Timeline: Highs and lows in Pakistan-India ties

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-06-16 14:08

The leaders of India and Pakistan are expected to meet on Tuesday in Russia, on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) conference.

Following are some of the highs and lows in relations between the neighbours:

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 UN-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 United Nations calls for ceasefire.

1971 - Pakistan and India go to war 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 to lay principles meant to govern relations.

1974 - India detonates its first nuclear device.

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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 carries out its own tests in response.

Feb. 1999 - Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee holds summit with his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif in Lahore.

1999 - India and Pakistan fight a brief but intense conflict in the mountains above Kargil on the Line of Control, the ceasefire line dividing the former kingdom of Jammu and Kashmir.

July 2000 - Summit between Pakistani leader General Pervez Musharraf and Vajpayee in Agra in India ends in failure.

Dec. 2001 - Militants attack Indian parliament. India blames Pakistan-based Kashmiri separatist groups Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad. Close to a million men are mobilised on either side of the border; war only averted months later in June 2002.

2003 - Pakistan and India agree a ceasefire on the Line of Control.

2004 - The two countries launch a formal peace process.

July 2008 - India blames Pakistan's ISI intelligence agency for a bomb attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul.

Nov. 2008 - Ten gunmen launch multiple attacks in Mumbai, killing 166 people. India blames Pakistan-based militants and breaks off talks with Pakistan.
 
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