Terror Defense No Al Qaida Terror



Download 2.62 Mb.
Page32/81
Date18.10.2016
Size2.62 Mb.
#2908
1   ...   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   ...   81

Indo-Pak

No Econ Decline

India’s econ is resilient – administrative policy improvements


PTI 14; Press Trust of India 2-21-2014 citing the International Monetary Fund “Indian economy much more resilient to external shocks: IMF” http://ibnlive.in.com/news/indian-economy-much-more-resilient-to-external-shocks-imf/453381-7.htmlTina

The Indian economy is much more resilient to external shocks now than was last year, a top IMF official has said, attributing this to a series of administrative decisions and policy measures taken by the Union Government. "We see India much more resilient than they were about the middle of last year to external shocks, Paul Cashin, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Assistant Director of the Asia and Pacific Department told reporters during a conference call. "In recent months, India has taken very substantial measures to narrow both its external and fiscal imbalances, tighten monetary policy, move forward on structural reforms, and address aspects of this market volatility," Cashin said in response to a question during the call.

No risk of collapse – new government policies


Financial Express 14; Moody’s pegs India economic growth at 5 pct in 2014 8-12-2014 http://indianexpress.com/article/business/economy/moodys-pegs-india-economic-growth-at-5-pct-in-2014/#sthash.uIYKF1z2.dpufTina

Projecting a better growth outlook for India, global rating agency Moody’s today said the country’s economic growth will be 5 per cent this year and accelerate further in 2015. The growth outlook is more robust for India and Indonesia. For both countries, we forecast GDP growth of around 5 per cent this year, rising to around 5.5-6 per cent in 2015,” Moody’s said in its report ‘Global Macro Outlook 2014-15: Summer Lull: Subdued, But Less Risky Global Growth Likely’. The higher growth projection for India comes against the backdrop of a new government coming to power with single majority for the first time in three decades. However, the rating agency said India’s growth estimates are still way lower than the levels seen before global crisis. “For India in particular, the projected growth rates are still significantly below pre-crisis and well short of the new government’s target to raise growth to 7-8 per cent by 2017-18,” the report said. Moody’s also said that India and Indonesia would see “more resilient GDP growth”.

War Inevitable

India-Pakistan conflict inevitable – growth doesn’t solve tensions over terrorism or Pakistan state collapse


Peerzada 15; Haifa masters in International Relations and Security from the University of Birmingham. She currently practices law at the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir, India and is also a visiting lecturer of peace and conflict studies at IUST, India. 1-10-2015 “Tensions rise between India and Pakistan” https://www.opendemocracy.net/open-security/haifa-peerzada/tensions-rise-between-india-and-pakistan-0Tina

