What the India-Pakistan Kashmir conflict is about: a timeline

1:15 pm on 7 May 2025

By CNN Editorial Research

Map showing disputed parts of the Kashmir region.

India and Pakistan have been fighting over the disputed region of Kashmir since both countries gained their independence in 1947. Photo: AFP / JOHN SAEKI

Here's a look at the disputed region of Kashmir, a region in the Himalayan and Karakoram mountain ranges. India, Pakistan and China all claim partial or complete ownership of the region.

The Facts

Kashmir is an 86,000-square mile region in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent.

India and Pakistan have been fighting over the disputed region of Kashmir since both countries gained their independence in 1947.

Between 1989 and 2008, more than 47,000 people were killed in separatist violence, according to the Indian government.

Some human rights groups and nongovernmental organisations have said the death toll was higher.

Hundreds are still killed every year in separatist violence, according to human rights groups.

The Line of Control separates Indian and Pakistani-administered parts of Kashmir.

India-administered: One state, called Jammu and the disputed region of Kashmir, makes up the southern and eastern portions of the region. Srinagar is the summer capital city. Jammu (city) is the winter capital.

Pakistan-administered: Three areas called Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan make up the northern and western portions of the region. The capital of Azad Kashmir is Muzaffarabad.

China-administered: One area called Aksai Chin in the northernmost part of the region.

