Includes index.

Introduction: A Relationship of Unremitting Hostility? -- The First Kashmir War -- The Second Kashmir War -- The Banladesh War -- From Crisis to Crisis -- The Nuclear Dimension -- The Kargil War -- Epilogue: A Restive Relationship Enters a New Century.

Since their genesis in 1947, the nations of India and Pakistan have been locked in a seemingly endless spiral of hostility over the disputed territory of Kashmir. Ganguly asserts that the two nations remain mired in conflict due to inherent features of their nationalist agendas. Indian nationalist leadership chose to hold on to this Muslim-majority state to prove that minorities could thrive in a plural, secular polity. Pakistani nationalists argued with equal force that they could not part with Kashmir as part of the homeland created for the Muslims of South Asia. Ganguly authoritatively analyzes why hostility persists as well as the current prospects for war and peace in the region.