India-Pakistan share a long history of bitterness and mistrust. Today Pakistan and India subsist in a context of negative peace; an awkward situation where there is no peace and no war. Both of them have battled three full scale wars in 1948, 1965 and 1971, one small scale war in 1999 and the repetition of the circumstances leading to near to war situations are enormous. These clashes have ended up with completely worthless and almost imperceptible attempts aimed to settle issues and rather have contributed in the aggravation of the already worst relations between the two nuclear giants. The 1999 Kargil clash, 2001 assault of Indian Parliament, ever growing cross-border terrorism and 2008 Mumbai assaults, all pooled in to make the Indo-Pak ties even more obdurate and inflexible.
Being unable to tackle the domestic politics, feudalist mindset or armed and conventional forces, the authorities of both the countries have always tried to escape from the remedial agreements and contributed in the defamation of the other side both explicitly and in disguise. The domestic instabilities and problems, which are the defining characteristics of the third world countries, have always intervened in the bilateral dialogues between Pakistan and India. The consistent instabilities of the political system combined with the weak leaderships have proven to be highly incapable of developing trust and harmony amongst one another and have failed to pursue the policies conductive of promoting confidence building within the region.
The entirely uncertain and precarious future of the region demands global heed to create opportunities for both India and Pakistan to bring them together on a negotiating table in order to chalk out shared recommendations to overcome historic rivalry that has kept them hostage for so long. The global spectators fear a potential instability that might even lead to a war-like situation in South-Asia if the irritants between India and Pakistan remain unaddressed. The enduring enmity has proved quite expensive not merely for these two but it has also put the stability and development of the region at a high risk.
It is, therefore, in the best interests of India and Pakistan to draw long term trust-building endeavours that could certify an environment conducive of cordiality and perseverance in the region. Various impetuses could be found depicting the prospects of establishing peace amongst India and Pakistan. The constructive relationship between the two would not only improve the diplomatic sector but would also proffer an opportunity for the two nuclear giants to further the dialogue process that is disrupted every time the relations get soared. The announcement of the “Composite Dialogue” back in 2004 was, however, a step in the right direction that had relieved, to some extent, the tensions and uncertainties that loomed large especially after the 2001-2002 episode. Since then, a total of four rounds have been noted and rigorous discussion on key issues was recorded until 2008 when, ruefully, no progress could be made after Mumbai attacks. As a matter of fact, the solution to all these intractable problems lies in the dialogue process which would set-up a foundation for economic and social development as without trust and confidence between the authorities of the two countries no affirmative initiative in other sectors could produce fruitful results.
Similarly, both India and Pakistan share an immense potential of bilateral trade and economic cooperation. According to a famous by Lawrence Saez saying “if goods do not cross borders, soldiers will”. It is a widespread belief that economic interdependence restrains the countries from waging wars against one another or aggravating their interpersonal conflicts. It means that for the countries like India and Pakistan, trade is perhaps the best solution to overcome their traditional rivalry. Similarly, economic interdependence is much likely to develop such a scenario that facilitates negotiations, cooperation and goodwill between the rivals. It is therefore argued that in conflict-prone situations, trade interdependence can defuse the tensions and misinterpretations since it promotes healthy dialogues and opportunities for filling the communication gaps.
A glimpse at subcontinent’s history reveals that during partition both Indian and Pakistani economies were heavily dependent on one another and a lot of trade was conducted across the border. With the passage of time the bilateral relations of the two worsened and after the armed confrontation of 1965 and 1971 the level of trade had dramatically lessened. Trade has always been the secondary option for the Indian and Pakistani governments since they have predominately adopted the policy of “peace first and trade second”. While following such a policy the two countries have chosen arms race, state sponsored extremism and destruction of precious resources at the cost of peace and trade.
Though both India and Pakistan have declared themselves open world economies but unfortunately the amount of bilateral trade between these two is as low as 1%. The grant of MFN status to Pakistan from India in 1995 and the grant of MFN status to India from Pakistan in the later half of 2012 have, however, melted the ice to a certain extent but it is time that the two governments have to make much responsible and mature decisions regarding trade if they want sustainable peace in South-Asia. Moreover, both India and Pakistan could overcome their energy crisis through economic and political cooperation. Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas line is one such endeavour promising cooperation in the energy sector and must be pursued regardless of the nature of Indo-Pak relations.
While talking about the social linkages, the first thing that comes in mind are the confidence building measures taken to reduce the tensions between the conflicting parties. It must be noted that the realization for the underpinning of confidence-building in South Asia came after the devastating scenario of Cold War. Unlike the West, the East had comprehended the importance of CBMs fairly late and the history of such measures within South Asia is somewhat harsh and rather disappointing. The South-Asian rivalries do bear the major blame for the underdevelopment, poverty and high illiteracy of the region and call for their immediate resolution; if else the world will witness their devastating consequences.
The track II and III initiatives towards confidence-building in South Asia gained their boost in the early 1990’s while before that the CBMs were undertaken only at official level. Very rapidly, the number of positive measures multiplied and till 1996 the figure went up to a number of almost 60 of such peace initiatives being functional at national, regional, bilateral and cross-cultural segments in South Asia. Pakistan and India are the two most antagonistic countries in the region and are engaged in the ever continuing spiral of conflicts against one another every now and then. However, after the nuclearization of the region, the two countries have witnessed some intense changes in their initiatives towards peace-building and have realized their dire constraint to adopt some long-term CBMs amongst India-Pakistan.
One other factor responsible for the hostile relations between the two countries is Media. The dramas, movies and the theatre plays of both the countries contain such content which hurt the feelings of the target group i-e Pakistan or India. Media is said to be the fourth pillar of the state and it can be immensely helpful in promoting good relations between both the countries. Media moulds the opinion of the masses and if the power of media is used in a positive manner the relations of both the countries can be improved. But what we see most of the times is that the print as well as the electronic media spreads hate and accuse the other country for all the bad things that are happening in the society. In the words of David Binder of New York Times it can be referred as “a tyranny or cruelty of victimology”. It is said that in the 21st century the war is fought on the media front and this holds true in the case of Pakistan and India relations.
However, tolerant and harmonious attitude towards each other is the need of the hour. The media channels of both the countries should not play with the public sentiments and should try to act as a medium through which the relations between both the countries can be improved. Scholarships to the students and student exchange programs should be started in the universities of both countries. The syllabus of the text books should be revised and the hate lessons against Pakistan or India should be omitted so that the new generation will not see the other country as rivals or enemies. Cultural exchange programs should be introduced between both the countries. Artists from both the countries should be allowed to visit each other country and perform there. For the promotion of peace and harmony between both the countries, inter-cultural dialogues can be really helpful between the students, professionals and the civil society.
Hafsa Khalid holds an M. Phil degree in Peace and Conflict Studies and is an Islamabad based researcher.
