(i) No two countries in the world have so much in common as India and Pakistan. Yet they have perpetually been in a state of undeclared war with varying degrees of intensity. Pakistan's aggression in Kargil (1999) brought the two countries even on the verge of a nuclear confrontation. The legacy of suspicion and mistrust predates the partition of India in 1947. During the freedom struggle the Muslim League, under the leadership of Mohammed Ali Jinnah propounded the two-nation theory, in support of a separate Muslim state. Jinnah insisted that since Hindus and Muslims were two nations, two separate states must consist for the two communities.
(ii) The Indian National Congress (INC)'s long rejection of and reductant acceptance of partition gave room for suspicion in Pakistan that India would try to undo the partition and devour Pakistan. Moreover, Pakistan was concerned at the possibility of India's domination in the region and its inability to match India's power all by itself. Pakistan developed a perception that it is an incomplete state without Kashmir being incorporated into it. On the other hand India perceives Kashmir's accession and integration in India as an essential element of its secular and federal democratic structure.