Rising tension at the Line of Control (LoC) between India and Pakistan is putting in question the widely-held assumption that their conflict will not escalate to an all-out conventional or even nuclear war. International concern has extended to the US, previously resistant to mediating in the Kashmir dispute. This is at the heart of the existential rivalry between the two states. Kashmir has become so symbolically significant to both India and Pakistan that they are beset by zero-sum thinking, though a resolution would potentially put an end to their hostilities. In the current context that seems unlikely. At the brink Past military crises between India and Pakistan remained at the brink of all-out war because of international pressure and, most importantly, the deterrent value of nuclear weapons. Rationally, since India is conventionally stronger than Pakistan, the latter would not think of escalating the crisis; and since India is a democracy, it would act out the associated values, engaging Pakistan in peaceful dialogue. But the growing tensions are crowding out rational argument. A primordialist view of the conflict, tracing back to 1947, is exacerbated by media posturing on both sides. This blame game mobilises public opinion in alignment with the nationalist notions of the two states. The proliferation of nuclear weapons has on the face of it given more strength to Pakistan to flex its muscles, including engaging in sub-conventional warfare with India. And for all its democratic self-image India lacks any open and goal-oriented strategyseeing in its absence security lapses, intelligence failures, an inability to prevent terror attacks and a disconnect between civilian and military leadership. Indian security agencies are unable to join the dots at the right time to prevent infiltrations and attacks--repeatedly in the Samba region of Jammu at the LoC and in four synchronised episodes in Kashmir during the recent assembly elections—despite joint mechanisms. While India and Pakistan can join hands in preventing such attacks, a cause of serious concern for both, the escape route for the former in the event of failure is to blame everything on the latter, increasing the trust deficit between the two. In default of a strategy, India tries to curb resistance in Kashmir by sending in more soldiers and paramilitary troops, in counter-insurgency operations for which they are not trained—as even the forces involved acknowledge—and in which they thus cannot be expected to behave in a professional manner. A post-colonial mindset, of dealing with ‘enemies’ by hook or by crook, is applied. This has inevitably heightened alienation in the Kashmir Valley, spiralling via further human-rights violations. Pakistan’s internal condition is meanwhile deteriorating. Tehrik-i-Taliban (TTP) has created mayhem by stoking sectarian violence in various regions. Even if the Pakistan army has infiltrated the Taliban ranks, this has not led to a cessation of hostilities. This chaotic context only adds further volatility to rising tension at the LoC. And the posture of India seems more aggressive now, under the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the wider National Democratic Alliance coalition it leads—they having consistently criticised the former centre-left, United Progressive Alliance government as ‘soft’ on Pakistan. Though the prime minister, Narendra Modi, initially showed a willingness to engage, India immediately called off talks between foreign ministers when the Pakistan high commissioner met the hardline Kashmiri separatist Syed Ali Shah Geelani ahead of them. After an hiatus caused by the worst floods to hit Kashmir in years, ever since there has been escalation from both sides. Fault-lines The occupation continues, regardless of governmental change, because all the political parties in New Delhi share the sentiment that Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India. The elections in the state however showed a clear polarisation along ethno-religious fault-lines: the regional parties (the National Conference and People’s Democratic Party) predominated in the autonomist Kashmir Valley but the BJP made almost a clean sweep of the more integrationist Jammu, while Congress did likewise in the relatively depopulated Ladakh. With the parties unable to form a new administration, governor’s rule was imposed on 9 January. The BJP has succeeded in dividing the Muslims who predominate in the Kashmir Valley while uniting the Hindus in Hindu-majority Jammu. This has made the partition of the state into the three areas almost palpable. Such a scenario could only lead to further radicalisation of the valley youth, with every possibility of India and Kashmir being thrown back to the violent 1990s. Amid US withdrawal from Afghanistan and Pakistan’s domestic deterioration, any complacency as to reason prevailing would be misplaced. Bear in mind that the BJP manifesto pledged the abrogation of article 370 of the Indian constitution, which ascribes special status to Jammu and Kashmir—the only saving grace by which India can assert the legitimacy of its continuing rule.

War now – TNW development and command-and-control collapse


Wellen 15 ;1-19-2015 Russ Wellen edits the Foreign Policy in Focus blog Focal Points for the Institute of Policy Studies. A student of the metaphysics of nuclear weapons, he has written about disarmament for a variety of publications such as Asia Times Online, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists; “The Threshold For Nuclear War Between Pakistan and India Keeps Dropping” http://www.uncommonthought.com/mtblog/archives/2015/01/19/the-threshold-f.phpTina

Most people think that, since the end of the Cold War, chances that a nuclear war will break out are slim to none. Though some nervousness has surfaced since the Ukraine crisis, it's true that, barring an accident, the United States and Russia are unlikely to attack each other with nuclear weapons. Southeast Asia is another matter, as Gregory Koblentz warns in a report for the Council of Foreign Relations titled Strategic Stability in the Second Nuclear Age. Interviewed about the report by Deutsche Welle, Koblentz pointed out: "The only four countries currently expanding their nuclear arsenals are China, India, Pakistan and North Korea." China, for example, is developing mobile intercontinental ballistic missiles to prevent its stationery ICBMs from becoming sitting ducks, as well as submarines capable of launching ballistic missiles. Meanwhile, by 2020, Pakistan could have enough nuclear material to build 200 nuclear weapons, about as many as Great Britain currently has. Koblentz told Deutsche Welle: Altogether, Pakistan has deployed or is developing eleven different nuclear delivery systems including ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and aircraft. As if terrorism, such as the Mumbai attacks of 2008, and territorial disputes, such as over Jammu and Kashmir, don't make relations between Pakistan and India volatile enough, a new element has been introduced. Pakistan is now seeking to develop low-yield tactical nuclear weapons (as opposed to strategic ― the big ones) to compensate for its inferiority to India in conventional weapons and numbers of armed forces. Koblentz told Deutsche Welle: Since the conventional military imbalance between India and Pakistan is expected to grow thanks to India's larger economy and higher gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate, Pakistan's reliance on nuclear weapons to compensate for its conventional inferiority will likely be an enduring feature of the nuclear balance in South Asia. The Danger of Tactical Nuclear Weapons What makes tactical weapons so dangerous is that, by blurring the distinction between nuclear and conventional weapons, they turn nuclear weapons from unthinkable to thinkable. Equally as dangerous, Koblentz explains: The introduction of tactical nuclear weapons may lead Pakistan to loosen its highly centralized command and control practices. Due to their short-ranges (the Nasr/Hatf-IX has a range of about 60 kilometers), these types of weapons need to be deployed close to the front-lines and ready for use at short-notice. Thus are lower-ranking officers granted "greater authority and capability to arm and launch nuclear weapons" which "raises the risk of unauthorized actions during a crisis." Another risk ... is inadvertent escalation. There is the potential for a conventional conflict to escalate to the nuclear level if the commander of a forward-deployed, nuclear-armed unit finds himself in a 'use it or lose it' situation and launches the nuclear weapons under his control before his unit is overrun."

