Indo Pak Relations - Research Paper Example

AR Indo Pak Relations “INDO-PAK RELATIONS: History and current Situation” The Pakistan-India tension has always been a very fragile issue and is one of the most popular issues around the globe; this has not yet been resolved since their respective partition. Each country has its own perspective and all this current state of tension carries with itself a huge background and history. Before the partition, both the countries along with Bangladesh were altogether and were unanimously known as India/The Indian Subcontinent/Hindustan. Since that the time too, the major issue that always rattled up was the religion issue i.e. more than half of the population being Hindus and the remaining majority being the Muslims. During the drive for independence from the British, both the Hindus and the Muslims had severe ethnic and religious issues which always led to many conflicts between the two major religious groups of the country. The major and the most devastating issues arose after the partition of both the countries such as the Water dispute between the two countries, division of states and funds, etc. The matter that was of utmost significance to both countries was the partition of Kashmir. On partition, Pakistan expected Kashmir to be annexed to it as the most of the people living in Kashmir were Muslims. (Varshney, 1991). Kashmir, since 1820, was governed by Maharaja Hari Singh, who was a Hindu. Every state had the option of choosing the country to which it needed to be associated with i.e. either to be a part of Pakistan or India. In 1947, a Muslim revolution entered Kashmir with the intention of liberating Kashmir from the rule of the Maharaja. The Maharaja, unable to sustain the pressure of the revolutionary group, signed the instrument of accession which showed his willingness to join India as he was unable to sustain the pressure of that revolutionary group and in return wanted Indian Army to help him out. This war between the Indian Army and the Revolutionary group continued for a year approximately until it was brought before the United Nations Security Council. The UN Security Council imposed an immediate cease-fire and asked the Pakistani Government to pull out its troops from the region. Further, the UN Security Council stated that the Indian side was to keep little military presence in the disputed area as the fate of Kashmir was to be decided by holding a plebiscite under the supervision of the United Nations. This particular plebiscite has not yet taken place since 1948; hence increased more bitterness among the neighboring countries. Due to this Kashmir issue, there have been several occasions when both these countries have waged war against each other. The three major wars between the two countries have been fought in 1965, 1971 and 1999 respectively. All these wars have been usually neutralized by the United Nation and the 1971 war led to the emergence of Bangladesh as a separate entity from Pakistan (Cassese, 1986 pp. 62-67). The issue of Kashmir started after the partition but there were many religious matters that led to the division of both the countries. Many religious activities led to the partition, such as the slaughtering of cow and buffalo was highly opposed by the Hindus as cows and buffalos were considered as holy animals among the Hindus and such slaughtering is strictly prohibited in their religion. All these factors added up initially as few drops of water and piled up more and more in a larger sea of misconceptions amongst the Muslims and the Hindus. Even after the partition many activities took place to create major differences between the two religious sects, such as the demolition of Babri Mosque, India in 1992. This site was a conflicted site and many disputes occurred regularly. This demolition of the mosque created a huge hue and cry within the Muslims of India and of Pakistan hence increasing more tension between the two countries because of religious issues (Harrison et Al., 1999 pp. 22-58). The issues of Pakistan and India have been a challenge for both countries which involves the whole world. To create peace in the Middle East it is important for both these nuclear powers to remain calm and diplomatic. In order to maintain this harmony the key players of the whole situation are the governments of both the countries concerned and the United Nations which can interfere to resolve the issues of both the countries. The two nations are in the grasp of terror since the days of partition. The religious and geographical grounds are the most crucial matters which led to the division of both the states. Ideologies of both states differ with regards to the issues that the countries are facing. The foremost matter of Kashmir which was discussed previously is wanted by both the states. India considers Kashmir as a part of its country as the Maharaja had wanted to join India and as was decided by Lord Ratcliffe it was to be awarded to them. But the stance of Pakistan differs on this issue as it states that India consisted of a Muslim majority and it should be theirs to rule. If not this way then an election should be held which should help the Kashmiri people decide as to which state they want to join. Only because of this issue many other issues have also emerged which have damaged the peace process of both the countries. The Indian attacks which took place in Mumbai led further to aggravate the ideologies of the states. Both the states consider that the other is their enemy and is planning attacks on them (Wirsing, 1994 pp 7-183). On several instances it has also been found that many of the secret agents of each country is entering the other country. It has been seen that despite the growing tensions between the states they have been neutralizing each other’s aggressive stance somehow. Both the countries have elected officials who know the intensity of the situation that both the countries are going through. They are using a diplomatic stance to neutralize each other by resolving their differences by the means of talks. After the Mumbai attacks it has been seen that the peace process between the two countries has been largely affected. Previously foreign ministers from both countries were visiting each other so that they could enhance the ties but after the attack it has been noticed that both the countries are playing a ‘blame game’. After the Mumbai attacks it was somewhat evident that both the states were on the line of waging a war but because of some efforts from the Pakistani side, India did not wage a war on Pakistan. Mumbai attacks were directly being linked to the Pakistani secret agency ISI and the individual caught at the site of carnage was a Pakistani named Ajmal Kasab. The intense situation after Mumbai attacks was tackled