Standing down

last updated 8 January 2015

Line of Control, Kashmir

Pakistan and India began withdrawing hundreds of thousands of troops from the disputed province of Kashmir this week, bringing a 10-month standoff between the nuclear-armed neighbors to an end. The two countries, which have both claimed the mostly Muslim province ever since they became independent from Britain in 1947, massed troops there last December after India blamed Pakistan-backed militants for a deadly attack on its Parliament. Both sides welcomed the pullback, initiated by India. “But the real measure of tension subsiding,” said Pakistan government spokesman Aziz Ahmed Khan, “would be to sit across the negotiating table and start talking to each other.”