History
Pakistan and India’s first act after Independence was to go to war over Kashmir, and after two wars in 1947–48 and 1965, a major clash in 1999 (the Kargil conflict) and intermittent artillery exchanges, neither they nor the UN has resolved the question of ownership. Each country has thousands of troops in the region, and a separatist campaign has simmered with occasional bloody flare-ups on the Indian-held side, with India accused of routine atrocities and Pakistan of training Kashmiri guerrillas. In the last six decades there have been ceasefires, agreements, talks and positive bilateral moves, yet fundamental differences remain and the potential for escalating conflict is never far away.
