Indo-Pak Relations
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Dr. Debjani Ghosal, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Surendranath College (Study Materials) Indo-Pak Relations Since their independence as new nations in 1947, India and Pakistan have followed a path of mutual animosity. Pakistan was created as a national homeland for the Muslim-majority areas of the subcontinent, while India proposed to become a secular nation that included about 85 percent Hindus, but also more than ten percent Muslims as well as large numbers of Sikhs, Christians and members of other religions. Soon after the partition of the sub-continent into the two nations, about 17 million people fled their homes and journeyed to either Pakistan or India. In one of the largest exchanges of populations in history, violence soon broke out with Muslims on one side and Sikhs and Hindus on the other. The resulting blood shed in the Punjab and West Bengal regions left more than one million people dead in its wake. In the midst of this refugee movement and open violence, the governments of India and Pakistan hastily tried to divide the assets of British India between the two new countries. From weapons and money, down to paper clips and archaeological treasures, all had to be divided.The British had left behind, besides about half of the subcontinent that it directly governed, some 562 independent or "princely" states. The provision was that each state could remain independent, join Pakistan or accede to India. A violent competition soon resulted as the two new nations sought to win to their own nations the largest and most strategically located states, such as Hyderabad and Kashmir. Because Kashmir was more than 70% Muslim, Pakistan insisted that a vote be taken in the state. However, India argued, since the Maharaja of Kashmir was Hindu, he had right to take the state into India. Even as independence was being celebrated, India and Pakistan began a covert war in Kashmir and the struggle for that state still goes on today. In 1947, 1965 and 1971 India and Pakistan fought wars that did not change the status of Kashmir, but did result in the 1971 further partition of West and East Pakistan into the two nations of Pakistan and Bangladesh. Dr. Debjani Ghosal, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Surendranath College (Study Materials) Not only did the architects of Indian foreign policy fear Pakistan, but in 1962, after China's sudden invasion of northeast India, they suddenly realized the ancient protection of the Himalayan Mountains had vanished. India now would have to build sufficient military power to protect itself from both Pakistan and China, the largest country in the world and a major military power armed with nuclear weapons. Soon after the China war of 1962, Indian scientists began developing its nuclear capability. Under Indira Gandhi's Prime Ministership in 1974, India successfully exploded a nuclear device, announcing to the world its scientific capacity to develop nuclear bombs. Because of the strong world opinion against nuclear testing, India did not undertake additional nuclear testing until May, 1998. However, this fourteen-year moratorium on nuclear testing did not mean Indian scientists and political leaders were not planning to join the nuclear club. Although Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi reversed his mother's policy of nuclear development, when a new prime minister Narasimha Rao assumed power in 1991, India resumed its plans for nuclear development and in December, 1995, Rao was ready to authorize a nuclear test--only to be discovered by CIA spy satellite and discouraged by President Clinton from going forward with the tests. With the election of the Hindu Nationalist, Bharata Janata Party in 1998, Prime Minister Atal Vajpayee ordered Indian scientists to proceed with plans for testing as soon as possible. This lead to the series of detonations in May, and the subsequent quick response by Pakistan. India detonates five nuclear devices at Pokhran. Pakistan responds by detonating six nuclear devices of its own in the Chaghai Hills. The tests result in international sanctions being placed on both countries. In the same year, both countries carry out tests of long-range missiles. In 1999, Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee meets with Nawaz Sharif, his Pakistani counterpart, in Lahore. The two sign the Lahore Declaration, the first major agreement between the two countries since the 1972 Simla Accord. Both countries reaffirm their commitment to the Simla Accord, and agree to undertake a number of 'Confidence Building Measures' (CBMs). Some of the diplomatic gains are eroded, however, after the Kargil conflict breaks out in May 1999. Pakistani Dr. Debjani Ghosal, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Surendranath College (Study Materials) forces and Kashmiri fighters occupy strategic positions on the Indian side of the LoC, prompting an Indian counter-offensive in which they are pushed back to the other side of the original LoC. Kargil is the first armed conflict between the two neighbours since they officially conducted nuclear weapons