Mighty China should have closely watched the recent clashes between Pakistan's and India's armies across the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir with concern. China is a neighbor to both of the nuclear-armed rivals, and the tensions between them might have a spillover effect on regional stability.

Both countries accused each other of being responsible for the flare-up that started in early October. So far, it is not clear who fired the first bullet, as truth is the first casualty in all such conflicts. What we know with certainty is that at least 12 Pakistanis and around 10 Indians, mostly civilians on both sides, were killed before the guns fell silent after more than nine days of heavy firing. Over 100 people were injured and thousands of others displaced, leaving their bullet-marked houses in panic.

Most of the fighting occurred along an approximately 199-kilometer stretch of border separating the Sialkot region of Pakistan's largest province of Punjab from the Kashmir region controlled by India. The area on both sides of the border is dominated by lush green fields, and new houses have sprung up close to the border due to the area's relative calm since the two countries agreed on a ceasefire in 2003. This ceasefire has worked for the greater part of several years, with only a few minor violations before the recent clash, which is considered the worst in a decade. The worrying part of the conflict was the attacks on the civilian population and villages which could be seen from a distance. The two countries have already fought three major wars and have been involved in several clashes, but common people have seldom suffered such intense shelling.

The Indian side accuses Pakistan of often resorting to firing in order to facilitate incursions of militants to fight in its part of Kashmir, where an armed insurgency has been going on since 1989. Pakistan denies the charges, saying that it only provided political and diplomatic support for the people of Kashmir's right to self-determination through plebiscite, which was promised to them by the UN. A common perception in Pakistan is that the new Indian government of right-wing Narendra Modi purposefully used heavy weaponry including artillery, in this clash to inflict maximum damage. This assessment is in line with a statement made by Indian Defense Minister Arun Jaitley, who said that his country would make this clash "unaffordable" for Pakistan.

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