India and Pakistan have had testy relations at best since independence. Some key dates that helped define the South Asian nations:
August 1947 - Britain ends its colonial rule over the Indian subcontinent, which becomes two independent nations — Hindu-majority, but secularly governed India and the Islamic republic of Pakistan. The division, widely known as Partition, sparks massive rioting that kills up to 1 million, while another 15 million flee their homes in one of the world’s largest human migrations.
October 1947 - The two young nations begin a war over control of Kashmir, a Muslim-majority kingdom ruled by a Hindu maharaja. A U.N.-brokered cease-fire ends the war in a year with Kashmir divided between them.
January 1949 - India and Pakistan agree to a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for a referendum in which Kashmiris would determine their future; the vote never takes place.
September 1960 - India and Pakistan sign a World Bank-brokered Indus Water Treaty governing six rivers, or three rivers each. It is the only India-Pakistan treaty that has held.
August 1965 - A second war begins over Kashmir, ending a month later in another U.N.-mandated ceasefire.
December 1971 - A third war is fought, this time as India supports secessionists in East Pakistan. The war ends with the creation of Bangladesh.
July 1972 - The countries’ prime ministers sign an accord for the return of tens of thousands of Pakistani prisoners of war.
May 1974 - India conducts a nuclear test, becoming the first nation to do so that’s not a permanent U.N. Security Council member.
December 1989 - Armed resistance to Indian rule in Kashmir begins. India accuses Pakistan of giving weapons and training to the fighters. Pakistan says it offers only “moral and diplomatic” support.
May 1998 - India detonates five nuclear devices in tests. Pakistan detonates six. Both are slapped with international sanctions.
February 1999 - Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee rides a bus to the Pakistani city of Lahore to meet with Pakistan counterpart, Nawaz Sharif, and sign a major peace accord.
May 1999 - Conflict erupts in Kargil as Pakistani forces and Kashmiri fighters occupy Himalayan peaks. India launches air and ground strikes. The U.S. brokers peace.
May 2001 - Vajpayee and Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf meet in the Indian city of Agra, but reach no agreements.
October 2001 - Insurgents attack the legislature building in Indian-controlled Kashmir, killing 38 people.
December 2001 - Gunmen attack India’s Parliament, killing 14. India blames militant groups Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Muhammad, and deploys troops to its western frontier with Pakistan. The standoff ends in October 2002 after international mediation.
January 2004 - Musharraf and Vajpayee hold talks, launching bilateral negotiations to settle outstanding issues.
February 2007 - A train service between India and Pakistan, the Samjhauta Express, is bombed in northern India, killing 68.
October 2008 - India and Pakistan open a trade route across divided Kashmir for the first time in six decades.
November 2008 - Gunmen attack Mumbai, killing 166 people. India blames a Pakistan-based militant group.
May 2014 - India’s new Prime Minister Narendra Modi invites Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif to New Delhi for his inauguration.
December 2015 - Modi makes a surprise visit to the Pakistani city of Lahore on Sharif’s birthday and the wedding of his granddaughter.
January 2016 - Six gunmen attack an Indian air force base in the northern town of Pathankot, killing seven soldiers in a battle that lasted nearly four days.
July 2016 - Indian soldiers kill Kashmiri rebel leader Burhan Wani, sparking months of anti-India protests and deadly clashes in the region.
September 2016 - Suspected rebels sneak into an Indian army base in Kashmir and kill 18 soldiers. Four attackers are also killed.
(AP)
In this Nov. 9, 1947, file photo, Indian Sikh troops take up roadside positions on the Baramula Road to help force invaders further away from the Kashmir capital, Srinagar. India and Pakistan fought a yearlong war over control of Muslim-majority Kashmir, a Himalayan kingdom ruled by Hindu maharaja. The war ended with a U.N.-brokered cease-fire leaving Kashmir divided between the two young nations.
