Pakistan and India’s Relation
During the struggle for independence from Britain, a feeling of hostility and antagonism had developed between the Muslim League and Congress, Pakistan had been created by dividing the Old ‘British India’ against the wishes of congress and there had been many deaths as a result of communal violence after partition was announced. it is true to say that from the first day that the new country came into being ,Pakistan has felt threatened by its much larger neighbor. Therefore, relation with India have always been at the forefront of Pakistan’s foreign policy.
”One thing is certain .Partition is not likely to be attained with goodwill. Any hopes that after separation things will settle down and the states will become friendly, are built on sand.The chances are that distrust will make mutual accommodation even more difficult and make necessary the maintenance of protection forces on both sides”
partition in 1947 gave India and Pakistan a number of shared problems. There were:
the huge numbers of refugees wanting to move from one country to the other,
the sharing of what had been joint resources,
disagreement over possession of Kashmir.
Refugees
Despite the large-scale population transfers in 1947 as Muslims from India moved to Pakistan and Hindus to India, there were still substantial religious minorities in each country. Feeling of hostility between the two religious communities were so high that there was a fear in both countries that the bloody scenes experienced in 1947 might continue. Consequently, in April 1950 Prime Minister Liaguat Ali Khan signed an agreement with Nehru of India.It was called the Minorities pact and the two leaders agreed that each country would provide protection and religious freedom for the religious minorities.It was hoped that this would encourage the minorities to remain where they were and stop the tide of refugees.
Resources:The reluctance of indie to release assets made the Pakistani government even more suspicious of India motives and soured relations for the future A good example of his concerned water, which was one of the vital resources that India and Pakistan shared. On 1 April 1948 India cut off water supplies from all the handworks that it controlled. Farmers in Pakistan had traditionally irrigated the land by canals running off the main rivers. As a result of this move by India water in the rivers ran very low and made irrigation difficult Pakistan’s leaders knew that such an act was undertaken simply to make it more difficult for the new country to prosper. Access to water was to remain a problem until 1959, when the Indus water Treaty between India and Pakistan guaranteed a 10-year water supply.
Kashmir
Since partition the issue of Kashmir has caused fiction between India and Pakistan in 1948 fighting between India and Pakistan resulted in Kashmir being divided between the two countries. However, Pakistan was angered that India retained the largest area of Kashmir, Including thee capital, Srinagar and was determined to try gain control of the whole of Kashmir, Most of the 4 million inhabitants of Kashmir were Muslims and Pakistan believed the territory rightly belonged to her.
From 1949 there was an agreed ceasefire line through Kashmir, which was controlled by troops from the UN.
The Drift to War
The Kashmir issue remained unresolved and the lack of trust between the two countries affected their relations in other areas. India was particularly concerned about the military aid that USA was providing Pakistan.
However in 1962, India and China went to war over the positioning of the border between the two countries . China advanced to where it claimed the border should be before declaring a cease-fire. The Pakistan Military noted the ease with which the Indians had been defeated and concluded that Kashmir could be reclaimed by war. The Indian reaction to the Chinese war was to begin a re-armament programme accepting aid from the West . So by 1965. both countries thought that they could win any war over Kashmir.
The 1965 War
In 1965 Pakistan forced the Indians to accept in independent tribunal to settle a border dispute over the Rann of Kutch on the Sindh/Rajasthan border. Since this was what Pakistan had hoped would also happen in the Kashmir dispute, it now decided to take steps to force India agree to the setting up to an international body to decide on ownership of Kashmir. Pakistan ambition of driving India to accept international arbitration over Kashmir had failed . One reason for this was that India was stronger and more determined than Pakistan and British had both placed on embargo on selling weapons to the two combatants.
