Where the Latest India-Pakistan Conflict May Lead

Escalating tensions between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan are centered -- not for the first time -- on the disputed region of Kashmir. The latest conflict was sparked by a Feb. 14 terrorist attack that killed dozens of Indian paramilitary troops. India blamed Pakistan, which denied involvement, triggering an escalation that’s included Pakistani fighter jets shooting down two Indian aircraft. It’s the most serious security challenge for India Prime Minister Narendra Modi since coming to power in 2014 and is unfolding during the run-up to a tightly contested general election due by May.

India and Pakistan were created out of the bloody partition of British India in 1947. The tensions before and after the drawing of new borders uprooted 14 million people and erupted in mob violence that killed as many as 1 million Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs. The two countries have gone on to fight three major wars since independence. Pakistan’s founders believed India saw the subcontinent’s partition as temporary and hoped to absorb the territory that had become Pakistan at the first opportunity. India has been frustrated by what it sees as Pakistan’s support for terrorists that continue to strike inside its territory, particularly in Kashmir.