Aligned Nations · The wars

Kashmir, India and Pakistan

⚔ The aggressor

India, as the occupying force in Kashmir

An occupying force is the aggressor. India holds Indian-administered Kashmir by force against the UN Security Council's 1948–49 call for a plebiscite, revoked its autonomy in 2019, and in May 2025 struck Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir after the Pahalgam massacre, without an independent inquiry. Pakistan holds the other part of Kashmir; the 1948 UN resolution asked it to withdraw its forces first.

Backed by

  • Alleged: Pakistan → The Pahalgam militantsIndia says the attackers belonged to a front for Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba; Pakistan denies any role and offered a neutral inquiry.

Their case: India calls Kashmir an integral part of India and its May 2025 strikes a response to Pakistan-backed terrorism; Pakistan denies any role in Pahalgam.

South Asia · since 1947 (latest clashes May 2025) · updated 2026-10-12

Deaths: About 47,000 since the 1989 insurgency (Indian officials; Kashmiri rights groups say over 70,000)

A tense ceasefire has held since the May 2025 clashes that followed the Pahalgam massacre, but India still holds the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance and rejected the court ruling that it binds both states.

🇵🇰 Pakistan40%🇮🇳 Indiaaggressor17%

Summary

Militants killed 26 civilians, mostly Hindu tourists, at Pahalgam on 22 April 2025. India blamed Pakistan-based groups — Pakistan denied it and offered a neutral inquiry — and on 6–7 May launched Operation Sindoor, striking sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Four days of missile, drone and artillery exchanges followed, with civilians killed on both sides of the Line of Control, before a ceasefire on 10 May.

India also suspended the Indus Waters Treaty, the 1960 agreement that shares the rivers Pakistan's farms depend on. On 31 August 2026 the Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled the treaty still binding; Pakistan welcomed the ruling and India rejected it. In Indian-administered Kashmir, rights groups report demolitions, mass arrests and Eid prayers barred at Srinagar's Jamia Masjid for an eighth year; in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, protests left nearly 40 dead in mid-2026.

Where it stands: The ceasefire is holding through October 2026 with no resumption of war, but India says Operation Sindoor is 'ongoing', militant attacks continue, and Crisis Group rates a new India–Pakistan war after a major attack as a real risk.

The parties

  • Pakistan

    40%

    Defended its territory, accepted the ceasefire and mediation, and stands by the water treaty — though its own Kashmir has seen deadly repression of protests.

    • Denied involvement in Pahalgam and offered a neutral investigation.
    • Agreed the 10 May 2025 ceasefire and welcomes third-party mediation.
    • Honours the Indus Waters Treaty and welcomed the August 2026 arbitration ruling.
    • Nearly 40 killed in protests in Pakistan-administered Kashmir since June 2026; the protest movement was banned.

    🇵🇰 Pakistan in the nations ranking40%

  • India

    17%

    Struck another state before any inquiry, uses water as a weapon against a whole population, and rules Kashmir by force against the UN's plebiscite resolutions.

    • Launched Operation Sindoor on 6–7 May 2025 without an independent investigation of Pahalgam.
    • Holds the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance and rejected the Permanent Court of Arbitration's 31 August 2026 ruling.
    • Revoked Kashmir's autonomy in 2019; the UN plebiscite resolutions of 1948–49 were never implemented.
    • Rights groups report 716 arrests and 81 homes demolished in Kashmir in January–March 2026.

    🇮🇳 India in the nations ranking17%

  • Militants behind the Pahalgam attack

    Murdered unarmed tourists — no cause excuses killing the innocent.

    • Killed 26 civilians at Pahalgam on 22 April 2025.

    An armed group, not a nation — not scored in the ranking.

Articles

How each nation is scored — the ten principles of our policy reforms
  1. Justice (adl). No one's land, life, rights or wealth taken unjustly; justice upheld for everyone, even enemies, and what was wrongly taken given back. Economic, Financial, Political and National Policy Reform
  2. Protection of life (hifz al-nafs). Life is sacred: non-combatants never targeted, war only against real aggression, and no help given to another's aggression. Political Policy Reform; the objectives of the sharia (maqasid)
  3. Prohibition of usury and speculation (riba, gharar). Public and private finance built on shared risk and real assets, not interest-bearing debt or speculative bets. Economic, Financial, Political and National Policy Reform
  4. Circulation of wealth and zakat (tadawul al-mal). Wealth must not circulate only among the rich; zakat, endowments and fair wages meet every person's basic needs. Economic, Financial, Political and National Policy Reform
  5. Trust over common resources (amana). Water, energy, minerals and public assets belong to the whole community — not privatised, monopolised or signed away for private or foreign gain. Economic and Financial Policy Reform
  6. Accountability and truthfulness (muhasaba, sidq). Rulers, security forces and firms answer to law and to the public; no coups, state capture, bribery or concealment. Economic, Political and National Policy Reform
  7. Legitimate authority by consultation (shura). Rule rests on the community's consent, given through consultation and a free pledge — not inheritance, force or foreign backing. Political and National Policy Reform
  8. Kept covenants and peacemaking (wafa bil-ahd, sulh). Treaties, contracts and rulings honoured; an offer of peace met with peace; disputes ended by reconciliation. Economic, Financial and Political Policy Reform
  9. Independence and self-reliance (izza). No foreign power or creditor in control of the nation's revenues or decisions; its own strength, industry and knowledge built. Financial and Political Policy Reform
  10. Human dignity, privacy and freedom of worship (karama). Every person's dignity protected — citizen or migrant; no spying on private lives; faiths and places of worship free and safe. Economic, Financial, Political and National Policy Reform

These are the principles the Policy Reform pages draw from the expert opinions. Each nation is marked 0–5 on each from its record as a state — its economy, government and treatment of its people, and its conduct in its wars — drawn from UN bodies, the ICJ and ICC, human-rights monitors and the reporting under each war. The ten marks make the percentage; each war a nation started, provoked or joined against another people then takes 15 points off it, and an aggressor always ranks below every nation that started no war. The score judges a state's conduct, not its people or their faith.