April 22nd, 2025

Written by: Samyukta Vivek

Edited by: Ameya Vathanan

On April 22nd, 2025, in the small town of Pahalgam, Kashmir, Arathi’s father was shot by a Pakistan-based terror group. Similarly, 25 other civilians were brutally murdered on the same day. While this event officially sparked the recent India-Pakistan conflict, the story runs much deeper than that.

India gained its independence from the oppressive rule of Great Britain on August 15th, 1947. However, it did not gain freedom in one piece. Instead, the country was divided into two, with one part becoming Pakistan. During this split of the country, also referred to as the Great Partition, an estimated 200,000 to 2 million people perished while trying to cross the newly created border to “their” side. Ever since that tragic day, there has always been an underlying rivalry between the two countries, so recent events have not exactly been completely spontaneous. However, there is still more to the story…

Kashmir, a state bordering both modern-day Pakistan and India, has a complex history of its own that must be told in order to understand the animosity between the two nations. Known as a “paradise on Earth”, when the country split, it is understandable why both India and Pakistan vied for the disputed region of Kashmir. After the division, the ruler of Kashmir, Maharaja Hari Singh, was allowed to choose whether the region became a part of either Pakistan or India. However, in October of 1947, Pakistan-backed militants invaded Kashmir in an attempt to gain the territory. This led to Kashmir officially transferring control of the region to India, which then mobilized troops to defend against the Pakistani invasion. This marked the first Indo-Pakistani War.

Ever since that first conflict, there have been many others, mainly fought over the disputed region of Kashmir. These include the Second Indo-Pakistani War and the infamous Kargil War. Now, another similar conflict has arisen, started by the Pahalgam Attack, but rooted in a nearly century-long conflict. After the attack, almost immediate action was taken by India, which began by suspending the Indus Waters Treaty. Then, the two nations began to openly engage in military warfare through aerial attacks and gunfire. The war seemed to be escalating at an exponential rate, with India even practicing blackout drills, but on May 10, both sides agreed to a ceasefire. This seemed to mark the end of this wave of conflict, but with several violations of the agreement by Pakistani forces, there seems to be no way to tell if the conflict will simmer down or resume with renewed gusto.

The world is in a very volatile position right now, with multiple conflicts raging simultaneously across the globe and new problems and disputes seeming to emerge every day! The India-Pakistan conflict in particular seems to be a never-ending battle, not unlike the Greek tale of Sisyphus, who keeps pushing the heavy stone to the top of the mountain, but eventually having to start over as the boulder rolls back down. Like the Greek myth, decades of sparring won’t simply end but will more likely escalate once more into another conflict. Therefore, even if the current situation in the two countries calms down, the overarching history of their rivalry shows that there is much more to the fighting than meets the eye.

Works Cited

BBC. “Kashmir: Why India and Pakistan fight over it.” BBC, 7 May 2025, https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c30q09638n8o. Accessed 16 May 2025.

The Center for Preventive Action. “Conflict Between India and Pakistan | Global Conflict Tracker.” Council on Foreign Relations, 2025, https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/conflict-between-india-and-pakistan. Accessed 16 May 2025.

Kapoor, Srishti. “"Shot My Father, Pointed Gun At Me, Left": Kerala Woman's Pahalgam Tragedy.” NDTV, 25 April 2025, https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/shot-my-father-pointed-gun-at-me-left-woman-recounts-pahalgam-horror-8253550. Accessed 16 May 2025.

Pokraka, Abby, and Shawn Rostker. “History of Conflict in India and Pakistan.” Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, 26 November 2019, https://armscontrolcenter.org/history-of-conflict-in-india-and-pakistan/. Accessed 16 May 2025.