India / Pakistan

[…] With India-Pakistan tensions on the rise, there is a legitimate fear that any major terrorist attack in India could lead to a fresh round of military strikes by India in Pakistan, and a matching response by Pakistan. This spiral could lead to an escalation that both countries may find difficult to contain.

The UN has said the latest restrictions imposed on Indian-administered Kashmir are deeply concerning and "will exacerbate the human rights situation". A UN spokesperson highlighted a telecommunications ban, the arbitrary detention of leaders and a ban on political assembly. The region has been on lockdown since Sunday with communication cut off. It came as India made the controversial decision to remove its special constitutional status.

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan says his government will challenge an Indian move to change the constitutional status of India-administered Kashmir at the United Nations Security Council, urging the international community to intervene in the crisis or risk regional destabilisation.

U.S. President Donald Trump has offered to mediate the decades-long dispute between India and Pakistan over the region of Kashmir. … Pakistan has long sought U.S. mediation in the Kashmir dispute, but the United States has previously said the issue must be solved bilaterally between India and Pakistan.

Mounting rights abuses and political disengagement could push more young people towards militancy in Indian-administered Kashmir, residents warn, following some of the deadliest violence the troubled region has seen in a decade.

Islamic State (IS) claimed for the first time that it has established a “province” in India, after a clash between militants and security forces in the contested Kashmir region killed a militant with alleged ties to the group.

The fourth phase of Indian elections has seen a low turnout in parts of Kashmir after separatist groups called for a boycott. Experts say the voting trend shows people's disillusionment with the political process.

In yet another signal of the downward spiral in ties between archrivals India and Pakistan, New Delhi has suspended cross-border trade in the divided region of Kashmir, saying it is being misused to smuggle weapons, narcotics and fake currency.

Recent events in the border region of Kashmir between India and Pakistan have brought long-running anxiety about the potential for conflict back into sharp focus. Almost twenty years ago, then-United States President Bill Clinton observed that the “most dangerous place in the world today…is the Indian subcontinent and the Line of Control in Kashmir.” While Indian and Pakistani leaders protested this characterization then, the fact was that the dispute over Kashmir was the only place in the world where an active armed conflict existed between two nuclear powers. This remains true.

The sparring between India and Pakistan last month threatened to spiral out of control and only interventions by U.S. officials, including National Security Advisor John Bolton, headed off a bigger conflict, five sources familiar with the events said.