INDIA PAKISTAN RELATIONS

On India - Pakistan

1.Why the India-Pakistan rivalry endures?

Hostility between India and Pakistan has been a consistent feature of the relationship between the two countries since 1947. It endures because the causative factor of that hostility is largely left unaddressed. Many people believe that the Kashmir dispute between the two countries is the raison d'etre for the frayed relationship between the two countries. But the truth of the matter is that the Kashmir dispute is but a symptom and not the cause of hostility, which is primarily the result of both the nations having competing ideologies. Pakistan, in its ideological construct, pushes its Islamic identity in antithesis to India, which chose to be a secular, pluralistic state. And therein lies the root cause of the problem.

Formed as a homeland for the Muslims of the subcontinent, Pakistan chose to define its identity based on Islam. The Objectives Resolution of 1949 defined the Islamic-religious character of the Pakistani state, which later was inserted into the Preamble of the 1973 Constitution of Pakistan. As Islam was central to the idea of Pakistan, every political leader, starting with Jinnah’s political successor, Liaquat Ali Khan, negotiated a compromise with the religious right, as a result of which the Muslim clergy soon became a dominant force in the politics of Pakistan. Consequently, religious ideology became inextricably linked with the core state ideology. While General Ziaul Haq went further than others in ‘Islamising’ Pakistan’s legal and educational system, his policy of Islamisation was an extension of a consistent State ideology, not an aberration.

The Pakistan army's dominance in the political landscape of Pakistan is also now a constant fixture. Besides guarding the country against external threats, the army has expanded its role to include internal security matters, as well as being the guardians of the state’s ideology. For the army to remain relevant in Pakistan it needs an external enemy and raising the bogey of a threat from India serves that purpose well. 

A normalisation of relationship between the two countries would require a fundamental shift in the ideological stance of Pakistan, and of the nature of their polity, which has excessive military control. In the absence of the same, the relationship will continue to be one of hostility and mutual suspicion.

2.The involvement of major powers has deepened the rivalry between the two  neighbours of the Indian subcontinent. Do you agree?

Major powers exploit fissures that exist between countries if it leads to the furtherance of their own geo-political and economic interests. In the frayed relations between India and Pakistan, China has visibly propped up Pakistan in its efforts to keep India bogged down in South Asia so that it does not become a rival to China. That explains Chinese technological and military aid to Pakistan over the last six decades, which continues till date. 

Pakistan has also received support from the US and the West. This support was not against India per se, but was aimed at propping up Pakistan as a front-line state, to halt the expansion of communist ideology from USSR. However, the weapons and equipment provided to Pakistan enhanced its military capability and were used to balance India's military power. The pro-West groupings which Pakistan joined in the 1950s, (CENTO and SEATO), were ostensibly to ward of the threat of communism, but in reality, the military and other assistance provided was used by Pakistan against India. With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Pakistan lost its salience as a front-line state against communist expansion and so Western interest in Pakistan diminished to a large extent. But this changed post the attack on the US by al Qaida on 11 September 2001. Pakistan once again became a front-line state, this time in support of the US Global War on Terror. With the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan two decades later in August 2021, the US and its allies have a vastly reduced stake in Pakistan as at present, which is reflective in the drop in military and economic assistance to that country.

While external actors do not play a major role in deepening the hostility which exists between India and Pakistan, they will continue to fuel the distrust that exists between the two countries, in furtherance of their own political interests.

3.   How far the domestic politics has contributed to the sustenance of rivalry between India and Pakistan?

Domestic politics within India are not centred on Pakistan. India's aims and aspirations of becoming a developed country require a peaceful regional environment and towards that end, India has continuously made overtures to Pakistan to defuse tensions and maintain peace and tranquility between the two countries. Parliamentary elections in India are fought on various planks, but for the Indian electorate, the state of India-Pakistan relations occupies increasingly diminishing mind-space. Ayesha Siddiqa, the noted Pakistani political commentator and author, during her recent trip to India in March 2023, made the observation that a decade ago, she saw no signs in India, of hostility towards  Pakistan. This time around, while there was still no hostility, there was indifference. It was as if Pakistan did not exist and India has simply decided to move on.

India is, however, a major factor in the Pakistani psyche. Any political party attempting to improve relations with India would face a huge backlash, both from the public as well as from the military establishment. Given the extent to which Pakistani society has been radicalised, the call for a jihad against India still resonates strongly amongst the population. At the people-to-people level also, there has been a marked shift in attitudes defining the two countries. For a large segment of the Pakistani population, including the elite, the conflict remains ideological, where religion is central to Pakistani identity. The alignment of religious ideology in Pakistan's political and social space will continue to drive hostility towards India, based on religion.  

4.  Can personal diplomacy help in resolving issues between India and Pakistan ?

Personal diplomacy can at best be a palliative, much akin to giving a painkiller to a terminally ill patient. In the short term, personal diplomacy can help in reducing tensions, but is inadequate to set forth an agenda for peace. Hostility between India and Pakistan can only be removed by addressing the root cause that has created that hostility. Unless the ideological issue is addressed, other measures will be unlikely to deliver on the long-term goal of creating a positive and congenial environment in the region.

5. What is the way forward for India-Pakistan relations? Your suggestions.

The India-Pakistan relationship is in part hostage to history and in part to a divisive ideology which acts as the binding glue for Pakistan. For long, efforts to create an environment of peace and friendship between these two antagonistic neighbours has failed to achieve the desired results. This is because the focus has been on palliatives and not on the cure. Frills like Aman ki Asha are no more than publicity seeking gimmicks by a group of people who have an exaggerated self opinion about themselves. The solution also does not lie in people to people connect, or in promoting sports and cultural exchanges or in increasing bilateral trade, because none of these addresses the core issue—the divergent ideologies of the two countries.

For now, it would be better to accept the fact that the two countries are enemies. Accepting that reality will lead to the two countries looking at the relationship from a different lens and learning to live with that hostility, without the need to go to war. If we cannot live as friends, let us then learn to live as hostile neighbours. That would be easier and more doable.

Comments given to Prof Mahendra Gaur for FPRC Journal 54.