You might want to sit down for this: This September 6, the Pakistan-Indian standoff has entered its 25,591st day. That’s 614,184 hours, 36,851,040 minutes and 2,211,062,400 seconds that Pakistanis and Indians have wasted on hating each other. Isn’t that bollocks? Ever since the partition of the subcontinent in 1947, when India gained independence from the British and a new country, Pakistan, was born, India and Pakistan have been at daggers drawn, their animosity epitomised by the long-running conflict over the disputed state of Jammu and Kashmir. To sum up the conflict in a nutshell: Pakistan argues Kashmir should have become part of Pakistan because the majority of its population is Muslim and numerous UN resolutions support the Kashmiris’ right to vote in a plebiscite to decide between membership of India and Pakistan. India argues that under the terms of the Simla Agreement of 1972 both countries agreed to solve the Kashmir question through bilateral negotiations, not through international forums such as the UN. New Delhi also says a plebiscite should not be held in Kashmir because elections have demonstrated that people living there want to remain part of India. Every few years there is a new threat, a new war of words, a new low in tensions over the disputed Kashmir region. Nothing sums up the situation better than this MUST WATCH hilarious Onion video on the standoff and the utter absurdity of nuclear war constantly hanging over the region with no end in sight — just as it has for the past many decades. Trust us, you want to see this. Watch the video, laugh, or cry — and then below, read about some of the major highs and lows in ties between the two countries. 1947 – Britain divides its Indian empire into secular but mainly Hindu India and Muslim Pakistan, triggering one of the greatest and bloodiest migrations of modern history. 1947/48 – India and Pakistan go to war over Kashmir. The war ends with a U.N.-ordered ceasefire and resolution seeking a plebiscite for the people of Jammu and Kashmir to decide whether to become part of India or Pakistan. 1965 – India and Pakistan fight their second war over Kashmir. Fighting ends after the United Nations calls for a ceasefire. 1971 – Pakistan and India go to war for a third time, this time over East Pakistan, which becomes independent Bangladesh. 
1972 – Pakistani Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi sign agreement in Indian town of Simla over principles meant to govern relations. 1974 – India detonates its first nuclear device. 1989 – Separatist revolt starts in Indian Kashmir. India accuses Pakistan of arming and sending Islamist militants into Indian Kashmir, which Pakistan denies. 1998 – India carries out nuclear tests. Pakistan responds with its own tests. February 1999 – Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee holds summit with Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif in Lahore. Arrives on the inaugural Delhi-Lahore bus on 19 February 1999 and is received by his Pakistani counterpart at Wagah border. 1999 – India and Pakistan wage brief conflict in the mountains above Kargil on the Line of Control, the ceasefire line dividing Jammu and Kashmir. July 2001 – Summit between Pakistani leader General Pervez Musharraf and Vajpayee in Agra in India ends in failure. A Border Security Force (BSF) soldier patrols the fenced border with Pakistan against the backdrop of a Pakistani tower in Suchetgarh, southwest of Jammu January 16, 2013. REUTERS/Mukesh Gupta/Files December 2001 – Militants attack Indian parliament. India blames Pakistan-based Kashmiri separatist groups Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammad. One million troops are mobilised on either side of the border; war only averted months later in June 2002. 2003 – Pakistan, India agree ceasefire on the Line of Control. 2004 – The two countries launch a formal peace process. November 2008 – Gunmen launch three days of multiple attacks in Mumbai, killing 166 people. India blames Pakistan-based militants and freezes talks with Pakistan. February 2009 – India cautiously welcomes Pakistan’s probe into Mumbai attack. Pakistan admits the attack was launched and partly planned from Pakistan. June 2009 – Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari meet on the sidelines of an international gathering in Russia. Singh tells Zardari he wants him to ensure militants cannot operate from Pakistan. July 2011 – Foreign ministers of India and Pakistan hold talks in New Delhi, hailing a “new era” in ties. April 2012 – Zardari meets Singh in New Delhi in the highest-level meeting on each other’s soil in seven years. 
November 2012 – India secretly hangs the lone survivor of the Pakistan-based militant squad responsible for the 2008 Mumbai attacks. January 2013 – India accuses Pakistan of “barbaric and inhuman” behaviour after two Indian soldiers are killed in a firefight in Kashmir and at least one of the bodies is mutilated. Peace talks stall and Indian Prime Minister Singh says there can be no “business as usual”. February 2013 – India hangs a Kashmiri man for the 2001 attack on its parliament that New Delhi blamed on militants backed by Pakistan. May 2013 – Nawaz Sharif returns to power in Pakistan vowing to improve relations with India and ease decades of mistrust. July 2013 – Pakistan proposes dates for resuming talks at a senior bureaucrat level on disputed water and territorial issues, possibly in August and September. Indian officials say they are also considering a proposal by Islamabad for Sharif and Singh to meet in New York in September, on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly. August 2013 – Defence Minister A.K. Antony says the number of infiltration attempts from the Pakistani side of Kashmir is double that reported in January-August 2012. There has also been an 80 percent increase in ceasefire violations over the same period. May 2014 – India’s new Prime Minister Narendra Modi invites Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif to New Delhi for his inauguration. The Pakistani PM is present at the inauguration. December 2015 – PM Modi makes a surprise visit to the Pakistani city of Lahore on Nawaz Sharif’s birthday and the wedding of his granddaughter. January 2016 – Six gunmen attack an Indian air force base in the northern town of Pathankot, killing seven soldiers in a battle that lasted nearly four days July 2016 – Indian soldiers kill Kashmiri terrorist and Hizbul Mujahideen leader Burhan Wani, sparking months of anti-India protests and deadly clashes in the region. September 2016 – Suspected terrorists sneak into an Indian army base in Kashmir’s Uri and kill 18 soldiers. Four attackers are also killed. 11 days later, Indian Army said it has carried out “surgical strikes” to destroy terror launch pads across the Line of Control in Pakistan. Pakistan denies this.
June 2017 – At the India Vs Pakistan ICC Champions Trophy 2017 cricket final, Pakistan trashes Indian by 180 runs to clinch maiden title. Kohli, nahi hota tujh say chase! 
Source: Reuters and ProperGaanda
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