The dramatic flare-up of tensions and targeted cross-border strikes between India and Pakistan this week has raised the spectre of a first all-out war between the two nuclear-armed neighbours in decades.
The two countries have fought two wars since independence over the disputed region of Kashmir – and three in total – and the picturesque Himalayan valley is once again at the centre of their standoff. Already arguably the most highly militarised region in the world, with hundreds of thousands of troops and paramilitary forces deployed to maintain security in Indian-administered Kashmir at the best of times.