perfectly by the Pakistani government so as to satisfy their Indian counterparts on not waging a war against them. After the Mumbai attacks Pranab Mukherjee in clear words stated that evidence links Pakistani government to the attacks and following this statement several steps were taken by the Pakistani government to ensure India that they were not involved in the attacks. The positive steps taken by the Pakistani government somewhat helped in convincing India to not wage a war against them. The prime minister of Pakistan Yousuf Raza Gilani at that time stated that Pakistan had no link with that attack and he dispatched the Chief Lieutenant of ISI to India. The president of Pakistan had telephonic conversation with Manmohan Singh and assured him of full cooperation from the Pakistani government. The chief of ISI was provided with evidence which linked a banned organization of Pakistan to that attack. Since then the operations on the banned organization in Pakistan have intensified to assure full cooperation to India. The steps taken by Pakistani government were important in neutralizing the effect of the Mumbai attacks and this can be considered as the primary reason for which India did not attack Pakistan. The current state of both the countries can lead to several problems and must be fixed so that the peace process can carry on. In order to carry on with the peace process the countries need to build upon their relations once again by grounding their old differences. The role to be played by Pakistani government has to be much more positive this time because of their somewhat associated phenomena with the Mumbai attacks in 2008. It is necessary for the foreign organizations and states to play their role so that they can decrease the pressure on both states. European Union and United Nations can play a major role in decreasing tensions between the two states. A calm response is needed from both the states to resolve the issue and this can only be solved if both the states agree to resolve their issue by talks. This issue can be voiced in the bodies of the world so that these foreign bodies can decide as to which state is right and which is not. If these issues are not resolved peacefully then both the states might resort to aggressive means such as war. Both the countries are nuclear powers which can prove to be very dangerous for each other. And as they are geographically neighbors both the countries can easily harm each other with the use of missiles and rockets. Furthermore as their borders are also linked, the armies can enter the territory of one state and destroy it. War can be destructible to both the countries and it should be avoided at any cost. Not only would it destroy both the countries but its effect may also be harmful to the whole world. The gases and harmful chemicals emitted by the nuclear warfare can cause destruction in the layers of the earth. This can lead in the destruction of ozone and thus may cause permanent risk to the whole humanity. In simple words war between these two countries should not be kept as an option and all possible measures of peace should be taken by both the countries to ensure this. Foreign bodies can play a major role in this as is mentioned above. If we look closely, the tension that exists between the two nations is far beyond the boundaries of ideological difference. India and Pakistan have been holding such a relationship that is hard to handle when it comes to any chaos or uncalled event occurring in the boundaries of any of these two states. The past experiences and wars are the major cause of this tension that prevails between the two countries despite of the continuous efforts of countries around the world. The war between these two countries may not only be a devastating factor for the larger populations that reside there but also may harm the plenty of natural resources that exist in these two precious gifts of nature. The two countries are full of natural resources and damage to those resources may not only be a loss of human assets but also be a huge loss of resources that are exported and utilized by people around the globe (Dudley, 2003 pp. 33-75). In order to strengthen the relationship that exists between the two countries there is a need to negotiate and understand the issues of both parties. Since the relationship is not improving by individual efforts to strengthen the relationship, it is recommended for the countries to take assistance from other nations. The US may help the countries in finding a fair and acceptable solution to the root causes of the weak relationship between India and Pakistan. The US may act as a neutral party and listen to both the parties without bias or discrimination on any grounds. The recommendations and decisions of the US as a neutral party can then be proposed to the two countries and be approved by other concerned nations. In this manner, the US may help a lot in making the position of the two countries better and may also help in binding these nations in a strong relationship of peace, cooperation and loyalty (Pavri, 1997). It can be clearly witnessed that Indian government has been responding wisely towards their Pakistani counterparts till date. Their defensive response has helped them to avoid a war between the two countries. But India alone is not being defensive here as Pakistani government has also assured full support to their Indian counterparts. President Asif Zardari has proposed every possible method in decreasing the tension between the two states and has even provided with the relevant information regarding the organization which was involved in Mumbai attacks. The full cooperation of Pakistani government has led to the neutralization of the aggressive behavior by Indians after the Mumbai attacks. And if this strategy of Pakistan does not change then it is possible that the two states may come to a compromise in the latter years. Bibliography: Cassese, Antonio. The Current Legal Regulation of the Use of Force. Developments in international law. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: M. Nijhoff, 1986. Varshney, Ashutosh. "India, Pakistan, and Kashmir: Antinomies of Nationalism." Asian Survey. 31. 11 (1991): 997-1019. Wirsing, Robert. India, Pakistan, and the Kashmir Dispute: On Regional Conflict and Its Resolution. New York: St. Martins Press, 1994. Pavri, Tinaz. "Help or Hindrance: Third Parties in The Indo-Pakistani Conflict." Negotiation Journal. 13. 4 (1997): 369-388. Dudley, William. India and Pakistan: Opposing Viewpoints. Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven Press, 2003. Harrison, Selig S., Paul H. Kreisberg, and Dennis Kux. India and Pakistan: The First Fifty Years. Woodrow Wilson Center series. Washington, D.C.: Woodrow Wilson Center Press, 1999. Read More