India - Pakistan

Intro- The antagonism b/w India - Pakistan, the two nuclear rivals remains one of the greatest tragedies of Asian politics. While India is contend with the status-quo by accepting Pakistan’s existence, Pakistan on the other hand, seeks to revise the status-quo as it sees India as an existential threat to its survival
Trying to reconcile India and Pakistan is like trying to treat two patients whose only disease is an allergy to each other.-G Parthasarthy

		Stephen P Cohen
Dilip Hiro- the longest august- partition is banquo's ghost whose shadow hangs over the Asian sub continent. Uses social constructivism to say India - Pakistan relationship is a result of misconceptions, antagonisms and mutual paranoia of elites that have created a view of the other as a security threat.	Hussain Haqqani- Pakistan' reductive nationalism that comprises 95% hate for India and 5% love for Pak. A relationship which has not been resolved for last seven decades, it can not be resolved just by symbolic gestures. Instead there has to be a major shift in attitudes of both the countries. In his book India vs Pakistan: why cant we just be friends- says inspite of huge economic and military power asymmetry, illusions of parity with India drives the deep state in Pakistan to pursue asymmetric warfare in the form of terrorism.	Book: shooting for a century- Paired minority conflict between an Islamist Pakistan and a “Hindu” India. says even after a century of partition (2047) there would be no substantive changes in relationship.

twin factors govern the politics of South Asia when it comes to India and Pakistan: nuclearisation of India and Pakistan and, the Islamic extremism in the progressively failing state of Pakistan
India’s image of Pakistan mirrors the image Pakistan has of India. Both nurture ‘mutual blind spots’ that disallows questioning of respective narratives.
both countries foreign policy is mutually exclusive and is seen as a zero sum game.
Recently Pakistan granted provisional provincial status to Gilgit Baltistan

Sumit Ganguly- conflict of identity between an Islamist Pakistan and “Secular” India

"Ours is really not just a story of missed opportunities but also of deliberate obstacles. Terrorism is among them.
Stability instability paradox
Terrorism emanating from territories under Pakistan’s control remains a core concern in bilateral relations. India’s consistently stressed the need for Pakistan to take credible, irreversible and verifiable action to end cross-border terrorism against India
Pakistan through the use of terrorism engages in low intensity war. It makes a case for itself in the world that if India responds heavily against such attack, then Pakistan would use its nuclear weapons (since it doesn’t has an NFU) and a nuclear war would ensue
This theory has many takers in the world and hence after every attack India is under pressure to behave “responsibly.”
But after the Balakot Air strikes against Pakistan in response to Pulwama, many scholars like Brahma Chellany have opined that Pakistan’s nuclear bluff has been called off by India
India withdrew MFN status to Pak after Pulwama attack
Issue of fishermen being captured from both sides during course of fishing.
The current bilateral trade is $2.5B and the World Bank estimates the potential at $37B.
Recently both countries have agreed to adhere to 2003 ceasefire by strictly observing truce along the LOC.

Functionalism, sociological liberalism to be used in normalizing ties
India has stakes in the success of “Bajwa doctrine” that calls for peace within Pakistan and outside and pursuing geo-economics rather than geopolitics.

Conclusion: It is important to create an environment of trust and cooperation which is free of violence and terrorism for peace, progress and prosperity of the region.

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