Warming makes war inevitable


Sinha 14; Times of India,9-24-2014 Kounteya citing Global Sustainability Institute study “UK warns that climate change could trigger violent conflict in India” http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/UK-warns-that-climate-change-could-trigger-violent-conflict-in-India/articleshow/43317404.cmsTina

LONDON: A British report has warned that climate change could trigger violent conflict in India - similar to the Arab Spring where climate change, drought, water mismanagement and food prices contributed to the outbreak of civil unrest. The Global Sustainability Institute at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge has said that water availability is closely tied to food production and with India's population expected to reach 1.4 billion by 2050, the country could face a "perfect storm" of challenges. The report specifically looks at the specific socio-political, economic, cultural and environmental characteristics of the Cauvery and Indus catchments and the potential for both climate change and scarcity of natural resources to destabilise social and political systems. The experts say "the natural resource, environmental, economic, political and demographic characteristics of the Cauvery River basin appear to be consistent with a risk of violent conflict. The Indus River Basin has a population of more than a quarter of a billion people, some of the world's lowest Human Development Indicator scores and geopolitics characterised by international, subnational, and local conflict. Straddling both Northern India and Pakistan the Indus river basin is affected by water stresses due to poor water management, inefficient agricultural practices, soil salinization, inadequate infrastructure, variability in water availability and water pollution. To meet its growing population and surging energy demand, and to bring electricity to the more than 400 million Indians living without it, the government of India plan to build 292 dams throughout the Indian Himalayas". "Pakistan holds India's construction of dams responsible for the country's water shortages," the report says. \


Warming collapses the Indian economy and spills over to India-Pakistan war


Mohan 14; Vishwa Climate change 4-1-2014 may lead India to war: UN report http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/global-warming/Climate-change-may-lead-India-to-war-UN-report/articleshow/33034504.cmsTina

NEW DELHI: Asia is facing the brunt of climate change and will see severe stress on water resources and food-grain production in the future, increasing the risk of armed conflict among India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and China, the latest report of a UN panel has warned. UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, in its report assessing impacts of climate change on human health, settlements and natural resources released on Monday, carried a dire warning. "The worst is yet to come," it said, if no measures are taken to curb the ill-effects of global warming. India, like other developing economies, may lose up to 1.7% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) if the annual mean temperature rises by 1 degree Celsius compared to pre-industrialization level, hitting the poor the most. The report also predicts an increase in extreme weather events such as last year's flash floods in Uttarakhand and cyclone Phailin in Odisha if steps are not taken to control the rise in temperature. "Nobody on this planet is going to be untouched by the impacts of climate change," R K Pachauri, IPCC chairman said while making the report public in Yokohama, Japan.


Warming makes an Indian crisis inevitable


Sinha 14; Times of India, 9-24-2014 Kounteya; citing Global Sustainability Institute study “UK warns that climate change could trigger violent conflict in India” http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/UK-warns-that-climate-change-could-trigger-violent-conflict-in-India/articleshow/43317404.cmsTina

