India-Pakistan Relations-Courting Peace From The Corridors of War

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THE VPM's Centre for International Studies held a national seminar on "India-Pakistan Relations in Pursuit of Peace" in Mumbai in April 2004. This volume is the edited updated version of papers submitted by fourteen eminent thinkers on different aspects of the subject. Low political issues such as the role of Bollywood were discussed by Mahesh Bhatt in his inaugural address, while how cultural relations can help to improve relations was analysed by Maneesha Tikekar. P.M. Kamath argued in favour of the Government of India instituting Mahatma Gandhi Fellowships to establish educa- tional exchanges between the two countries. With a strong conviction that improved economic and trade relations through multilateral and bilateral forums would help in achieving better political understanding, three economists Avadhoot Nadkarni, Pushpa Trivedi and R.G. Gidadhubli discuss various avenues open for two nations to concretely act upon.

But it is high political issues of security that have actually created roadblocks in the smooth flow of bilateral relations. Jasjit Singh, Bharat Karnad, Ramesh Babu, Rajesh Basrur, V. Balachandran, S.C. Sharma, Kshitij Prabha and V.M. Patil discuss major issues affecting bilateral politico-security issues such as conflicts over Jammu & Kashmir, terrorism, Siachen, the issue of the gas pipeline through Pakistan and several others and each makes some suggestions to emerge from them with win-win solutions.

India-Pakistan relations have seen long periods of conflicts like three wars over Kashmir, the Kargil War, and low intensity conflicts. A glimmer of hope was generated by the BJP-led NDA government when Atal Behari Vajpayee spoke of 'one more effort' in April 2003 to find a key to peace and cooperation in the South Asian region. The book should be of immense value to scholars, students of international relations, journalists and policy-makers alike to build on peace from the corridors of war.

Dr. P.M. Kamath is Hon. Director of VPM's Centre for International Studies, Mumbai. He retired as Professor of Politics from Mumbai University after 25 years of distinguished service. Author of 12 books and over a hundred research papers published in national and international journals, Dr. Kamath is an authority on national security and security policy-making in the US and India.

The objectives of VPM's Centre for International Studies (CIS) established in 1997 include, among others, promoting "better understanding of international relations between the nations..." After holding a series of lectures on the subject of different aspects of relations between India and Pakistan, a national seminar on "India-Pakistan Relations: In Pursuit of Peace" was held in April 2004. The volume is the product of this national seminar.

For a new institution like the CIS, it was a challenge, particularly in securing even minimum finances needed to hold a national seminar. We are grateful to the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India for partially funding the seminar. We thank the Indian Council of Social Science Research, Western Regional Centre for a grant to support the seminar.

We are also grateful to Ashok Butani of Bibliophile South Asia, New Delhi for readily agreeing to publish the papers to place them in the hands of a wider public in India, other South Asian countries and the world.

Preparing the manuscript for publication has been a stupendous task. My special thanks are to my colleague R. Mohan, VPM's Hon. Joint Secretary, for reading the final manuscript; and Anita Gujran, VPM's Academic Assistant, for compiling the papers. We have included an edited version of the discussion that took place after each session. Our thanks are due to Suchita Uchil for transcribing the tapes of several hours of discussion and editing them to derive the right direction. Our thanks are also due to Anil Uchil and B.D. Diwan for their assistance in proof-reading. Yet, if there are editorial lapses left out in the text, the editor alone should be held responsible by discerning readers.

Since the CIS was founded in 1997, relations with Pakistan have been a major area of concern for the Indian policy-makers, scholars and all those who were concerned with peace and security in South Asia. Soon after Atal Behari Vajpayee's Lahore Bus Yatra in pursuit of peace in February 1999, the Pakistani Army launched the Kargil War to test the Indian willpower to defend its territory. The Kargil War spoiled Indian efforts for peace. In October 1999, Pervez Musharraf, Pakistani Army Chief of Staff, incidentally responsible for the Kargil War, also acquired political power through a bloodless coup-for the third time in its fifty-two years as a nation-state- thereby throttling nascent democracy.

Then came the Agra Summit as an effort to revive the peace process once again. But not only it did not take off well, but September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the US economic power, as represented by the World Trade Centre, and military might as presented by the Pentagon, drew the world focus on global terrorism. Both India and Pakistan became partners in the US war efforts against terrorism. By the US' own admission, India is a strategic ally while alliance with Pakistan was termed as tactical. But both India and Pakistan had their own agendas to be achieved, and therefore vied with each other to attract the best attention from the US. But there was no congruence in their agendas.

On the other hand, the US involvement in the South Asian terrorism scenario often appeared as a cause for aggravating India- Pakistan relations though earlier it was India who complained that the US did not pay heed to terrorist reality in the subcontinent. That was evident in the Pakistan-based terrorists belonging to the Jaish-e-Mohammad attacking the Legislative Assembly in Srinagar in October 2001, followed by an attack on the Indian Parliament in December of the same year. India responded by mobilising its armed forces to its borders with Pakistan, creating a global concern for a likely conflict in the region. The US was perturbed by the likelihood of its developing into a nuclear war.