India vs Pakistan

Why are India and Pakistan rivals?

When Britain left in August 1947, British India was split into two countries along religious lines. India was majority Hindu. Pakistan was majority Muslim, in two halves separated by about 1,600 km of Indian territory. About 15 million people crossed the new borders. Between 200,000 and two million died in the violence.

Kashmir, a Muslim-majority princely state with a Hindu ruler, became the first battleground. In October 1947 tribesmen armed by Pakistan invaded. Kashmir's ruler then agreed to join India, and Indian troops flew in. Three of the four wars between India and Pakistan, in 1947, 1965 and 1999, were fought mainly over Kashmir. In March 1971 Pakistan's army cracked down on the Bengali movement for self-rule in East Pakistan. About 10 million refugees fled to India. India armed the Bengali rebels, and full war began in December. East Pakistan became Bangladesh, and Pakistan lost more than half of its population.

Each government makes its own case. India says Kashmir joined India legally in 1947. India says disputes with Pakistan are for the two countries alone, as they agreed at Simla in 1972, and it rejects outside mediation. India also says Pakistan arms and shelters militant groups that attack India, such as Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed. The UN Security Council lists both groups under its terrorism sanctions, and Pakistan banned both in 2002.

Pakistan says Kashmiris were promised a UN-supervised vote on their future that never took place. A 1948 UN resolution made the vote depend on Pakistan withdrawing its fighters and India cutting its forces, and the two never agreed how. Pakistan says it gives Kashmiris only political and diplomatic support, and it points to abuses by Indian forces. In 2018 the UN human rights office reported that Indian security forces in Kashmir had used excessive force, leading to unlawful killings. The report also described crimes by armed groups, and abuses "of a more structural nature" in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. India rejected the report as "fallacious, tendentious and motivated".

Pakistan also accuses India of backing militants in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. In 2016 Pakistan arrested Kulbhushan Jadhav, an Indian navy officer, in Balochistan, and a military court sentenced him to death for spying. India says he had retired from the navy and was kidnapped in Iran. India denies backing militants in Pakistan. In 2019 the International Court of Justice ruled that Pakistan had broken the Vienna Convention by keeping Indian diplomats from Jadhav, and it ordered a review of his conviction.

India and Pakistan both tested nuclear weapons in May 1998, 17 days apart. Since then every crisis has stopped short of full war.

What happened between India and Pakistan in May 2025?

On April 22, 2025, gunmen killed 26 people near Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir. Twenty-five were Indian citizens and one was Nepali. Most were tourists. Survivors said the gunmen asked men if they were Hindus and then shot them. A local Muslim pony guide, Syed Adil Hussain Shah, was killed trying to take a gunman's rifle. A group called The Resistance Front first claimed the attack and then denied it. India says the group is a front for Lashkar-e-Taiba, and the US designated it a terrorist organization in July 2025. India blamed Pakistan. Pakistan denied any role and offered to take part in a neutral investigation.

On April 23, India held the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance. On April 24, Pakistan suspended all trade with India and closed its airspace to Indian airlines. Pakistan said it could hold all agreements with India in abeyance, including the 1972 Simla Agreement, and that any attempt to stop its water would be an act of war. On May 2, India banned all imports from Pakistan.

On May 7, India launched Operation Sindoor and struck what it said were nine militant sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Pakistan said the strikes killed civilians. Pakistan's army shelled Indian positions and towns along the Line of Control. Over the next three days both sides used drones and missiles, and on May 10 India struck Pakistani air bases. Pakistan's military named its strikes of May 10 Operation Bunyan-um-Marsoos. Pakistan said its strikes hit Indian air bases and destroyed an S-400 air-defense system. India said Pakistan attacked 26 places, that most attacks were stopped, and that equipment and personnel were hit at several air bases. India called the S-400 claim false. The same day, President Trump announced a ceasefire and said the US had mediated it. India says the two armies' operations chiefs agreed the ceasefire directly.

Each side gave its own toll. Pakistan's military said 11 of its soldiers and 40 civilians were killed. India's military said on May 11 that five of its soldiers had died. Indian officials said Pakistani shelling had killed at least 16 civilians in Indian-administered Kashmir by May 8. India's military also said 35 to 40 Pakistani soldiers were killed along the Line of Control and more than 100 militants died in its strikes.

Pakistan's military said it shot down six Indian jets. Two US officials told Reuters that a Chinese-made Pakistani J-10 shot down at least two Indian aircraft, one of them a Rafale. India's chief of defense staff acknowledged aircraft losses without giving a number. In August 2025 India's air force chief said India had shot down five Pakistani fighter jets and one larger aircraft. Pakistan denied losing any aircraft.

Who has more nuclear weapons, India or Pakistan?

The two arsenals are close in size. The Federation of American Scientists estimates that India has about 190 warheads and Pakistan about 170. India tested its first nuclear device in 1974 and conducted further tests in May 1998. Pakistan tested 17 days later.

India adopted a no-first-use doctrine in 2003, with an exception for a major biological or chemical attack. Pakistan has not ruled out using nuclear weapons first. Pakistan says its weapons deter India's larger army. In August 2019 India's defense minister, Rajnath Singh, said India had strictly kept to no first use, but "what happens in future depends on the circumstances." Pakistan's missiles range from the short-range Nasr (60 to 70 km) to the Shaheen-III (2,750 km). India tested Agni missiles with multiple warheads in March 2024 and May 2026.

India has three ballistic-missile submarines in service. The newest, INS Aridhaman, entered service in April 2026 and has eight missile tubes. Pakistan has tested a submarine-launched cruise missile, the Babur-3. In March 2026 the US intelligence chief, Tulsi Gabbard, said Pakistan's missile program could potentially include missiles able to reach the United States. Pakistan's foreign ministry rejected the claim.

What is the Indus Waters Treaty?

The World Bank brokered the Indus Waters Treaty in 1960. It gives India the three eastern rivers (Sutlej, Beas and Ravi) and Pakistan the three western rivers (Indus, Jhelum and Chenab). India may use the western rivers for hydropower within limits set by the treaty. About 80% of Pakistan's irrigated farming depends on the Indus basin. The western rivers flow through Indian-administered Kashmir before they reach Pakistan.

The treaty survived the wars of 1965, 1971 and 1999. India had asked to change it before. In January 2023 and August 2024 India sent Pakistan notices seeking to modify the treaty. India cited disputes over its dams, population growth, its need for clean energy and cross-border terrorism. Pakistan said it wanted India to keep to the treaty.

On April 23, 2025, the day after the Pahalgam attack, India held the treaty in abeyance. India says the treaty will stay in abeyance until Pakistan "credibly and irrevocably abjures" support for cross-border terrorism. Pakistan says the treaty does not allow one side to suspend it, and that stopping its water would be an act of war. In June 2026 India's water minister, C.R. Patil, said India was working to ensure that "not a single drop" of water reaches Pakistan.

In a case brought by Pakistan, a Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled on August 31, 2026 that the treaty remains in force and that India's reasons did not justify suspending it. The court also limited construction at India's Ratle dam on the Chenab until a neutral expert rules on its design. India does not recognize the court and rejected the ruling. India says the World Bank set up the court in breach of the treaty.

As of October 2026, India still holds the treaty in abeyance. Pakistan says the treaty is in force.