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Tensions between India and Pakistan reached a dangerous new high after India launched extensive military strikes against its nuclear-armed neighbor, retaliating for a deadly militant attack in Indian-administered Kashmir last month that killed 26 people.
Pakistani officials reported the Indian strikes killed at least 21 civilians, including two children, raising fears of a potential war between the two nuclear powers who have fought multiple conflicts since their independence in 1947.
The aerial assault shattered a fragile ceasefire that had largely held since 2021 and exceeded the scale of India's 2019 strikes when it targeted a single remote Pakistani location following a suicide bombing in Kashmir. The operation involved strikes on nine separate sites across Pakistan, according to India's armed forces.
"India had found evidence linking the militants in the Pahalgam attack to Pakistan," Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said, justifying the military response. India has long accused Pakistan of supporting separatist violence in Kashmir, a Muslim-majority region claimed in full by both countries but divided between them.
Pakistani military officials claimed they shot down five Indian warplanes – including French-made Rafales – and released a video showing smoke rising from what they described as the wreckage of one of the downed aircraft. These claims could not be independently verified, and the Indian government did not immediately comment on them.
Pakistan's leaders condemned the strikes as an act of war. "Pakistan has the right to give a befitting reply," Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said, raising concerns about further escalation between nations that each possess approximately 170 nuclear warheads, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
The international community, including President Donald Trump, has urged both countries to de-escalate tensions. The conflict has drawn global concern due to the nuclear capabilities of both nations and the historical volatility of their relationship.
Indian armed forces named their operation, "Operation Sindoor," as "non-escalatory in nature." Sindoor refers to the vermilion powder traditionally worn by married Hindu women on their foreheads and hair. Indian media reported the name serves as a tribute to women who lost their husbands in the April attack, which primarily killed male tourists.
According to Pakistan's military, 24 "impacts" were reported across six locations: Ahmedpur East, Muridke, Sialkot in Pakistan proper, Kotli, Bagh, and Muzaffarabad in Pakistani-administered Kashmir.
The current crisis follows an April 22 attack near Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir, where gunmen killed 25 Indians and one Nepalese citizen while injuring more than a dozen others. It marked the deadliest attack against civilians since the 2008 Mumbai attacks by the Pakistani-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba that killed 166 people.
Indian-administered Kashmir has faced decades of insurgency, with armed groups either seeking independence or favoring accession to Pakistan. The region has been heavily militarized by India, which revoked Kashmir's semiautonomous status in August 2019 under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist government.
Following that decision, India imposed the world's longest internet shutdown in a democracy and implemented various security measures. The government had recently promoted a narrative of returning peace and development in the region, highlighting increasing tourism before the April attack undermined these claims.
The dispute over Kashmir dates back to 1947 when the British-ruled Indian subcontinent was partitioned into Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan. The mountainous Kashmir region spans approximately 85,800 square miles between India, Pakistan, and China, with each nation claiming sovereignty over all or part of the territory.
The region has been central to multiple conflicts: between India and Pakistan in 1947, 1965, and 1999, and between India and China in 1962. The current unofficial border between Indian and Pakistani-controlled sections is known as the Line of Control, established after United Nations intervention following the first India-Pakistan war.
Neither India nor Pakistan has signed the United Nations Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. According to a 2024 report from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Pakistan's nuclear arsenal is likely to continue expanding over the next decade due to its growing stockpile of fissile material and the development of new delivery systems.
The same report indicates India's military doctrine regarding nuclear weapons appears to have shifted in recent years from deterring Pakistan to countering China, with increased emphasis on longer-range weapons.
