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Wednesday, 22 May, 2002, 14:49 GMT 15:49 UK
Kashmir's troubled history
India and Pakistan have fought several wars with Kashmir repeatedly the flashpoint. The two countries now possess nuclear weapons and there is concern that any conflict could escalate.
BBC News Online looks at the build up of tension between the two countries and attempts to end the crisis. 14 June 2002
A vehicle packed with explosives was detonated just outside the US consulate in Karachi killing 11 people, including the attacker. The White House condemned the suicide attack, describing it as a "vivid reminder" of the dangers Americans face in the war on terror.
13 June 2002
US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld visits India and Pakistan to try to defuse the tensions between the two sides. In Islamabad he suggests al-Qaeda militants may be operating in Kashmir but the suggestion is emphatically rejected by Pakistan.
7 June 2002
US peace envoy Richard Armitage says the crisis between India and Pakistan over disputed Kashmir seems to be easing. The US Assistant Secretary of State has held talks with Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee in Delhi and with the Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in Islamabad.
4 June 2002
Hopes for a resolution to the crisis in Kashmir are dashed as Indian and Pakistani leaders trade angry statements. The Indian Prime Minister accuses Pakistan of breaking its promises to prevent cross-border infiltration by militants while the Pakistani President censured India for failing to resolve the dispute.
3 June 2002
The leaders of India and Pakistan are under increasing pressure to agree to face-to-face talks, in an attempt to defuse their dispute over Kashmir. Both men are attending a regional summit in Kazakhstan but they have not met.
30 May 2002
President Bush gives his strongest warning yet that Pakistan must stop militants attacking Indian targets. The president says the US is part of an international coalition applying pressure to both parties - but especially to Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.
29 May 2002
UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw meets Indian leaders in Delhi on the second leg of his efforts to avert a possible war between India and Pakistan over Kashmir. He says the international community expects "action, not just words" from Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.
27 May 2002
President Pervez Musharraf tells his people that Pakistan does not want war. In a televised nationwide address, he accused India of creating "war hysteria" by blaming Pakistan for terrorist attacks and insisted there was no infiltration taking place across the Line of Control in Kashmir.
25 May 2002
Pakistan carries out a series of tests on its new medium range ballistic missile, amid growing concern over the potential for war with neighbouring India. The tests are proof of Pakistan's ability to deliver nuclear or other missiles deep inside India but Islamabad denies there is any connection with the current crisis.
22 May 2002
Tensions increase as both India and Pakistan amass troops along their common border. India announces it is moving five warships to the Arabian Sea, closer to Pakistan. Pakistan calls for negotiations but says it is prepared to defend itself against attack.
18 May 2002
India announces it is expelling the Pakistani High Commissioner, Ashraf Jehangir Qazi. The expulsion followed Indian accusations that Pakistan had been backing separatist militants who carried out the attack on the Kaluchak army camp.
14 May 2002
Thirty people are killed after Muslim militants fired on a bus near Jammu, in Indian-administered Kashmir, and attacked a nearby Indian army camp. The dead included women and children as well as the three attackers.
13 December 2001
An armed attack on the Indian parliament in Delhi left 14 people dead. India blamed Pakistani-backed Kashmiri militants. The attack led to a dramatic build-up of troops along the Indo-Pakistan border and raised fears of a wider conflict.
1 October 2001
October saw a devastating attack on the Kashmiri assembly in Srinagar in which 38 people were killed. The chief minister of Indian-administered Kashmir, Farooq Abdullah, called on the Indian government to launch a war against militant training camps across the border in Pakistan.
16 July 2001
The Agra summit collapses as India and Pakistan fail to reach agreement over the disputed territory of Kashmir. There was no common ground on the sovereignty of the mountainous region, which has divided them for over 50 years.
Background to the conflict
British India was divided up into two independent nations, India and Pakistan, in 1947. The territory of Kashmir was hotly contested even before this. Since then, it has been the flashpoint for two India-Pakistan wars: the first in 1947-8, the second in 1965.
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