For
India and Pakistan
, war is always just a moment away. Since the partition in 1947, this has been true.
never been a let-up
.
Fraternity-destroying hatred, the deadly allure of revenge, the belief held by millions of Pakistanis that all of the Muslim-majority regions
Himalayan territory of Kashmir
By all justice, they should be… these are the elements that continually fuel brutal conflicts time and time again.
India and Pakistan find themselves precariously close to another all-out confrontation as tensions have escalated to levels not seen in many years. The tense standstill between them spiraled into outright conflict earlier this week following actions taken by India.
Operation Sindoor
pre-dawn attacks on nine locations
“terrorist infrastructure”
On the neighboring side and within Pakistan-controlled Kashmir.
Pakistan’s prime minister,
Shehbaz Sharif
referred to India’s actions as an “act of war,” stating that this incident resulted in the deaths of at least 31 civilians, including women and children, and asserted that his nation has “every right” to retaliate.
Today, on the
Siachen glacier
in the high Himalayas, 5,400 metres above sea level, thousands of troops from both sides still eyeball each other, 22 years after a ceasefire was signed in the world’s highest and most pointless conflict.
But what makes these neighbours so dangerous – what immediately sparks huddles in the UN Security Council and sets off alarm bells in the White House – is that the two capitals, New Delhi and Islamabad, are a mere 800km apart. That, and the fact these chronic enemies are both
nuclear-armed
One nation could destroy the other in an instant.
The recent tensions have been building up for quite some time. Split by the de facto boundary called the Line of Control, Kashmir’s highly contentious special status had been acknowledged by successive Indian governments with a certain level of self-governance. However, in 2019, this arrangement saw significant changes as it met a long-held requirement of
Hindu nationalists
, Indian PM
Narendra Modi
Eliminated those distinctions, rendering it as just another state – sparking anger in Pakistan.
For a considerable duration, Modi seemed to escape consequences. Following three decades of rebellion, tranquility gradually resumed across Kashmir’s picturesque lakes and hills, leading to a resurgence in Indian tourism – until last month.
On April 22nd, five armed extremists murdered 26 non-Muslim individuals nearby.
Pahalgam
In a resort town located in the Indian-controlled region of Kashmir, an ambush targeted Indian nationalists precisely at their weakest point: attacking Hindu civilians along the path leading to the cave temple on Mount Amarnath, which hosts a significant yearly pilgrimage attracting tens of thousands of pilgrims each summer. This incident struck particularly hard for Modi’s administration, known for its pronounced religious leanings, as it represented a brutally strategic attack against them.
India stated that its nine airstrikes conducted during the night were aimed at locations linked to Pakistan-based militant groups like Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba, which have previously been accused of carrying out terrorist acts in Kashmir. However, striking mosques and certain areas within Punjab, the core region of Pakistan, heightened the risk of significant escalation.
The unavoidable dread at present revolves around the possibility of a nuclear confrontation. In 2002, after terrorist strikes targeted both the Delhi and Kashmir parliamentary buildings in the preceding year, global concerns were heightened regarding the potential for an age-old rivalry to spiral beyond containment. Indeed, there exists no inherent mechanism to stop a catastrophic nuclear conflict from occurring.
Following the
Bay of Pigs crisis
In the past, both the U.S. and the USSR created comprehensive procedures aimed at minimizing the chances of errors and mishaps. However, India and Pakistan haven’t made significant progress in implementing similar safety measures. By 2004, they did establish a nuclear emergency communication line connecting their respective capital cities. Now, global concerns hinge on this setup never needing activation.
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