INDIA-PAKISTAN
CONFLICTS
.
KASHMIR ISSUE
Soon after the partition (1947), the two countries got embroiled in a conflict
over the fate of Kashmir.
The Pakistani government claimed that Kashmir belonged to it. Wars
between India and Pakistan in 1947-48 and 1965 failed to settle the matter.
The 1947-48 war resulted in the division of the province into Pakistan-
occupied Kashmir and the Indian province of Jammu and Kashmir divided
by the Line of Control.
In 1971, India won a decisive war against Pakistan but the Kashmir issue
remained unsettled.
LINE OF
CONTROL
CURRENT TERRITORIES
ARMS RACE
India’s conflict with Pakistan is also over control of the Siachen Galacier and
acquisition of arms.
The arms race between the two countries assumed a new character with both
states acquiring nuclear weapons and missiles to deliver such arms against each
other in the 1990s.
In 1998, India conducted nuclear explosion in Pokaran. Pakistan responded
within a few days by carrying out nuclear tests in the Chagai Hills.
Since then India and Pakistan seem to have built a military relationship in which
the possibility of a direct and full-scale war has declined.
NUCLEAR TEST IN
POKHRAN BY INDIA
NUCLEAR TEST IN
CHAIGAI HIILS BY
PAKISTAN
MUTUAL SUSPICIONS
INDIA’S POV:
● The Indian government has blamed the Pakistan government for using a strategy of low-key
violence by helping the Kashmiri militants with arms, training, money and protection to carry
out terrorist strikes against India.
● The Indian government also believes that Pakistan had aided the pro-Khalistani militants with
arms and ammunitions during the period 1985-1995.
● Its spy agency, Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), is alleged to be involved in various anti-India
campaigns in India’s northeast, operating secretly through Bangladesh and Nepal.
PAKISTAN’S POV:
● The government of Pakistan, in turn, blames the Indian government and its security agencies for
fomenting trouble in the provinces of Sindh and Balochistan.
PROBLEMS OVER SHARING OF RIVER
WATERS
India and Pakistan also have had problems over the sharing of river waters.
Until 1960, they were locked in a fierce argument over the use of the rivers of the Indus
basin.
Eventually, in 1960, with the help of the World Bank, India and Pakistan signed the Indus
Waters Treaty which has survived to this day in spite of various military conflicts in which
the two countries have been involved.
There are still some minor differences about the interpretation of the Indus Waters Treaty
and the use of the river waters.
BORDER DISPUTE
● The two countries are not in agreement over the demarcation line
in Sir Creek in the Rann of Kutch.
● The dispute seems minor, but there is an underlying worry that
how the dispute is settled may have an impact on the control of
sea resources in the area adjoining Sir Creek.
● India and Pakistan are holding negotiations on all these issues.
SIGNING OF THE INDUS
WATER TREATY
SIR CREEK
CURRENT SITUATION
● On the 14th of February, 2019, a convoy of vehicles carrying India’s Central
Reserve Police Force (CRPF) was attacked by a suicide bomber in Pulwama,
killing 40 CRPF troops. In response to the attack, Indian fighter jets crossed the
border and bombed the alleged Jaish-E-Mohammed bases in the Pakistani
town of Balakot
● .In October of 2019, the Indian government led by Narendra Modi revoked
Article 370 of the Indian Constitution. Article 370 was intended to be a
temporary provision that gave the state of Jammu and Kashmir a special
status. Pakistan strongly condemned this decision and said that it will exercise
all possible options to counter the illegal steps.
● Both nations are likely to drag out this issue until they no longer can. Either
way, while the future looks bleak, the hope that there will be an improvement
still remains.
