Question

State your opinion:

India-Pakistan Foreign Relations.

Answer 1

All South Asian countries share a border with India. Myanmar, China, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Thailand and Indonesia are regarded as India’s Neighbours. Maintaining good relations with all these countries has been an objective of Indian foreign policy since independence.

Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru promoted the idea of Asian and African regionalism and attempted to unite all newly independent countries. However, the idea could not sustain itself due to the spread of the cold war. 

The partition of India in 1947 created Pakistan (East and West Pakistan) as an independent state. There have been tensions between India and Pakistan since independence. The main cause of these tensions has been the status of Kashmir. The first Indo-Pak conflict of 1947-48 took place over Kashmir. This war saw the division of Kashmir take place. Later in 1965, the two countries fought another war over Kashmir. The 1971 war led to the creation of the state of Bangladesh. In the initial years, Kashmir was looked at as an Indo-Pakistan border issue. Later in the decade of 1990s, the problem became that of terrorism. The problem of Kashmir remains one of the most important issues of dispute between the two countries even today.