ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and India have reached a ceasefire agreement from 25 February 2021 onward. The Pakistan India Conflict Report by Senior Research Fellow, M. Nafees, at the Center for Research and Security Studies looks back at the losses on both sides in terms of human lives during this prolonged hostile period.

Between October 16, 2016 and February 25, 2021, Pakistan suffered 370 fatalities and 661 injuries due to the border conflicts. The highest fatalities from these skirmishes and attacks took place in 2019. During that year, India carried out an aerial attack inside Pakistan to target an alleged terrorist training camp at Balakot. An Indian plane was shot down by Pakistani forces, and its pilot Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman was taken into custody for roughly 60 hours.

The following year, in 2020, a significant drop in fatalities from cross border attacks was recorded in Pakistan.

The civil-military distribution of the victims in India is also dissimilar to what was found in Pakistan. Nearly 70% of the total fatalities were of the security personnel as compared to 41% in Pakistan. The percentages for civilians in India was 30%, compared to nearly 60% in Pakistan. There were 8 children and 13 women among the civilians. A mosque was also damaged in the frontier of Kupwara District on December 30. It is evident that both countries experienced irreversible human tragedy. If the current decision of recommitting to ceasefire agreement of 2003 gains a long-lasting permanency, it can save many precious human lives on both sides of the border and provide a better environment where purposeful dialogues can be held to address issues that remain disputed