Kashmir: Why India and Pakistan fight over it

    Danish Ismail / Reuters

India has launched air strikes on Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir. But why do India and Pakistan fight over Kashmir?

Kashmir is an ethnically diverse Himalayan region. Under the partition plan provided by the Indian Independence Act, Muslim-majority Kashmir was free to accede to either India or Pakistan.

    Wikipedia

In October 1947, the maharaja chose to join India and a war erupted. In July 1949, India and Pakistan signed an agreement to establish a ceasefire line and Kashmir became divided. Today, Delhi and Islamabad both claim Kashmir in full, but control only parts of it.

Why has there been so much unrest in the Indian-administered part? Within Kashmir, opinions about the territory's rightful allegiance are diverse. Many do not want it to be governed by India, preferring either independence or union with Pakistan instead. Religion is one factor: Jammu and Kashmir is more than 60% Muslim, making it the only part of India where Muslims are in the majority.

An armed revolt has been waged against Indian rule in Kashmir since 1989, claiming tens of thousands of lives. India accuses Pakistan of backing militants in Kashmir.

In 2019, Indian-administered Kashmir was stripped of its semi-autonomous status by the government in Delhi amid a huge security crackdown. For several years after the revocation of the region's special status, militancy waned and tourist visits soared. Tensions rose again in April 2025 when militants killed 26 people in an attack on tourists near the resort town of Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir. India responded two weeks later with missile strikes on targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

In 2014, India's current Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power promising a tough line on Pakistan, but also showed interest in holding peace talks. In 2015, India blamed Pakistan-based groups for an attack on its airbase in Pathankot. Since then, there hasn't been any progress in talks between the neighbour and Kashmir remains one of the most militarised zones in the world

It is important to recall that India and Pakistan are both nuclear powers. Rising tensions over Kashmir renew fears of potential escalation, an outcome that calls for measured international attention

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