India and Pakistan ended 60-day war 20 years ago and now seek peace?

The date marks the 20th anniversary of the end of the 60-day war between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan in the Kargil district of India-administered Kashmir. Tensions remain high, yet the leaders of both countries might shun belligerence in their anniversary speeches: they are flirting with peaceful relations.

Kashmir has been at the centre of a territorial tug of war between India and Pakistan ever since the partition of India in 1947. The May-to-July outbreak of hostilities in Kargil scared the world because both countries had tested nuclear weapons.

It began when Pakistan-backed militias infiltrated Kashmir, and fighting built up to direct conflict between the two states. At the height of the war, thousands of shells were fired daily, and India launched hundreds of airstrikes. According to the BBC timeline of the conflict, it ended when then-Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, under pressure from the United States, called on the infiltrating forces to withdraw. Both sides claimed victory, and India marks the date as Kargil Victory Day.

According to NDTV, when Imran Khan was sworn-in as Pakistan’s 22nd prime minister in Aug 2018, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi phoned him and spoke about "peace and development" in the region. Just days earlier, according to the Indian broadcaster and several other sources, Khan had said in a televised speech that he wanted to fix ties between the two countries. "You take one step forward, we will take two," he said. "Our core issue is Kashmir. We need to sit at a table and solve this problem."

India’s Economic Times reports that the leaders of the two countries met face to face at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in June in Kyrgyzstan. They are reported to have exchanged pleasantries, with Khan congratulating Modi on his recent election victory.