The report points to India as a case study and says "India is the world's largest democracy with a decentralised political system and strong state powers. India has experienced rapid economic growth over the past 15 years, yet despite economic success India is a country of contrasts; where vast wealth coexists with abject poverty. The level of inequality between the wealthy elite and the numerous poor has led to the concept of "two India's", with the latter threatening prosperity and growth of the former. In a country of 1.19 billion people, 48 Indians made it on to the Forbes' 2012 list of billionaires, while in 2009-10 30% of the population were living on less than $0.44 per day in rural areas and $0.56 per day in urban areas". "India is crisscrossed by numerous rivers yet rapid economic and population growth means demand for water is growing faster than available supply. The result is falling per capita freshwater resources. The country is also experiencing high levels of baseline water stress driven by its growing populations, growing middle class population and therefore growing domestic demand for rice, wheat and sugar". "Indian water withdrawals are expected to reach 1,195 billion m3 by 2030 which is a 50% increase from 2012 withdrawals. Despite national water withdrawals being below the total potential water resource available in India individual river basins face physical water scarcity. This includes agriculturally important basins, such as the Indus, Ganges, Cauvery and Krishna. Together these basins represent two-thirds of the total irrigated area," the report added.

No War

Recent breakthroughs mean no conflict


Pakistan Today 14 7/1/14, Pakistan Today, “India-Pakistan relations”, http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2014/07/01/comment/india-pakistan-relations-2/Tina

Lately, the Prime Minister of Pakistan Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif wrote a letter to the newly elected Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi. Naturally, what he wrote to the Indian prime minister couldn’t have been different, in any manner, from what he has been stating verbatim, time and again, vis-a-vis the mired bilateral relations between the two countries. PM Nawaz Sharif took the initiative and broke the ice, once again, by writing to PM Modi despite his detractors’ awfully critical stance on the recent overtures made by him to his Indian counterpart for peace. PM Modi’s response to Pakistan premier’s letter was equally encouraging. By expressing his government’s desire to work closely with PM Nawaz Sharif’s government, in an atmosphere free from confrontation and violence in order to chart a new course in bilateral relations, he has undeniably kindled a ray of hope for improvement in ties between the two countries.


Won't escalate


Wright '13, Tom Wright, reporter for the Wall Street Journal, 1/16/13, "Don't Expect Worsening of India, Pakistan Ties," Wall Street Journal, http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2013/01/16/dont-expect-worsening-of-india-pakistan-ties/Tina

There’s no end for now to the hostile rhetoric between India and Pakistan. But that doesn’t necessarily presage anything more drastic. Pakistan claims another of its soldiers died Tuesday night in firing across the Line of Control in Kashmir, the divided Himalayan region claimed by both nations. Indian army chief, Gen. Bikram Singh, on Wednesday, said Pakistan had opened fire and India retaliated. “If any of their people have died, it would have been in retaliation to their firing,” Gen. Singh said. ”When they fire, we also fire.” It was the latest in tit-for-tat recriminations over deaths in Kashmir that began last week. Pakistan claimed one of its soldiers died on Jan. 6. Two days later, India said Pakistani forces killed two of its soldiers and mutilated the bodies. Tuesday night, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the mutilations meant it could not be “business as usual” between the countries. That has worried some that peace talks, which have been in train for two years, could be about to break down. Mr. Singh’s comments built on a drumbeat of anger from India. Gen. Singh, Monday called the mutilations “unpardonable” and said India withheld the right to retaliate to Pakistan aggression when and where it chooses. Pakistan Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar, who is in the U.S., Tuesday termed the Indian army chief’s comments as “very hostile.” There are some other worrying signs. India said Tuesday it was delaying the start of a visa-on-arrival program meant to make it easier for some Indians and Pakistanis to visit each other’s countries. The visa program, like talks on opening up bilateral trade, is supposed to pave the way toward broader peace talks that would encompass thornier issues, like how to solve the Kashmir problem. Also Tuesday, nine Pakistani hockey players who had come to participate in a tournament in India were sent home due to fears of protests and violence against them. Still, there’s little benefit for either side to escalate what is now still sporadic firing over the Line of Control, the de facto border in Kashmir. Pakistan is embroiled in its own political meltdown sparked by the Supreme Court’s decision Tuesday to order the arrest of Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf on allegations of corruption. Tens of thousands of protesters Tuesday took to the streets in Islamabad, and remain there today, demanding immediate elections and a greater role for the army and Supreme Court in politics. Pakistan’s military continues to play an important political role, dominating defense and foreign policy. But it has so far shown little sign of mounting a full-blown coup despite persistent rumors of military intervention. Pakistan’s government must hold national elections by May, meaning the next few months are likely to be choppy ones in Pakistan politics. In such an environment, the military is unlikely to want to dial up tensions with India. On the Indian side, despite Mr. Singh’s unusually strident tone Tuesday, there also will be pause before taking matters to the next level. Mr. Singh has put immense personal political capital into trying to improve ties with Pakistan since he came to power in 2004. Last year, he hosted Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari in New Delhi and promised a return visit. Such a trip is clearly off the table for now. But India still has put too much into peace talks to throw away the progress made so far on visas, trade and other issues. Even Gen. Singh, India’s army chief, Monday said he did not believe the latest flare-up would lead to a broader escalation in violence and an official end to a 2003 ceasefire agreement in Kashmir. The clashes so far, he noted, have been limited to specific areas of the Line of Control.

