NEW DELHI (WARNEWS) – India and Pakistan reached a truce on Saturday following four consecutive days of attacks and retaliatory strikes targeting each other’s military positions.
Below is a timeline of key military and diplomatic intensifications in their strained relationship dating back to 1999.
May–July 1999:
India and Pakistan engage in an unofficial conflict in the Kargil area of Kashmir when Pakistani forces supported by irregular troops seize Indian positions along the Line of Control, also known as the ceasefire line. Following heavy combat, India recaptures the occupied areas. The United States then presses for Pakistan to retreat.
December 2001:
A militant team assaults India’s parliamentary complex in New Delhi, resulting in nine fatalities. India accuses Pakistan-linked extremist organizations Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba of being responsible for the attack. This incident brings both nations dangerously close to their fourth military conflict.
November 2008:
Ten heavily armed assailants strike key sites throughout Mumbai, hitting locations such as two upscale hotels, a Jewish center, and the principal railway station, resulting in 166 fatalities. In response, India halts all discussions with Pakistan but restarts them after several years within the framework of a formalized peace initiative.
January 2016:
Assailants masquerading as troops raid an Indian Air Force installation close to the Pakistani frontier, engaging in combat with Indian forces. The Indians fight back using tanks and attack helicopters over a period exceeding 15 hours until they regain control of the facility.
All five attackers and at least two security personnel meet their demise.
India claims the assailants originated from Pakistan, whereas Pakistani officials denounce the operation. Peace negotiations, which were temporarily resumed in 2015, come to a halt once more.
September 2016:
Eighteen Indian troops lost their lives when militants attacked an army camp in Uri within the region of Indian-administered Kashmir. India accuses Pakistan of orchestrating the assault and retaliates with so-called “surgical strikes” targeting alleged militant staging areas along the Line of Control.
Pakistan refutes any claims of an invasion on its soil.
February 2019:
A suicide bomber kills 40 Indian paramilitary police in Kashmir. India conducts air strikes in Balakot, Pakistan.
Pakistan retaliates with airstrikes and downs an Indian aircraft. India alleges having brought down a Pakistani plane, though this remains unverified. Tensions ease subsequently due to global diplomatic intervention.
August 2019:
India has repealed Kashmir’s special status by eliminating a constitutional clause that permitted the region of Jammu and Kashmir to create its own legislation. In response, Pakistan has demoted diplomatic relations and halted trade activities.
April 2025:
When Islamist attackers target Hindu tourists in Indian Kashmir, 26 people lose their lives. India accuses Pakistan-supported factions of being behind the incident, but Pakistan refutes these claims and demands an impartial inquiry.
India halts the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty, which governs water distribution from the river and its tributaries, whereas Pakistan ceases all commerce with India, even via intermediary nations.
Each nation has shut down their airspace to the other’s carriers and canceled many of the visas granted to citizens of the opposing country.
May 2025:
India strikes locations within Pakistan and Pakistani-administered Kashmir, aiming at what it calls “terrorist infrastructure.”
Throughout four days, the two nations carry out assaults and retaliatory attacks on each other’s military bases.
On May 10, both nations announced they had reached an agreement for a ceasefire following US-led pressures and negotiations.
(Compiled by Surbhi Misra; Edited by YP Rajesh, Raju Gopalakrishnan, and Kevin Liffey)
