New Delhi: India and Pakistan have been bitter rivals and have fought four wars since the partition following India's independence in 1947. Border skirmishes are a routine affair and there have been innumerable numbers of ceasefire violations by both the countries.
Since Independence, Pakistan has consistently backstabbed India and despite facing severe criticism on international stage the Pakistani authorities have never resisted from creating trouble in India through their policy of proxy war and use of terror groups.
While there are several examples of Pakistan creating trouble in India, there have been some instances when the troublemakers from across the border have launched extremely brutal and violent attacks. Some of these attacks have been carried out by Pakistan-backed terror groups while others have been launched by its armed forces.
In one of the biggest terror strikes on the Indian soil on November 26, 2008 Pakistani terrorists attacked Mumbai and killed at least 166 people and injured many more. The siege of Mumbai lasted for more than 60 hours. On 13 December, 2001 Pakistan-sponsored terrorists attacked Parliament. The attack on Parliament took place when the then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was trying to mend relations between the two countries and had invited the then Pakistan president General Pervez Musharraf for Agra Summit. But before the year ended Pakistani terrorists attacked Parliament.
Earlier, Pakistan had launched an attack in the Kargil area in 1999 and captured several peaks. The Indian Army drove away the Pakistani Army and irregulars from the icy peaks after a bloody and hard fought battle. Before the Kargil war Vajpayee had gone to Lahore by bus and met the then Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif but the Pakistani paid back by backstabbing India and intruding into the Kargil area.
Later in 1999 December Indian Airlines IC 814 was hijacked after it took off from Kathmandu by a group of Pakistani terrorists. The plane was taken to Kandhar in Afghanistan, which was controlled by the Taliban. The hijackers had killed an Indian passenger and released the plane and its passengers only after India freed three dreaded terrorists including Maulana Masood Azhar.
Pakistan has been trying to destabilise India ever since it was split into two after the 1971 War and Bangladesh was born from what was East Pakistan. The 1971 War was extremely humiliating for Pakistan when the country not only broke into two, but over 93,000 of its soldiers were taken as prisoners of war by India. India and Pakistan signed the Shimla Agreement but the latter never believed in peaceful co-existence.
In 1965 too the two countries went to war. The second Indo-Pak war (1965) was also fought over Kashmir and started without a formal declaration of war. The war began in August 5, 1965 and came to an end on September 22, 1965. The war was initiated by Pakistan who since the defeat of India by China in 1962 had come to believe that Indian military would be unable or unwilling to defend against a quick military campaign in Kashmir, and because the Pakistani government was becoming increasingly alarmed by Indian efforts to integrate Kashmir within India. There was also a perception that there was widespread popular support within for Pakistani rule and that the Kashmiri people were dissatisfied with Indian rule. After the defeat in the war the then Indian prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri and Pakistan's president Ayub Khan signed the Tashkent Agreement on January 10, 1966. But this too failed to bring the two countries closer.
Pakistan had attacked India for the first time a months after the partition in October 1947. Even though Islamabad claims that the attack was carried out by insurgents and tribals from its north-west frontier province, but they were actively supported by the Pakistan Army. Pakistan wanted to integrate Muslim-dominated Kashmir, but Maharaja Hari Singh requested New Delhi for help in return for accession of the state to India. The war finally ended on January 1, 1949, after the ceasefire line was demarcated even though Pakistan still claims that Kashmir is a disputed territory.
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