India-Pakistan Conflict
Question :
India and Pakistan each use the unstable spaces in Afghanistan and Kashmir to destabilize each other.
Research -
Want to know:
1. what does India do in Afghanistan/Kashmir to set at Pakistan.
2. What does Pakistan do in Afghanistan/Kashmir to set at India.
3. What is the impact domestically in India/Pakistan of each country's action in Afghanistan and Kashmir.
Answer :
Introduction
India and Pakistan are two rival neighboring countries that are involved in political conflict over Kashmir since their independence. Both countries claim Kashmir as their integral part while India and Pakistan both have some portions of Kashmir in their control. India got independence in 1947 and the same year, the partition of India took place and divided into India and Pakistan (Adeney, 2016). Just after around two months of independence and partition both countries were in front of each other in the field of war on Kashmir. Apart from this, both India and Pakistan pursue mutually exclusive objectives in Afghanistan and using different tactics to achieve their goals and objectives. There is a contest between India and Pakistan that is also called the most significant regional competition for influence in Afghanistan. India is striving hard to make Afghanistan as a natural partner as well as reliable and trusted barricade against Islamic militants whereas Pakistan is striving hard to counter Indo-Afghan nexus (as regarded by Pakistan) that is there to weaken as well as encircle Pakistan (Lyon, 2008). Both countries see as well as analyze the capabilities and intentions of each other through an adversarial lens and consider each other as the greatest enemy.
What does India do in Afghanistan/Kashmir to set in Pakistan?
The objective of India in Afghanistan stems from a critical assessment of the domestic, regional, as well as the global interest of India. However, countering the influence of Pakistan is also one of the goals of India but India pursue a wide range of interests in Afghanistan. The objectives of India simply go beyond obstructing its principal adversary. India is taking several measures and steps to prevent anti-India terrorism and this is the most fundamental goal of India. India is taking measures to prevent Afghanistan from being used as a base for extremists including Pakistan funding extremists to launch a terror attack in India as well as against the interest of India (Ganguly & Howsnstein, 2009). The permanent representative of India to the United Nation has said that coordinated effort, as well as security within the territory of Afghanistan in order to stop terror activities from operating with exemption beyond the borders of Afghanistan, should be the priority of the collective efforts of India and the United Nation in Afghanistan.
India is also struggling hard to undermine the influence of Pakistan as well as the Taliban in Afghanistan. India always fears that Pakistan may move to dominate the political landscape of Afghanistan and hence Pakistan would be able to use the land of Afghanistan as a safe haven as well as the training ground for terror activities and anti-Indian extremists. If it happens it will boost the trouble in Jammy & Kashmir. It may also embolden terrorist groups to attack the cities of India with greater frequency. So, in order to prevent it from happening and avoid future trouble, India wants a stable, multi-ethnic, as well as democratic government in Afghanistan that can significantly control the whole country and strongly maintain peace throughout the country as well as in the neighboring countries as well. A strong democratic, multi-ethnic government can also prevent the Taliban or the return of the Taliban along with mitigating anti-India extremism (Pant, 2010). It is not an easy task for India to achieve. Hence, it requires to counter the political influence of Pakistan.
India also wants to increase its access to central Asia. India needs new energy sources in order to fuel its growing economy. The Indian economy is one of the fastest-growing as well as modernizing economy that needs a new source of energy to maintain the same pace. There is a proposed pipeline of 1000 miles that will cross Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan to come to India. However, this pipeline does not only benefit India but Pakistan as well. In order to ensure rightly accomplishment of the project and transport energy resources to India as well as Pakistan, stability in Afghanistan is necessary (Ganguly, 2011). Considering this point as well, India is trying to ensure stability in Afghanistan. Projecting power as well as demonstrating global interest is also one of the interests of India and its foreign policy. India has the power to influence and shape the world around it. If India can ensure peace and security in Afghanistan, the power of India will further increase as other countries will also consider it as a global power. In order to achieve its goals, India is supporting the government of Afghanistan in every possible manner. India is also establishing diplomacy presence in Afghanistan in order to advocates for its interests. India is also supporting political reconciliation in Afghanistan because if any form of reconciliation that brings the Taliban into the government of Afghanistan will resume the use of the land of Afghanistan by the extremists to carry on anti-Indian extremism.
On the other hand, India considers Kashmir as its integral part and hence claims to own whole Kashmir including the part of Kashmir controlled by Pakistan. India has deployed more than 12 lakhs armed forces in Kashmir in order to protect it from illegal infiltration from Pakistan. India has always claimed that Pakistan tries to send militant groups in Kashmir to unrest the condition in Kashmir. The purpose of deploying heavily armed forces in Kashmir is to protect it from illegal infiltration from Pakistan and safeguard the lives and properties of civilians in the valley (Swami, 2016). Kashmir was given special status by the Indian constitution but recently Indian government has repealed Article 370 and 35a under which Kashmir was given special status. Now Kashmir has a union territory of India. This action has been taken by the Indian government to protect Kashmir from Pakistani militants and safeguard the civilian of Kashmir. The purpose of removing the concerned article is to stop militant attacks in the valley. But the key purpose of this action of the Indian government is to influence the political view of Pakistan and discourage them to claim Kashmir as their integral part (Ganguly et al., 2019). Even though India is forcing Pakistan to hand over the part of Kashmir that has been occupied by Pakistan.
