What is the history of the India-Pakistan conflict?

At the stroke of midnight on August 15, 1947, British rule ended in the Indian subcontinent after nearly two centuries. But the joy of independence was followed by the agony of partition— a British plan to separate the subcontinent into two distinct countries: India and Pakistan. In theory, the British divided the countries by religion. India would have a majority-Hindu population; Pakistan, majority-Muslim. Pakistan was also created as two regions, West and East, separated by about 1,000 miles of Indian territory. In practice, this sudden division fractured existing communities. It sent millions of Hindus and Sikhs in Pakistan fleeing toward India, and millions of Muslims in India toward Pakistan. Violence broke out, particularly in regions situated at the new borders, and anywhere from 200,000 to two million people died as a result. When the Hindu ruler of Kashmir—a border region with a majority-Muslim population—opted to join India instead of Pakistan, the two countries waged war over control of the region. This instability planted the seeds for decades of distrust between India and Pakistan, which periodically erupted into further violence. In 1965 India and Pakistan fought a second war over Kashmir, coming to an end only when the United Nations brokered a ceasefire. And in 1971 rebellion against West Pakistani rule in East Pakistan sent refugees fleeing to India, sparking a third war. Pakistan’s eventual surrender led to the creation of another new country: Bangladesh. Amid smaller skirmishes over the next few decades, India and Pakistan both began to conduct their first nuclear tests. By the time they found themselves at war again in 1999, this time over the Pakistani occupation of the Kargil region of Kashmir, both countries were armed with nuclear weapons— a development that, despite periodic attempts to maintain friendly relations, raised the stakes in a conflict that would continue to simmer for decades.