No Indo-Pak conflict- energy cooperation and new governance


Tranum 13, Sam MA from the University of Chicago in IR and a journalist covering energy and politics in South Asia, 6/25/13, "India-Pakistan Energy Cooperation Could Get Boost Under Sharif," World Politics Review, http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/articles/13049/india-pakistan-energy-cooperation-could-get-boost-under-sharifTina

Pakistani and Indian officials met earlier this month to discuss cross-border energy cooperation, perhaps signaling that the new government in Islamabad aims to follow through on plans its predecessor spent years talking about. That would be good for both countries. ¶ Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party swept Pakistan's parliamentary election in May, and Sharif took over as prime minister early this month, pledging—among other things—to improve relations with India and address his country's crippling energy shortage. ¶ On June 11, the prime minister’s younger brother, Shahbaz Sharif, the head of government in Pakistan's largest province, Punjab, reportedly met officials from India's Ministry of Power and Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. They talked about Pakistan importing electricity and natural gas from India. ¶ The meeting in itself is not unprecedented. During its five years in power, the previous government in Islamabad under the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) talked to Indian government officials and companies about importing gasoline, diesel, natural gas and electricity. India seemed willing to help Pakistan then, but nothing happened.¶ There are still factions on both sides of the border that oppose normalizing relations and will try to block efforts by Nawaz Sharif and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to work together on energy and other issues. But as the energy crisis in Pakistan grows increasingly acute, the pressure might overwhelm such opposition. ¶ Among the proposals on the table is a cross-border electricity transmission line with the capacity to transfer 500-1,000 megawatts of power from India to Pakistan. India is short of power and suffers regular planned and unplanned power cuts. But Pakistan is much worse off. ¶ In the fiscal year that ended March 31, the two-thirds of Indians with access to electricity faced an 8.7 percent supply-demand gap. The two-thirds or so of Pakistanis with access to electricity, meanwhile, faced a shortfall of about 30 percent and power cuts 10-13 hours a day, Pakistan’s Supreme Court was reportedly told earlier this month. ¶ Pakistan's power cuts have sparked sometimes-violent protests and slowed the country's economic growth. ¶ If implemented, the proposed transmission line would serve as a sign of goodwill and perhaps earn a small profit for Indian generators. But if 500-1,000 MW of power would help ease Pakistan's power shortage, it wouldn't solve the country’s energy problems. After all, Pakistan has about 22,000 MW of generating capacity, compared to 212,000 MW for India. ¶ Nonetheless, turning to India for power is part of a larger Pakistani strategy to buy more electricity from its neighbors. It imported about 70 MW from Iran last year, is building another 100-MW link and has plans for a 1,000-MW link. There is talk of bringing in 1,000 MW from Tajikistan via Afghanistan, too. ¶ Aside from power, there is also a proposal for an India-to-Pakistan natural gas pipeline. This would allow Pakistan to import either Indian natural gas or liquefied natural gas (LNG) from a third country delivered to one of India's LNG terminals and sent through its pipeline network to Pakistan. Despite years of effort, Pakistan has failed to build its own LNG terminal. ¶ But a natural gas pipeline is the least likely to materialize of the proposed energy cooperation efforts. India only meets about half of its natural gas needs from its own production and its limited LNG import capacity. And a drop in production from Reliance Industries’ massive KG-D6 field off India's east coast means India’s ability to satisfy its own LNG needs has been getting worse, not better. ¶ Still, a delegation from Indian state-controlled gas distribution company GAIL has reportedly offered to deliver to Pakistan 400 million cubic feet of gas per day. To put that in perspective, Pakistan—which uses gas for power generation, cooking, heating and fueling vehicles, among other things—is now surviving on domestic production of about 4 billion cubic feet per day. ¶ Potential profits and international politics may overshadow the fact that Indian consumers need this natural gas, too. Private and state-owned Indian companies may be willing to short their Indian customers if they can get a better offer from across the border. And officials in New Delhi may be willing to let them do so in the name of India-Pakistan confidence-building measures. ¶ Less controversial than the power and natural gas proposals is a plan for India to build a pipeline across the border to sell gasoline or diesel to Pakistan. Although India doesn't produce much crude oil, it is a refining hub: It imports more crude than it needs and turns the excess into gasoline, diesel and other products that it exports. Indian refiners would welcome a new market. ¶ This cross-border energy trade is seen by some as a test-run for India-Pakistan cooperation on the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) and Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) natural gas pipeline projects. The odds at the moment are stacked against both projects. Instability in Afghanistan makes TAPI tough, while U.S. sanctions on Iran make Indian involvement in IPI doubtful. But these factors could change in the future. ¶ More immediately, India's willingness to help ease Pakistan's energy shortage might encourage Sharif's PML-N government to follow through on its predecessor's promise to grant India most favored nation trading status. This is something Indian companies want and many Pakistani businesses don't: They fear they will be overwhelmed by competition from their massive neighbor. ¶ Nevertheless, if India and Pakistan can work together on energy and increase trade, both countries would benefit. Pakistan would get energy to fuel its lagging economy, and India would get a new market for energy and other exports. As a side benefit, integrating their economies a bit more might help to normalize relations and make future conflicts less likely.