Apart from this, India has also requested the United Nation to mediate the matter of Kashmir between India and Pakistan and ask Pakistan not to consider the valley as its integral part and stop their militant action and activities in Kashmir in order to ensure the protection of lives and property of the people of the valley. India is also trying to gain the create peace in the valley and hence the government is trying to gain the trust of the people of Kashmir. It is trying to ensure stability and promoting tourism in order to ensure the growth and development of the valley because as it will stabilize and start growing and developing, the influence of Pakistan will reduce significantly.
What does Pakistan do in Afghanistan/Kashmir to set in India?
The goal of Pakistan in Afghanistan is mainly India centric because Pakistan wants to reduce the political power and influence in neighboring countries. As the political power and influence of India in neighboring countries will reduce, it will benefits Pakistan because it can use the land of Afghanistan for its personal interest. Thus, Pakistan is focusing on undermining the influence of India in Afghanistan in order to promote its own interest (Akhtar, 2019). Pakistan is looking to maximize the influence of the Taliban in order to facilitate training as well as operations by the extremist groups that are backed by Pakistan. But this is not the only concern of Pakistan in Afghanistan. Pakistan is also looking for marginalizing the claim of Afghanistan on the territory of Pakistan. Afghanistan claims (as India) on the territory of Pakistan in order to develop trade with the Central Asian Republic.
Pakistan is continuously looking for blocking the influence of India in its neighboring countries. Pakistan considers India as an aggressive state that can possess a fundamental threat to the territorial integrity of Pakistan. Pakistan also blames India for orchestrating the creation of Bangladesh out of East Pakistan. However, Pakistan is aware of the geographic, demographic, military, as well as economic advantages of India. Pakistan is unable to see the dynamic of India and Pakistan because a good relationship between India and Pakistan would help both countries to grow and develop (Ghani, 2017). But Pakistan sees anything that benefits India as a loss for Pakistan. Thus, it is considered that any action or activity taken by India in Afghanistan is against Pakistan. Thus, Pakistan always looks forward to blocking the interest of India in every possible manner.
Pakistan is also struggling hard to prevent encirclement as well as maintain strategic depth. Pakistan believes that the action and activities of India in Afghanistan is a deliberate action of India to encircle Pakistan. Pakistan is also trying to gain control over the land of Afghanistan in order to establish a safe haven to provide training to extremists backed by Pakistan (Kaura, 2017). As Pakistan will gain control over the land of Afghanistan with the help of the Taliban, it can undermine the claim of Afghanistan on Pashtunistan. It will also help the country to build economic links to the Central Asian Republic.
Pakistan claims Kashmir as its integral part and hence always looking for gaining control over it. In order to occupy Kashmir, Pakistan has attacked India several times but the Indian military has retaliated strongly making the effort of Pakistan failed to occupy Kashmir. Extremists backed by Pakistan are always infiltrating, crossing to the border to create unrest in the valley. Pakistan has also claimed in the United Nation to mediate the conflict between India and Pakistan over Kashmir and help Pakistan to occupy Kashmir (Rashid et al., 2017). Pakistan has also deployed heavily armed forces on the border in order to influence the interest of India. The action of removing article 370 is considered as an illegal move by the Indian government. Pakistan also claims that Kashmiri people also do not want to be a part of India and hence India has occupied Kashmir illegally and doing unjust to the people of Kashmir and Pakistan.
What is the impact domestically in India/Pakistan of each country’s action in Afghanistan and Kashmir?
The conflict between India and Pakistan over Afghanistan and Kashmir has affected both countries significantly. In order to maintain the safety and security of borders of each country, both are spending a huge amount of their budget on security and defense. A significant portion of their total GDP is being spent on security and defense. No one can deny the fact that both countries are developing countries and a large section of their population is living behind the poverty line. In order to focus on strengthening defense, both countries are ignoring the vast population who are struggling to get their living. Continuously, both countries are targeting and attacking each other that has caused thousands of deaths of civilians in both countries (Rublee, 2017). However, in the conflict between India and Pakistan, the people of Kashmir are facing a lot of trouble in their daily lives. So, both countries should mutually agree on a common decision and work together for the betterment of each side.
Conclusion
The conflict between India and Pakistan over Kashmir and Afghanistan is a major conflict that is significantly affecting India and Pakistan along with Afghanistan. Both countries are continuously struggling to undermine the influence of each other in Afghanistan and claim Kashmir as their integral part. Due to this, the people of Kashmir have suffered a lot. It has also affected both countries at domestic as well as international level. Thus, there is a need for common ground for both countries to ensure stability in all three countries and to ensure the growth and development of all three countries.
References
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