Missile strikes and drone attacks targeted at border territories and military establishments, intensified cross-border shelling, blackouts and emergency drills.
India and Pakistan are inching ever closer to a direct military confrontation.
India considers precision strikes on terrorist sites in Pakistan a non-escalatory response to the April 22 terror attack that killed 26 innocent civilians in Kashmir.
But Pakistan has promised to respond to what it considers an insult to its sovereignty.
The threat of war between the nuclear-powered arch-rivals has the whole world on edge.
But did you know that it was this very rivalry that fuelled the two nations' nuclear programmes in the first place?
Chapter: India’s Nuclear Ambition
India began nuclear research in 1948, a year after it attained independence from the British and spawned another country, Pakistan.
Spearheaded by Parsi physicist Homi J Bhabha, India initially focused on harnessing the power of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. The effort even had support from the United States and Canada.
But the programme underwent a drastic change in 1964.
India had faced a humiliating defeat in the hands of China in 1962. Two years later in 1964, Beijing successfully conducted its nuclear test, naming itself a superpower.
Now, India needed the technology too -- for deterrence and defence.
The raw material supplied by US and Canada for nuclear reactors were covertly used to develop weapons.
After 10 years of independent research, India conducted its first peaceful nuclear test in 1974. The operation was code-named ‘Smiling Buddha’.
At the time, India was the first country outside the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council to officially admit to developing nuclear capabilities.
The test drew global condemnation and sanctions as India refused to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, aimed at preventing the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology, and furthering the goal of nuclear disarmament.
But India stopped short of building an arsenal of nuclear warheads. At least, for the time being.
Chapter: Pakistan's 'Secret' Programme
Warheads or not, Pakistan could not afford to fall behind India in a military race.
Pakistan had just lost the 1971 war against India, that led to the creation of Bangladesh. And now, India had proven its ability to develop nuclear weapons.
Pakistan put all its resources into building a nuclear bomb in 1976, with the help of Abdul Qadeer Khan. He was a Pakistani scientist who had earned a doctorate in metallurgical engineering in Belgium.
Khan was reportedly involved in a vast black-market network that illicitly transferred nuclear technology and expertise to countries like North Korea, Iran, and Libya.
Khan is believed to have used his contacts to trade nuclear technology, centrifuges, and other items to Pakistan.
According to reports, Khan managed to smuggle information, photos, blueprints, and even components of the centrifuges to the Pakistan embassy in the Netherlands.
China, too, is believed to have helped Khan obtain blueprints of an implosion device that was detonated in an October 1966 test.
The US did little prevent its key ally's effort to build the bomb. Reports suggest, the CIA turned a blind eye to mounting evidence that Pakistan was using US military funding develop weapons of mass destruction.
Chapter: The Nuclear Race
Back in India, the nuclear policy changed once again. Having gotten wind of Pakistan producing nuclear weapons, India decided to develop an arsenal too.
In 1998, just weeks before Pakistan could test its warheads, India conducted a series of tests at a remote desert region in Rajasthan’s Pokhran. In an operation code-named 'Shakti', India demonstrated its new thermonuclear weapons.
US-led sanctions hit India once again. But that did not stop India from building its arsenal.
According to the think tank Federation of American Scientists, India today boasts of around 180 nuclear warheads, while Pakistan has 170 in its arsenal.
India adheres to a ‘No First Use’ policy. Meaning, the country will use nuclear weapons only in retaliation to a nuclear attack.
But Pakistan has made no such commitment. Its nuclear doctrine emphasises ‘tactical’ use of nuclear weapons for deterrence.
The world has reason to be concerned, but let's hope clear heads prevail in India and Pakistan, and the subcontinent averts a nuclear Armageddon.