The disputed region of Kashmir: India and Pakistan's bitter dispute

Timeline

1947 - India and Pakistan gain independence from Great Britain. The disputed region of Kashmir initially decides to remain independent, choosing not to become a part of either Pakistan or India. After militants from Pakistan invade, the Maharaja of Kashmir signs a letter acceding to India. Pakistan does not recognise the letter as a legal document, sparking war.
January 1, 1949 - India and Pakistan agree to withdraw all troops behind a mutually agreed ceasefire line, later known as the Line of Control.
1965 - India and Pakistan go to war again over the disputed region of Kashmir.
1989 - Islamic militants begin an uprising in Indian-administered Kashmir.
1999 - India and Pakistan fight a limited border conflict in the disputed region of Kashmir, after armed invaders cross the Line of Control in the town of Kargil.
July 25, 2000 - Hizbul Mujahedeen, a pro-Pakistan Kashmiri militant group, declares a unilateral ceasefire for three months in Jammu and the disputed region of Kashmir.
August 8, 2000 - Hizbul Mujahedeen calls off its ceasefire.
May 23, 2001 - India ends a six-month ceasefire while also inviting Pakistani military ruler, General Pervez Musharraf, to peace talks aimed at ending five decades of hostilities between the two countries.
July 14-16, 2001 - Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee meet in Agra, India, for a three-day summit. The talks fail to produce a joint statement on the disputed region of Kashmir.
December 20, 2001 - The Indian army deploys troops on its border with Pakistan in the northern states of the disputed region of Kashmir and Punjab after an attack by militants on the Indian Parliament building. Pakistani troops also buildup across the frontier.
January 12, 2002 - Musharraf announces a ban on two Kashmiri militant groups.
October 2002 - Four rounds of polls to choose a new state administration conclude in Indian-administered Kashmir. About 300-500 people are killed during the election campaign.
November 2003 - India agrees to a Pakistani offer of a ceasefire along their borders in the disputed region of Kashmir. The ceasefire goes into effect November 26 and is the first ceasefire in 14 years.
January 4, 2004 - Vajpayee meets with Musharraf in Islamabad. It is their first direct contact in two years.
March 28, 2008 - Human rights workers find nearly 1,000 unmarked graves near the Line of Control. Hundreds of protesters in Indian-administered Kashmir later clash with police, demanding an investigation into the graves.
October 21, 2008 - India and Pakistan open a trade route for the first time in six decades on the Line of Control. Fruit, clothing and spices are among the items being transported.
January 14, 2011 - India's home secretary announces that India will cut its security forces in the disputed region of Kashmir over the next 12 months.
February 10, 2011 - Pakistan and India agree to resume peace talks that halted after the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.
July 27, 2011 - Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar meets with Indian Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna in New Delhi to discuss ways to improve travel and trade across the disputed region of Kashmir.
February 2015 - The Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the People's Democratic Party (PDP,) a regional party backed by the Muslim majority, announce the formation of a coalition government in Indian-administered Kashmir. This follows five rounds of elections in 2014 without a clear winner and is the first time that the BJP will be part of the governing coalition in the state assembly. The coalition government is sworn in on March 1, 2015.
January 2016 - The death of the chief minister of the Indian state of Jammu and the disputed region of Kashmir, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, creates tumult within the coalition government. The presumptive successor is Mehbooba Mufti, Sayeed's daughter. She declines to take the oath of office, however, as relations fray between the PDP and the BJP. With the power-sharing alliance in crisis, governor's rule is imposed in accordance with the Constitution of Jammu and the disputed region of Kashmir.
April 4, 2016 - Mehbooba Mufti is sworn in as the first female chief minister of Jammu and the disputed region of Kashmir.
September 18, 2016 - Armed militants enter an Indian army base in the town of Uri and kill 18 soldiers. Several hours later, four militants are killed in a shootout with the Indian army.
September 29, 2016 - Two Pakistani soldiers are killed after clashes with Indian troops on the border.
October 2016 - India relocates more than 10,000 people from around the disputed border area as tensions continue to escalate with Pakistan.
November 15, 2016 - Raja Farooq Haider, the prime minister of Azad Jammu and the disputed region of Kashmir, says the government has moved 8,000 people to safer places in the wake of ongoing "Indian shelling," and plans are being made to move others. In response, Indian defense spokesman Lt. Col. Manish Mehta tells CNN, "We always respond appropriately and effectively whenever there is a ceasefire violation from the Pakistan side."
August 1, 2017 - Violent protests erupt over the killing of Abu Dujana, the Pakistani commander of the terror group, Lashkar-e-Taiba.
February 14, 2019 - At least 40 are killed when a bomb explodes near a convoy of Indian paramilitary personnel.
February 26, 2019 - Pakistan declares it will retaliate "at the time and place of its choosing" after India conducts airstrikes on an alleged terrorist training camp inside Pakistan territory, in the first such incursion by Indian air force planes since the war in 1971.
February 27, 2019 - Pakistan says its air force shot down two Indian fighter jets over the disputed region of Kashmir. India confirms the loss of one plane and says it shot down a Pakistani jet as it responded to the incident.
March 1, 2019 - Pakistan announces that it will release an Indian pilot who was being held in custody.
August 5, 2019 - Tensions between India and Pakistan increase after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announces that India will revoke a constitutional provision giving the state of Jammu and the disputed region of Kashmir autonomy to set its own laws. In the wake of the announcement, widespread communications blackouts are reported in the Muslim majority region.
August 6, 2019 - India's parliament votes to approve the status change for the state of Jammu and the disputed region of Kashmir. The reorganisation bill increases New Delhi's authority over the region, changing it from an autonomous state into a union territory. Pakistan responds that the change is illegal. "If the world does not act now, if the so-called developed world does not uphold its own laws, then things will go to a place that will damage the whole world," prime minister of Pakistan Imran Khan says.
August 7, 2019 - Pakistan announces that diplomatic relations and bilateral trade with India are being suspended.
August 8, 2019 - Modi delivers a televised address in which he claims that revoking Kashmir's autonomous status will promote stability, reduce corruption and boost the economy. Pakistan's foreign minister says the country will remain vigilant but no military options are being considered. The United Nations issues a statement calling on both countries to resolve the issue peacefully while respecting human rights in the region.
October 31, 2019 - Jammu and the disputed region of Kashmir officially lose statehood status and become two union territories.
May 19, 2023 - According to Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin, China will not attend a Group of 20 (G20) meeting in Jammu and in the disputed region of Kashmir hosted by India, citing its opposition "to holding any kind of G20 meetings in disputed territory."
April 22, 2025 - Gunmen kill at least 26 people and injure a dozen others in the disputed Himalayan region of Jammu and the disputed region of Kashmir. All but one of the 26 tourists massacred in the attack are Indian citizens. Despite Pakistan denying that it had any role in the attack, India's Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri says in a press conference on April 23 that "cross-border linkages of the terrorist act" had been "brought out" during a special meeting of his country's security cabinet.
May 7, 2025 - India launched military strikes on targets in Pakistan, with Pakistan claiming it had shot down Indian Air Force planes in response, in a major escalation between the nuclear-armed rivals.