BRUSSELS -- The dispute over Kashmir has soured Indo-Pakistani relations since 1947 when, with the partition of India, the Hindu ruler of a mainly Muslim principality dithered his way to war. By the time he finally chose India, after having signed the formal accession, Indian tanks and troops were driving through Kashmir to take on a proxy Pakistani army composed of tribesmen from the Northwest frontier who invaded, burned and looted to save their victims.
The United Nations intervened to broker an armistice along the Line of Control, or LOC, between the two belligerents, leaving one-third of Jammu and Kashmir in Pakistan and two-thirds in India. Since then, despite a series of skirmishes and wars, little has changed. A U.N. resolution still calls for both sides to withdraw and for a plebiscite to be held to enable the people of Kashmir to choose their masters.
Yet times have changed. In 1998 India and Pakistan exploded their first nuclear weapons within days of each other, and on at least one occasion since, military clashes have threatened to escalate to the nuclear level. Although India has a "no first use" nuclear-weapons policy, Pakistan doesn't.