Pakistan’s defense minister on Monday said he believes an incursion by India is “imminent” as tensions remain heightened following a militant attack in India’s Kashmir region last week, which saw the killing of 26 people, first reported Reuters. 

India, which has not named any group it suspects of leading the attack but said it believes Pakistan to have backed the militants involved in the assault, has reportedly engaged in an aggressive hunt to find those involved in the deadliest attack in two decades. 

According to a BBC report, Indian authorities have used explosives to demolish properties allegedly linked to the suspects, more than 1,500 people have been detained for questioning and troops from both India and Pakistan have exchanged cross-border small arms fire.

Indian security forces personnel escort an ambulance carrying the bodies of tourists who were killed in a suspected militant attack near Pahalgam, outside the police control room in Srinagar April 23, 2025.  (REUTERS/Stringer)

The feud between India and Pakistan predates last week’s attack by nearly 80 years, following Britain’s decision to end its direct rule in the region following World War II and enact the 1947 Partition of British India, which essentially divided modern-day India and Pakistan based on Hindu and Muslim populations — though it caused massive unrest and displacement along religious lines.

The partition also gave the diverse Jammu and Kashmir region the ability to choose if it wanted to join either newly established nation. 

Ultimately, the conflict ongoing today stems from the previous monarch of the region’s initial attempt to seek independence, followed by its decision to join India in exchange for security against invading Pakistani militias.

Indian security forces stand guard at the site of an attack on tourists in Kashmir’s Anantnag district on Tuesday, April 24. (Reuters/Adnan Abidi)

India and Pakistan have engaged in several wars and cross-border skirmishes in the decades since. 

While President Donald Trump said last week that resolving the decades-old conflict was down to New Delhi and Islamabad to sort out, the State Department said it was working with both sides to encourage a “responsible solution.”