The Land between India and Pakistan, Kashmir, has been fought for since 1947. Though they officially fought three wars, civilian attacks have been going on for years. There was the India-Pakistan war of 1965, and the Kargil war of 1999. The civilians in Kashmir have been fighting for independence but would also be okay with a union with Pakistan.

In 2003, after the many years of bloodshed, Pakistan and India had decided to stop the violence. Then in 2014, a new government had came to power in India and promised to be tough on Pakistan, but also wanted peace. Since 2016, there have been many military attacks in the state that have led up to the events occurring now.

On February 14, about 40 Indian soldiers were killed in Pulwama and the blame has been put on Pakistan. According to BBC, India has now said that it will take “all possible diplomatic steps” to isolate Pakistan. There have been several reports of Kashmiri people being beaten up, harassed, and attacked in the past few days. The few Kashmiris in India have been moving back to Kashmir in fear of being beaten. Series of protests and riots against Pakistan have been going through India that have riled up many Indians.

The attack has raised many tensions between India and Pakistan, who are both nuclear powered.  India accuses Pakistan intelligence services of helping the Kashmiris in the attack. Pakistan denies any relations to the attack, but says if the Indians do anything to attack them, they will not hesitate to defend themselves.

On Wednesday February 27, India launched a jet attack on Pakistan. Taking down all three jets, Pakistan captured one of the Indian pilots, while the other two did not survive. A video later emerged of the pilot sipping tea, and talking about how well the Pakistani soldiers have treated him. The loss of the pilot has set a major setback for the Indians. The pilot named Abhinandan Varthaman is said to returned to India on Friday, February 30th.