Recent talks solve tensions


Pasricha 15 India-Pakistan Tensions Ease After Leaders Meet Anjana Pasricha India Correspondent for Voice of America radio July 10, 2015 11:26 AM http://www.voanews.com/content/india-pakistan-tension-ease-after-modi-sharif-meet-in-russia/2856519.html Tina

A meeting between Indian and Pakistani leaders on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit in Russia on Friday produced a thaw in tense relations between the South Asian rivals. A joint statement outlining measures to restore ties was issued after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, held one-on-one talks. Foreign Secretary Pakistan Aizaz Chaudhry said that the meeting was held in a cordial atmosphere and the two leaders exchanged views on bilateral and regional interest. He added that the two leaders agreed that both countries have a collective responsibility to ensure peace and promote development. The Indian premier accepted Nawaz's invitation to Pakistan for the South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation summit in 2016. Other measures include upcoming counterterror strategy talks in New Delhi between Indian and Pakistani national security advisers, along with direct bilateral talks between border security officials. The breakthrough occurred nearly a year after peace negotiations between the estranged neighbors stalled last August, when New Delhi called off high-level talks. “They agreed that India and Pakistan have a collective responsibility to ensure peace and promote development," Pakistan's Foreign Secretary Chaudhry said, signaling that the two countries are ready to pick up the threads again. "To do so they are prepared to discuss all outstanding issues. Both leaders condemned terrorism in all its forms and agreed to cooperate with each other to eliminate this menace from South Asia.”

Neither country wants war- economic dependence checks.


Pande 15 24-06-2015 Aparna Pande is Research Fellow and Director of Hudson Institute's India Initiative in Washington DC. Her book 'Escaping India: Explaining India's Foreign Policy' was published by Routledge in 2011. http://www.dailyo.in/politics/india-pakistan-nuclear-power-united-states-foreign-policy-cold-war-south-asia-defence-national-security/story/1/4546.htmlTina

US interests in South Asia will benefit when there are closer economic and political ties between the countries of the region. The best way for that to happen is to leave it to the countries of the region. Even though South Asia is the least economically integrated region of the world things have changed in the last few years with almost all countries understanding the benefit of closer connectivity and trade. Every Indian prime minister starting with Jawaharlal Nehru believed ties with neighbours were of paramount importance but their focus was primarily security. It is only in recent years that Indian leaders have understood the need to economically integrate the region. India may be building her military potential but her primary goal is economic growth and development for the foreseeable future. India and Pakistan are nuclear-armed countries adversaries. The civilian leaders in both countries have understood that closer ties will benefit both countries. Indian leaders hope that sooner or later the law of economics will convince Pakistani leaders to follow their Afghan, Sri Lankan, Bangladeshi, Nepali, Burmese and Nepalese counterparts in working towards economic integration. However, for that the Pakistani military intelligence establishment would have to give up on its quest for economic and military parity with India and its policy of using jihadis to achieve foreign and security policy goals.


Download 2.62 Mb.

Share with your friends:
1   ...   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   ...   81




The database is protected by copyright ©ininet.org 2024
send message

    Main page