By Mubasshir Mushtaq
MUMBAI, India
From "breakthrough" to collapse, the run-up to bilateral security talks between India and Pakistan on Sunday has typified the bitter relationship between India and Pakistan since their partition in 1947 at the end of British rule.
The two countries exchanged a stream of allegations and counter-allegations on Friday as they accused each other of trying to sabotage the talks. Both sides then eventually went ahead in pulling the plug on talks on Saturday that had been celebrated for having the potential to end decades of conflict when they were announced by their respective leaders in Russia in July.
The diplomatic stand-off over what role discussions about the Kashmir dispute should play in the meeting -- against a backdrop of months of cross-border shelling in the region -- hardly came as a surprise considering the importance the dispute has played in their history of enmity; including two wars fought over the divided Himalayan-region.
A timeline of their history in the seven decades of independence reveals a pattern of repeated attempts to improve relations that have all broken down and resulted in renewed hostility.
A timeline of India–Pakistan relations:
1947 – British empire partitions India into two countries: Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan, consisting of West and East Pakistan, on either side of India. The bloody migration, one of the worst in modern history, kills an estimated one million Hindus and Muslims.
1947-48 – India and Pakistan go to war over the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Armed groups across West Pakistan launch an offensive to take the region by force. The Hindu ruler Maharaja Hari Singh seeks India’s protection and signs an accord of accession. After a UN cease-fire, a resolution is passed to carry out a plebiscite in Jammu and Kashmir to allow its citizens to choose to become part of India or Pakistan.
1954 – Jammu and Kashmir state assembly ratifies state’s accession to India. India starts referring to Jammu and Kashmir as an integral part of the country.
1965 – Pakistan launches "Operation Gibraltar" to take control of Jammu and Kashmir by sparking an insurgency. India responds by attacking West Pakistan. This is the second major war between the two neighboring countries over Kashmir with each side claiming victory over the other at the end of it.
1971 – After a nine month independence war in East Pakistan, India joins the conflict against the West Pakistan army, leading to the third war between India and Pakistan. It ends with the independence of East Pakistan, which becomes Bangladesh.
1972 – India and Pakistan sign the Simla Accord that agrees to put an end to conflict and confrontation and start a new friendly relationship. Both sides agree to resolve all disputes by peaceful means. The agreement designates a cease-fire line from 1971 as the new “Line of Control”.
1974 – Jammu and Kashmir state government affirms it is a constituent unit of Union of India. Pakistan rejects it. The same year, India goes nuclear after conducting a nuclear test at Pokhran.
1989 – An armed resistance starts in Indian-held Kashmir after allegations of rigging in the 1987 state assembly election. India accuses Pakistan of arming militants; Pakistan denies the charge. Pakistan says it morally and diplomatically supports the movement.
1998 – India conducts five nuclear tests at Pokhran. Pakistan responds by conducting six nuclear tests at Chaghai hills, becoming the first and only Muslim-majority country in the world to own nuclear weapons. International sanctions are placed on both countries.
1999 – Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif sign the Lahore Declaration, reaffirming the Simla Accord. Later that year, Pakistani forces under its Army Chief General Pervez Musharraf enter Kargil in Indian-held Kashmir. Skirmishes break out until Indian troops push back the Pakistani forces.
2001 – Indian and Pakistani leaders led by India's Vajpayee and Pakistan's military ruler Musharraf hold a summit in Indian city of Agra in July but it fails after both sides could not reach an agreement over the issue of Jammu and Kashmir. In December 2001, militants attack the Indian Parliament and India blames Pakistan-based groups Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad for the attack; Pakistan denies it. Tensions rise as both countries line up a million troops on the Line of Control.
2003 – India and Pakistan agree to a cease-fire along the Line of Control.
2004 – Vajpayee and Musharraf hold talks during a summit of South Asian leaders in Islamabad. The meeting marks the beginning of bilateral talks between both sides at various government and official levels.
2007 – The Samjhauta Express, the train service between India and Pakistan, is bombed in India, killing 68 people, mostly from Pakistan. It later emerges in 2008 that Hindu radicals were allegedly behind the attack.
2008 – Armed gunmen from across the border target five-star hotels, railway stations, a hospital, and various other places in India's commercial capital Mumbai, killing 166 people. The lone surviving gunman Ajmal Kasab is captured by India. India blames Pakistan-based militant groups and suspends peace talks with Pakistan.
2009 – Pakistan admits the 2008 Mumbai attack was launched from its soil and begins a probe into the attack. India welcomes Pakistan probe. Later that year, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh meets Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari in Russia and asks him to make sure that Pakistani soil is not used by militants against India again.
2011 – India and Pakistan's foreign ministers hold talks in New Delhi to begin another attempt to improve bilateral relations.
2013 – In January, tensions rise between both countries after a number of cease-fire violations. India accuses Pakistan of "barbaric and inhumane" behavior after body of one of its soldiers is mutilated. Singh warns Pakistan. In February, India secretly hangs Afzal Guru, a Kashmiri, for his alleged role in 2001 parliament attack. In September, Singh and Sharif, returning as prime minister, meet on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York and agree to resume dialogue.
2014 – In May, Narendra Modi comes to power in India and invites South Asian leaders, including Sharif, to his swearing-in ceremony. Both countries pledge to normalize relations but foreign secretary-level talks are suspended by India after Pakistan's High Commission in New Delhi invites Kashmiri pro-independence leaders for consultations.
2015 – In April, India lodges protest after a Pakistani court grants bail to Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, the alleged mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attack. In July, Modi and Sharif meet on the sidles of a Eurasian summit in the Russian city Ufa and announce intentions to improve relations and hold bilateral security talks. Immediately afterwards, July and August sees a spurt in cease-fire violations as both countries trade charges against each other.
August 2015 – Talks between India and Pakistan's National Security Advisers Ajit Doval and Sartaj Aziz, scheduled for 23-24 August collapse after India is angered over Pakistan's invitation to Kashmiri leaders to consult on the talks.
