With continued violence in Kashmir and a heightened threat of terrorist activity by Pakistan-based

militant groups, tensions and concerns over a serious military confrontation between nuclear-armed
neighbors India and Pakistan remain high. In August 2019, following a deployment of tens of thousands
of additional troops and paramilitary forces to the region, the Indian government moved to revoke
Article 370 of the Indian constitution, removing the special status of Jammu and Kashmir. India-
administered Kashmir remains under lockdown, with internet and phone services intermittently cutoff
and thousands of people detained.

In February 2019, an attack on a convoy of Indian paramilitary forces in Indian-controlled Kashmir killed
at least forty soldiers. The attack, claimed by Pakistani militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad, was
the deadliest attack in Kashmir in three decades. Two weeks later, India claimed to have conducted air
strikes targeting a terrorist training camp inside Pakistani territory. Pakistan retaliated a day later with
air strikes in Indian-administered Kashmir. The exchange escalated into an aerial engagement, during
which Pakistan shot down two Indian military aircraft and captured an Indian pilot; the pilot
was released two days later.