On May 7, 2025, India launched a wave of missiles into Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir, striking at least six cities and killing at least 31 people. India claimed that those strikes were a measured response to the terrorist attack on Apr. 22 and that they only struck terrorist infrastructure, while Pakistan claims that India killed innocent civilians. There are also multiple other accusations and denials from both sides: to summarize, they both claim to be victims of the other’s aggression.
The next day India struck sensitive military targets, particularly air defense systems in the Pakistani city of Lahore. India claimed that it was a response to having to thwart a Pakistani attempt to hit military targets across a dozen border cities and towns overnight. Pakistan denied this happening and warned India of a retaliation was soon to come. Heavy artillery fire across the border caused many civilian casualties and forced 10,000+ people to flee their homes in Kashmir.
Over the next two days the situation escalated rapidly, with Pakistan launching an immense amount of drones and missile strikes, targeting military bases across several Indian cities. India also caused a lot of damage to Pakistan by targeting airfields, defense systems and striking near one of Pakistan’s crucial strategic headquarters. Pakistan says that 11 soldiers had been killed along with 78 others wounded.
The possibility of this conflict becoming nuclear worries many people, including Ashu Goodrich and Anirudh Tumuluru, who are freshmen at Ida B. Wells. But so were the United States and many other countries, so on May 10, 2025, the United States and 35 other countries were able to make both countries agree to a ceasefire.
This event is not the first conflict between these countries; in fact, they have had a bad relationship since their creation. In 1947, India and Pakistan emerged from the British India partition. The partition created a Muslim-majority Pakistan and a Hindu-majority India and gave the diverse regions of Jammu and Kashmir the option to choose which country to join. This partition is what Thomas Chakkaramakkil Santhosh, a freshman at IBW, and Goodrich blame for majorly causing the poor relationship between India and Pakistan.
Kashmir initially sought independence but eventually agreed to join India in exchange for help against invading Pakistani herders which led to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947-1948.The Karachi Agreement of 1949 temporarily ended violence in the Jammu-Kashmir region by establishing a ceasefire line monitored by United Nations (UN) officials assigned to oversee the truce.
Tensions across the border caused wars in 1965 and 1971, eventually resulting in the establishment of present day Bangladesh. India and Pakistan attempted to solve their border problem with the 1972 Simla Agreement which established the “Line of Control,” which split Kashmir into two administrative regions. However, in 1974, the introduction of nuclear weapons caused a nuclear race between India and Pakistan, which resulted in any future violence being in danger of becoming much more dangerous.
In 1989, Pakistan exploited unrest in Indian-administered Kashmir to challenge Indian control, sparking renewed tensions and prolonged violence. Despite reaffirming the Line of Control in 1999, Pakistan’s incursion led to the Kargil War.
Tensions spiked after the 2008 Mumbai attacks by Pakistan-based militants, and hopes for peace in 2014 quickly faded when Pakistan engaged with Kashmiri separatists. In 2016, a deadly attack on an Indian Army base led to India’s first surgical strikes across the border. The 2019 Pulwama suicide bombing, which killed 40 Indian soldiers, escalated into air strikes by both sides and a brief aerial clash.
Later that year, India revoked Article 370, which was a special provision that granted the state of Jammu and Kashmir a unique status. It allowed the state to have its own constitution, flag and autonomy over internal affairs, except for matters like defense, foreign affairs and communications. This sparked Pakistani outrage and a long lockdown in the region.
From 2020-2023, targeted killings, increased militarization and suppression of dissent further strained ties. Despite occasional cease-fire agreements, lasting peace remains elusive amid mutual distrust and entrenched positions.
Despite this clearly hostile relationship, Tumuluru believes peace can be created if one of these countries stops fueling this conflict and accepts the other; having one of these countries accept the other will force the other to stop fueling this conflict and accept the other. Goodrich believes that there needs to be cooperation on multiple levels and the British have to take some responsibility for this conflict and try to help fix the problem. Chakkaramakkil Santhosh believes peace might only come from fear, possibly from nuclear weapons.
