INDIA’S POLICY TOWARDS

PAKISTAN

Nida Hayat
 Table of Contents
Foreign policy....................................................... 2

Policy with Pakistan.. ........................................... 2

Development since 2004.... .................................. 3

Present relations...... ............................................ 3

Indian hostility towards Pakistan…....................... 4

1
Foreign policy
 India is the second most populous country
 world's most-populous democracy
 and recently has one of the fastest economic growth rates in the world.
 With the world's tenth largest military expenditures and eleventh largest economy
 India has a long history of collaboration with several countries and is considered a leader
of the developing world
 India's foreign policy has always regarded the concept of neighborhood, around a central
axis of historical and cultural commonalities.
 The guiding principles of India's Foreign Policy have been founded on pragmatism and
pursuit of national interest.
 protecting India's sovereignty and territorial integrity.
 India's foreign policy is a forward-looking engagement with the rest of the world, based
on a rigorous, realistic and contemporary assessment of the bilateral, regional and global
geo-political and economic milieu.

Policy with Pakistan

 In the 1990s, India's economic problems and the demise of the bipolar world political
system forced India to reassess its foreign policy and adjust its foreign relations.
 In the mid-1990s, India attracted the world attention towards the alleged Pakistan-
backed terrorism in Kashmir.
 The Kargil the mid-1990s, India attracted the world attention towards the alleged
Pakistan-backed terrorism in Kashmir.
 After the September 11 attacks in 2001, Indian intelligence agencies provided the U.S.
with significant information on Al-Qaeda and related groups' activities in Pakistan and

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 Afghanistan.
 India's extensive contribution to the War on Terrorism, coupled with a surge in its
economy, has helped India's diplomatic relations with several countries

Development since 2004

 Violent activities in the region declined in 2004. There are two main reasons for this:
 warming of relations between New Delhi and Islamabad which consequently lead to a
ceasefire between the two countries in 2003
 and the fencing of the LOC being carried out by the Indian Army.
 Moreover, coming under intense international pressure, Islamabad was compelled to
take actions against the militants' training camps on its territory.
 In 2004, the two countries also agreed upon decreasing the number of troops present in
the region.
 Since the initiation of peace process, several confidence-building-measures (CBMs)
between India and Pakistan have taken shape.
 The Samjhauta Express and Delhi–Lahore Bus service are one of these successful
measures which have played a crucial role in expanding people to people contact
between the two countries.
 The initiation of Srinagar– Muzaffarabad Bus service in 2005 and opening of a historic
trade route across the Line of Control.
 In the Kashmir earthquake in 2005, India sent aid to affected areas in Pakistani Kashmir
& Punjab as well as Indian Kashmir
 in 2008 further reflects increasing eagerness among the two sides to improve relations
 Though bilateral trade between India and Pakistan was a modest US$1.7 billion in March
2007, it is expected to cross US$10 billion by 2010.

Present relations
 The recent terror attacks in Mumbai, however, have seriously undermined the relations

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 between the two countries.
 India is alleging Pakistan of harboring militants on their soil, while Pakistan vehemently
denies such claims.
 Relations are currently hampered since India has sent a list of 40 alleged fugitive in
various terror strikes to Pakistan, expecting the handover of the said 40 people to the
Indian Government.
 Pakistan, on the other hand, has openly declared to be having no intentions whatsoever
of doing the above said extradition.
 There is no change in India’s policy towards Pakistan since the November 2008 terrorist
attacks in Mumbai.
 Terrorism was, is and will continue to remain the major concern for India.

Indian hostility towards Pakistan…

 South Asia expert Stephen Cohen of Washington’s Brookings Institution recently told his
audience:
 “Not a few Indian generals and strategists have told me that if only America would strip
Pakistan of its nuclear weapons then the Indian army could destroy the Pakistan army
and the whole thing would be over.”