Indian- and Pakistani-origin Canadians are keeping a close eye on tensions on the Indian subcontinent, where a rapidly escalating conflict over the disputed region of Kashmir has raised fears over a war between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan.
The tension traces back to a suicide bombing that killed 40 paramilitary police in Indian-controlled Kashmir on Feb. 14. India blamed Pakistan for harbouring the terror group responsible for the bombing and launched an air strike into Pakistani territory on Tuesday.
The two sides shot down one another’s aircraft on Wednesday, and shots have been fired on both sides of the disputed region.
READ MORE: World powers urge ‘de-escalation’ of tensions between India and Pakistan
For many Kashmiri immigrants, the conflict raises fresh concern over the safety of loved ones back home and stirs up old memories of past wars.
“Everyone is worried with respect to the ongoing hostility and the tension that has escalated in the last two, three days,” said Mumtaz Khan, a member of the Kashmiri Canadian Cultural Association who hails from the Pakistani side of Kashmir.
Kashmiris from the Indian side of the scenic region expressed similar concerns.
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WATCH: India and Pakistan on the brink of all-out military conflict
Statistics Canada data shows that more than 1.9 million people in Canada consider themselves to be of South Asian ethnic origin.
That number includes 1.4 million people of East Indian origin, 216,000 from Pakistan, 118,000 from the border-straddling region of Punjab and 3,115 from Kashmir. The data is self-reported, and individuals are allowed to report multiple ethnicities.
India has the largest diaspora population in the world, with approximately 17 million international migrants living outside the country, according to United Nations data from 2017. An estimated six million people from Pakistan have also settled abroad. Those numbers don’t include people of Indian or Pakistani ethnicity who were born abroad.
Several airlines, including Air Canada, responded to the violence on Wednesday by suspending flights into India and Pakistan.
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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canadian officials were paying “close attention” to the India-Pakistan tensions.
“This is a conflict that has potential ramifications for billions of people in the region, and that’s why we’re calling for dialogue, for de-escalation,” Trudeau said.
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