India and Pakistan are on the brink of war, after the Indian Air Force launched late night air strikes against several targets in Pakistan, specifically in Punjab and the Pakistani controlled part of Kashmir. Two dozen civilians were killed in the strikes, according to the Pakistani Government. India claims that the strikes were against terrorist sites inside of Pakistan, while Pakistan claimed to have shot down several fighter jets belonging to India. The Prime Minister of Pakistan condemned the strikes as an act of war against the country, and said that his country would retaliate against India. Meanwhile, President Trump urged for de-escalation and offered to mediate between the two nations.
The strikes come after a series of escalatory measures have occurred along the line of contact in Kashmir, and after a terrorist attack occurred in the Indian controlled part of Kashmir in the past month, in which several people, including several tourists were murdered. There have been constant artillery strikes and small arms fire across the demarcation line of the two nations in the past several weeks.
On April 22, 2025, five terrorists crossed the border into the Indian controlled part of Kashmir, and killed numerous civilians, taking the males away and executing them in cold blood. Since then, tensions between the two nations have been heightened, until what happened this week and there has been constant artillery strikes on military positions and small arms fire across the demarcation line of the two nations in the past several weeks.
The Indians and the Pakistani people have fought each other ever since they gained independence in the 1940s from Britain, mostly over the territory of Kashmir. Originally, a UN sponsored plebiscite was to be held in order to sort out the future of the territory, but it was never held. Kashmir has since been divided between India and Pakistan since the two were partitioned in 1947, forming a Hindu majority state and a Muslim majority state in the former British colony of India. Millions of people who were minorities in each of their respective regions were expelled from those territories and fled to their respective state that corresponded with their religious beliefs.
Since then, India and Pakistan have fought against each other in several wars, the last war being in 1999. India and Pakistan have maintained a somewhat solid truce since 1999, with only minor flare ups in between that have occurred on occasion, the last occurring in 2021.
Hopefully the current round of conflict will end with the Pakistani response, which will come soon and will likely be proportional to the response of the terrorist attack against India. For the sake of the entire region, which is inhabited by 1.6 billion people, this can’t go nuclear, as each side possesses around 170 nuclear weapons that are pointed at each other. If that happens, the worst war in terms of casualties may occur in Southern Asia since Vietnam, and may indeed eclipse Vietnam in casualties. For the sake of the people who live there, and the rest of the world, it would be in the best interests of both to deescalate the situation.