tests.In October 1999, General Pervez Musharraf, the Pakistani chief of army staff, leads a military coup, deposing Nawaz Sharif, the then prime minister, and installing himself as the head of the government. Since 2000 there were recurrent attacks and counter attacks from both sides. Among them the attack on Srinagar Assembly and Indian Parliament attack made the bilateral relations worse. In 2003 after Musharraf calls for a ceasefire along the LoC during a UN General Assembly meeting in September, the two countries reach an agreement to cool tensions and cease hostilities across the de facto border.Vajpayee and Musharraf hold direct talks at the 12th SAARC summit in Islamabad in January, 2004 and the two countries' foreign secretaries meet later in the year. This year marks the beginning of the Composite Dialogue Process, in which bilateral meetings are held between officials at various levels of government (including foreign ministers, foreign secretaries, military officers, border security officials, anti-narcotics officials and nuclear experts). In November, on the eve of a visit to Indian-administered Kashmir, the new Indian prime minister, Manmohan Singh, announces that India will be reducing its deployment of troops there. In 2004, India redeploys 5,000 troops from Jammu and Kashmir, citing an "improvement" in the situation there, but the two countries are unable to reach an agreement on withdrawing forces from the Siachen glacier. In September of this year President Musharraf and Prime Minister Singh agree to put into place an India-Pakistan institutional anti-terrorism mechanism. The two countries tried to improve their economic relations in the following years. In 2008 India joins a framework agreement between Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan on a $7.6bn gas pipeline project. A series of Kashmir-specific CBMs are also agreed to (including the approval of a triple-entry permit facility). In September, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Indian Dr. Debjani Ghosal, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Surendranath College (Study Materials) Prime Minister Singh formally announced the opening of several trade routes between the two countries. In October, cross-LoC trade commences, though it is limited to 21 items and can take place on only two days a week. However, the Mumbai attack again had worsened the bilateral relations. The follwing years were significant in determining Indo-Pak relations. 2009 - The Pakistani government admitted that the Mumbai attacks may have been partly planned on Pakistani soil, while vigorously denying allegations that the plotters were sanctioned or aided by Pakistan's intelligence agencies. Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and Indian Prime Minister Singh met on the sidelines of a Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in Sharm elSheikh, Egypt, issuing a joint statement charting future talks. Singh rules out, however, the resumption of the Composite Dialogue Process at the present time. The Indian government continued to take a stern line with Pakistan, however, with its coalition government saying that it is up to Pakistan to take the first step towards the resumption of substantive talks by cracking down on activist groups on its soil. In August, India gives Pakistan a new dossier of evidence regarding the Mumbai attacks, asking it to prosecute Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, the head of Jamaat-ud-Dawa, an Islamic charity with ties to Lashkar-e-Taiba. 2010 - In January, Pakistani and Indian forces exchanged fire across the LoC in Kashmir, the latestin a string of such incidents that have led to rising tension in the area. In February, India and Pakistan's foreign secretaries met in New Delhi for talks. This meeting is followed by the two countries' foreign ministers meeting in Islamabad in July. 2012 - In November, India executes Pakistani national Kasab, the lone survivor of a fighter squad that killed 166 people in a rampage through the financial capital Mumbai in 2008, hanging him just days before the fourth anniversary of the attack. 2013 - In January, India and Pakistan trade accusations of violating the ceasefire in Kashmir, with Dr. Debjani Ghosal, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Surendranath College (Study Materials) Islamabad accusing Indian troops of a cross-border raid that killed a soldier and India charging that Pakistani shelling destroyed a home on its side. 2013 - In September, the prime ministers of India and Pakistan met in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. Both the leaders agree to end tension between armies of both sides in the disputed Kashmir. The Modi Era : 2014 - On May 27, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held talks with Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in New Delhi. Both sides expressed willingness to begin a new era of bilateral relations. During his first term, Modi sought to improve ties with Pakistan by inviting then-Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to his 2014 swearing-in ceremony and visited Lahore for an unplanned visit on Christmas day 2015.