has suggested that Pakistan was connected to the April 22 attack that killed 26 people, a claim that Pakistan has repeatedly denied.
Kashmir, a scenic valley in the Himalayas, is wedged between India and Pakistan, nuclear-armed countries that have struggled for control over the region for almost 80 years. Kashmiris have rarely had a say in their own fate.
Here is a history of the dispute.
1947
Fraught Beginnings
Indian soldiers arriving in Srinagar, Kashmir, in November 1947 to fight Pakistani militias for control of the region. Credit…Bettmann
Contention over Kashmir began nearly as soon as India and Pakistan were formed.
In 1947, Britain divided India, its former colony, into two countries. One was Pakistan, with a Muslim majority. The other, made up mostly of Hindus, kept the name India. But Kashmir’s fate was left undecided.
Within months, both India and Pakistan had laid claim to the territory. A military confrontation ensued. The Hindu ruler of Kashmir, who had at first refused to abdicate his sovereignty, agreed to make the region part of India in exchange for a security guarantee, after militias from Pakistan moved into parts of his territory.