India and Pakistan share one of the most militarised borders in the world. Both countries employ extensive surveillance tools. Both pour millions into their defence budgets, maintain thousands of troops across the Line of Control (LoC) and the border, and even station them at altitudes above 20,000 feet—at the Himalayan Siachen Glacier. Over the decades, the neighbours have experienced ceasefire violations, diplomatic disputes and territorial disagreements—the latest escalation being the April 22, 2025, Pahalgam terror attack in Kashmir, triggering the retaliatory Operation Sindoor by India. Eventually, on May 10, a ceasefire was declared, de-escalating the crossfire between India and Pakistan.
Watch the full video to know more.
Script: Annie Arif Producer: Divya Editor: Madiha Shakeel
00:00Picture a line etched across mountains and rivers, bristling with barbed fire, landmines and high-tech sensors, thermal cameras, motion detectors, electric fences.
00:10This is the border between India and Pakistan.
00:13Once one under the British rule, now one of the world's most militarized divides.
00:19Thousands of troops stand guard.
00:21Some perched at the dizzying height above 20,000 feet on Siachan Glacier, the world's highest battlefield.
00:28Since the 1947 partition, these two nations have been locked in a bitter rivalry for wars, countless skirmishes and a tense dance of diplomacy punctuated by terror attacks.
00:40The latest? A deadly terror attack in Pehalgaam, Kashmir on April 22, 2025, sparking India's retaliatory Operation Sindur.
00:51Crossfires surged until a ceasefire was agreed on, on May 10, cooling the flames for now.
00:57But how did it come to this?
00:59Let's rewind through the flashpoints and fragile truces that define its 77-year saga.
01:04Partition did not just split land.
01:06It carved up the lifeblood of the subcontinent, the Indus River system.
01:11The 1947 standstill agreement briefly preserved water sharing for irrigation, but by April 1948, India throttled the flow to Pakistan's canals.
01:23The Inter-Dominion Accord of May 4, 1948, forced India to restore water for an annual fee, but distrust festered.
01:31The 1960 Indus Waters Treaty, brokered by the World Bank, finally split the rivers, Satlaj, Bias, and Ravi to India, Indus, Jhelam, and Chenab to Pakistan.
01:42The First Kashmir War, 1947-48, over the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, ended with the UN-supervised Karachi Agreement in July 1949.
01:51It drew the line of Control, LOC, a jagged scar splitting Kashmir into an Indian and Pakistani administered zones.
01:58This line meant to bring peace remains a fuse for conflict, with ceasefire violations a grim routine.
02:04In April 1950, the Nehru-Liyakat Pact voted to shield minority in both nations.
02:10Signed by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Liyakat Ali Khan, it promised equality, security, freedom of movement, worship, and opportunity.
02:18But communal violence and displacement have repeatedly shattered those ideals, leaving scars deeper than any border.
02:25Pakistan's attempt to spark an insurgency in Kashmir in 1965 triggered a fierce war.
02:32India retaliated and the clash ended with the UN-backed Ashkent Declaration in January 1966, signed in what's now Uzbekistan.
02:40It restored peace, but left Kashmir's fate unresolved.
02:43In 1971, war, fueled by the unrest in East Pakistan, ended with Bangladesh's creation.
02:49The Simla Agreement of July 1972, signed by Indira Gandhi and Zulfi Kareli Bhutto, pushed the bilateral talks to settle disputes and normalize ties.
02:58It was a bold step, but the shadow of Kashmir loomed large.
03:01After both nations tested nuclear weapons, the 1999 Lahore Declaration, signed by Prime Ministers Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Nawaz Sharif, aimed for peace and disarmament.
03:12But weeks later, Kargil conflict erupted, exposing the fragility of such vows.
03:16Later attempts, like Manmohan Singh's dialogues or Narendra Modi's surprise 2015 Lahore visit, crumbled under attacks in Mumbai 2008, Pathankot 2016, Uri 2016, Pulwama 2019.
03:30In February 2021, backchannel talks between the military heads of both nations led to a ceasefire along LOC, effective midnight February 24th and 25th.
03:40No grand summits, just discreet diplomacy, a rare moment of calm in a storm that never seems to end.
03:4677 years, four wars, rivers, borders and promises divided.
03:52From the Indus Waters Treaty to the latest 2025 ceasefire, India and Pakistan have walked a tightrope between conflict and compromise.
04:00Yet, with every truce, the question lingers.
04:02Can these nuclear-armed neighbours forge a path beyond crisis to a peace that endures?
