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India and Pakistan diplomacy timeline

India and Pakistan diplomacy timeline
Updated 10 October 2014

India and Pakistan diplomacy timeline

India and Pakistan diplomacy timeline

As peace returns on the borders of the two rival countries — India and Pakistan — here are key dates in the troubled history of the two nations.
1947: End of British rule and partition of the sub-continent into mainly Hindu India and the Muslim-majority state of Pakistan. Partition triggers widespread religious bloodshed in which hundreds of thousands are killed and millions displaced.
1947-49: The two new states go to war over the Muslim-majority state of Kashmir, which is also partitioned, along a de facto border that neither accepts to this day.
1965: A new war over Kashmir ends inconclusively.
1971: The two countries go to war over East Pakistan, which secedes to form the new nation of Bangladesh.
1974: India explodes first nuclear device in an underground test.
1987: Pakistan’s Ziaul Haq launches “cricket diplomacy” by watching a cricket Test match between India and Pakistan with then Indian Premier Rajiv Gandhi.
— Muslim separatist groups begin anti-India campaign in Indian Kashmir.
1992: Destruction of a mosque in India strains relations further.
1993: Serial blasts in Mumbai kill around 250. India blames Pakistan for harboring the key suspect.
1998: Both countries carry out tit-for-tat nuclear weapons tests, raising tension across the world.
1999: Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee holds summit with his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif in Lahore.
— Indian troops fight a brief but bloody conflict with Pakistan-backed forces in the mountains of Kargil in Indian-held Kashmir.
2001: Vajpayee holds a summit with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in Agra, which ends in failure because of differences over Kashmir.
— India blames Pakistan-based militants for an attack on the Parliament in New Delhi that leaves 15 people dead.
2003: Both countries agree a cease-fire on the Line of Control in Kashmir, improving relations.
2004: The two countries launch a formal peace process to address a broad range of bilateral issues.
— India tour Pakistan for a full Test series for the first time since 1989.
2005: Pakistan tour India.
2006: India tour Pakistan.
— Serial blasts in Mumbai suburban trains kill 174. India blames Pakistan-based militants.
2008: Gunmen attack the Indian city of Mumbai, killing 166 people. India blames Pakistan-based militants for the assault and suspends the peace dialogue.
2011: India and Pakistan agree to restart their peace talks to resolve all outstanding issues, including the vexed subject of Kashmir.
June 2012: India’s says a key suspect in the 2008 Mumbai attacks provided information confirming Pakistani “state support” for the deadly assault.
November 2012: India executes sole surviving gunman from the Mumbai attacks, Pakistani-born Mohammed Ajmal Kasab.
May 2014: India’s new Prime Minister Narendra Modi invites his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif to his inauguration.