In this Dec. 7, 1971, file photo, Indian troops advance inside the Northwest sector of East Pakistan. In 1971 India Pakistan fought their third war in what was then East Pakistan. Indian troops supported secessionists fighting for Bangladesh’s independence from Pakistan. The war ended with the creation of Bangladesh.
In this June 28, 1972, file photo, Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, right, and President of Pakistan Zulfikar Ali Bhutto shake hands after signing and agreement in the Governor’s Mansion, in Simla, India. After several days of talks, the agreement calls for the withdrawal of forces from their borders and renunciation of the use of force.
In this May 30, 1999, file photo, Indian army soldiers fire artillery in the northernmost part of the Kargil region, located some 225 kilometers (140 miles) north of Srinagar, India. Conflict erupted in Kargil as Pakistani forces and Kashmiri fighters occupied Himalayan peaks. India launched air and ground strikes.
In this July 15, 2001, file photo, Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, left, begins talks with Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in Agra, India. Vajpayee and Musharraf met in the Indian city of Agra, but reached no agreements over Kashmir or other disputes.
In this Dec. 13, 2001, file photo, Indian Black Cat commandos escort civilians outside the Parliament House as half a dozen armed men stormed the complex in New Delhi, India. Gunmen attacked India’s Parliament, killing 14. India blamed militant groups Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Muhammad, and deployed troops to its western frontier with Pakistan.
In this Feb.22, 2007, file photo, Pakistan bound Samjhauta Express, moves past the damaged coaches of Sunday’s fire in Deewana, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of New Delhi, India. 68 people were killed by bombs and an ensuing fire aboard the Samjhauta Express, a train link between India and Pakistan set up under a three-year peace process between the South Asian arch rivals.
In this Oct. 22, 2008, file photo, President of Pakistan-administered Kashmir, Raja Zulqarnain Khan waves after flagging off trucks to the Indian side of the Line of Control, the de facto border in Kashmir, in the Poonch-Rawalakot area, about 250 kilometers (156 miles) from Jammu, India. India and Pakistan opened a trade route between the two sides of the divided Himalayan region for the first time in six decades.
In this Nov. 21, 2012, file photo, an activist of India’s main
opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) holds a portrait of Mohammed
Ajmal Kasab with a noose around his neck during celebrations of his
execution, in Mumbai, India. India executed Kasab, the lone surviving
gunman from the 2008 Mumbai terror attack, four years after Pakistani
gunmen blazed through India’s financial capital, killing 166 people and
throwing relations between the nuclear-armed neighbors into a tailspin.
In this May 26, 2014, file photo, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, left, prepares to shake hands with his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif, as Mauritius Prime Minister Navinchandra Ramgoolam, right and Indian President Pranab Mukherjee, left watch during Modi’s inauguration in New Delhi, India. Modi took the oath of office as India’s new prime minister at the sprawling presidential palace on May 26, a moment made more historic by the presence of the leader of arch-rival Pakistan.
In this Dec. 25, 2015, file photo released by Press Information Department, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, center right, reviews an honor guard with his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif in Lahore, Pakistan. Modi made a surprise visit to the Pakistani city of Lahore on Sharif’s birthday and the wedding of his granddaughter.
In this Jan.5, 2016, file photo, an Indian military commando is seen on the top of a building at the Indian air force base during an attack by gunmen in Pathankot, India. Six gunmen attacked the Indian air force base in the northern town killing seven soldiers in a battle that lasted nearly four days.
In this July 9, 2016, file photo, Kashmiri villagers carry the body of Burhan Wani, chief of operations of Indian Kashmir’s largest rebel group Hizbul Mujahideen, during his funeral procession in Tral, some 38 Kilometers (24 miles) south of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir. The killing of Wani, by Indian soldiers sparked months of anti-India protests and deadly clashes in the region.
In this Sept. 18, 2016, file photo, Indian army soldiers arrive at the army base which was attacked by suspected rebels in the town of Uri, west of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir. Suspected rebels sneaked into the Indian army base in Kashmir and killed 18 soldiers. Four attackers were also killed.
