In 1947, both Pakistan and India gained independence from the British Empire. This was due to a partition ordered by the Indian Independence Act. This legally ended the British Raj, and both countries were made official sovereign nations afterwards. However, there were many issues created by the partition.

1947 saw a massive displacement of people (in the millions), and killed even hundreds of thousands in the process. Frankly, there have been massive effects on the political climate of this region of South-Central Asia ever since. Over the course of seventy plus years, Pakistan and India have had major disputes, rivalries, and wars. Even so, the newest set of conflicts have caused much more fear and elevated suspense of tension due to the fact that both nations now yield nuclear weaponry.

Specifically, the Kashmir and Jammu regions are highly disputed areas between the two rival countries. T0 sum things up, India and Pakistan have gone to war over these regions already a handful of times. Once right after the partition of 1947 and another time in 1965 in a sequence of Indo-Pakastani skirmishes, as well as the Kargil War of 1999.

Throughout these conflicts, the main focus has been on the Line of Control. As of now, India controls almost half of the region, and Pakistan a good portion, but not as much as India. Pakistan has continually contested the legitimacy of the Indian controlled territory, and China has often played a role with smaller regions controlled by their regime.

As of recent, though, tensions were extremely heightened. On February 14th, Pakistani terrorists killed around 40 Indian security personnel in the Kashmir region. India blamed the group known as Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), who they say the Pakistani government has harbored and enabled for a matter of time. February 26th saw a retaliation from the Indian Air Force (IAF), which ended up in air strikes on the Pakistani-controlled portion of the region (although no reported casualties have surmised as of yet). Aerial combat occurred on February 27th between the two nations’ air forces. This interaction ended up in two Indian jets being shot down by the Pakistani military.

Pakistan even captured and arrested one Indian pilot who was shot down on their side of the Line of Control. The Indian pilot has since been toted around by the Pakistani government and shown on television and media, which has further infuriated the Indian government and military. The Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, has called out Pakistan demanding the government to return the Indian Air Force pilot. The possibility of these conflicts leading to a war are not for sure, but as of now tensions between the countries are the highest that they have been in a number of years.