Pakistan India Relations

I will start my discussion by quoting the saying:
                         “Only the dead can see the end of the war”-Plato

These remarks echoed the history of his time when the occurrence of war is too often. At that time the Throne belongs to the mighty ones. The state having more power might rule the other states. This leads to the theory of realism in which states constantly ensures that they have enough power to defend themselves and advance their material interests necessary for their survival.

REALISM:

Coming towards India-Pakistan relations, both the states are realists so far as they are born rivals. Both of the states fear each other’s invasion. Realists claim that survival is the principal goal of every state and foreign invasion is the most pressing threat that a state could face. Balance of power between the rivals is the main thought behind realism.

Both India and Pakistan are spending huge part of their whole budget on their defense. Pakistan is spending $4 billion while India is spending about $36 billion on their defense rather than on their people just because the fear of invasion. Realist thought that gaining power is the only solution for avoiding invasions and both India and Pakistan are doing the same , the only focus of both the countries is to gain power by one means or the other.

India tests its first nuclear weapon on May 18 1974 to show his power over Pakistan, after that Pakistan main focus was becoming a nuclear power because India as a nuclear power seems a threat to Pakistan, So on May 28 1998 Pakistan also launches its first nuclear weapon test at Chaghi-1.

Realists are of two types:

• ·          Defensive realists
• ·         Offensive realists

As far as Pakistan and India is concerned both countries are both offensive and defensive at the same time as per their policy.

The main tenants of offensive realists are:

·         Great powers are the main actors in world politics.

·         All states have some military capability.

·         Survival is their primary goal.

Pakistan and India are offensive realists in the sense that in order to ensure their survival they will seek to maximize their power to threaten each other. This theory also says that if the rival countries possess enough power, to threaten them it can never be safe. So both countries are seeking power to nullify the power one another.

On the other hand India and Pakistan are also act as the defensive realists as defensive realists though that War or Domination over other states is an unwise decision for state survival, they thought that this might lead their nation towards a dangerous conflict. Defensive realists believe in balance of power, where states have equal distribution of power to ensure that none will risk attacking another. Now war is not an option between India and Pakistan because both the countries possess nuclear warheads none of them want to be attacked by a nuclear weapon as this will lead towards total mass destruction.

Solution/Conclusion/Result:

India and Pakistan had faced two major wars 65’ and 71’ none of which prove good to each other but the destruction of their economy and the nation as well. Peace is the only solution to this problem, the resolution of some specific disputes did not lead to peace, and new disputes would arise in place of previous resolved ones. Indus river dispute is one of the main disputes among India and Pakistan at early stages and was resolved in 1960’s and many other disputes were resolved but none of them had any lasting impact on India Pakistan relations. By the early 90’s Kashmir dispute arises as the most important dispute between the two countries that has not been resolved till now. This suggests that specific disputes are only symptoms of deeper conflict between India and Pakistan. Many of the scholars think that political realism is convincing approach between rivals. Once France and UK are the bloody enmity and now have united under one flag, Likewise France and Germany fought brutal wars but now enjoy friendly relations under EU flag. In my point of view Pakistan and India should learn a lesson from china as china also has border dispute with china and most of the countries. China claims on Taiwan but never thought of physical interference despite of the fact that china is more powerful than Taiwan. Pakistan must focus on its economy. India must also should not dictate to other countries of south Asia. Our leaders of world political chess-board should believe in on the famous maxim

“There are no permanent friends or enemies in international politics but only permanent interests”.

Our priority should be rapid economic development as china has done, to raise the standard of living of our people. Today power belongs to the one having strong economy rather than having strong defense, Defense counts but now there is the era of economy. We should amend our past policies of allocating all the nation’s resources on defense and must concentrate on the economic development of our nation .