The 1971 War
By 1971 the balance of military power had definitely tilted in favour of India. it had a stronger economy and larger population than Pakistan and was able to develop an army considerably large than Pakistan could put in the field.
when civil war broke out in East Pakistan and it declared independence , the Indians recognised an opportunity to take advantage of rivals difficulties. In early 1972 Bhutto met Indira Gandhi, the Prime Minister of India, to conclude a peace treaty . As India was holding 90,000 Pakistani soldiers prisoner,Bhutto was in a week bargaining position
The Nuclear Problem
Although Bhutto repeated her offer of a nuclear free subcontinent, Gandhi did not take up the offer. By May 1998 India was carrying put tests which proved that it had unclear weapons.Two weeks later, Pakistan carried out its own tests showing it too had nuclear weapons The United Nation passed a unanimous resolution asking both countries to end their unclear weapon programmes. Secretary-General ,Kofi Annan asked both to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. Pakistan declare d it would if India also agreed. It did not However, in June 1998 Pakistan announced that it was stopping unclear testing.India made a similar announcement at the same time. the agreement to end unclear testing was an attempt to reduce tensions between India and Pakistan
Pakistan and the USA
after the establishment of an independent country, Pakistan decided to ally with the United States. However, at this time, the Americans were working towards an anti-Communist alliance with India, and it was some time before the embraced an alliance with Pakistan any enthusiasm.
During the independence struggle the Americans had often of the need for unity between Muslims and Hindu. Since the Muslims were trying to establish an independent Muslim homeland, they were distributed the this.The USA also took several years before it sent an ambassador to Pakistan. Liaquat Ali Khan was frustrated by the coolness of the Americans towards an alliance with Pakistan
and in 1949 accepted an offer to visit the Soviet Union. if his intention had been to force the Americans into closer alliance, he was successful. An invitation arrived almost immediately to visit the USA. Liaquat Ali Khan made the visit in 195 and arranged for a Pakistan Embassy to be established in the USA.
- The Americans continued to try to persuade India to join an anti-Communist act with them, but the Indian were reluctant to do so. In contrast, Pakistan was prepared to join such an alliance-in return for military and economic aid. By 1954 the Americans had decided that Pakistan, along with Iran and Turkey would be ideal countries to counter the growth of Soviet influence.An agreement was signed and American aid began to flow into Pakistan
Between 1954 and 1955 Pakistan signed 3 agreements which family established it as a pro-West, anti-Communist country: - In May 1954 Pakistan and the USA signed the Mutual Defense Assistance Agreement.
In September 1954 the South East Asia Treaty Organization was set u. The members were the USA. France, the Philippines ,Thailand, New Zealand and Australia.Pakistan also joined, but the decision faced opposition form within the Pakistan government and so they treaty was not ratified until 1955. The treaty stated that it any member were attacked, it could appeal to the other members for support.However,there was one major problem as far as Pakistan was concerned. the treaty applied only to help against Communist aggression.This meant that Pakistan received no support in its wars. Nor was help provided to prevent East Pakistan breaking away. Pakistan had hoed to persuade SEATO to set up a permanent military force to protect all member countries against any attack.
by 1972, it had decided that membership of SEATO was limited value and Bhutto withdrew Pakistan from the Organisation.In 1955 Turkey and Iraq signed the Baghdad Pact, establishing anti-Communist alliance against the Soviet Union. Later in the year Britain, Pakistan and Iran joined the Pact. All the members except the UK
were Muslim.The Pact was renamed the Central Asia Treaty Organization (CENTO)
after Iraq left in 1959 because of a revolution.However, despite regular meetings, the group never developed a permanent structure or a system for raising troops for mutual defense .By 1979 the organization had quietly dissolved.The USA supported (CENTO) But never actually joined
These three treaties help explain why some politicians described Pakistan in the 1950s as the USA’s most allied ally.
Relations After 1959
Although Pakistan was an enthusiastic ally of the USA, events after 1959 showed that the American attitude was more lukewarm. During the 1960s and 197s relations were often strained.
In 1962 China and India went to war. As China was communist, the USA immediately sent military aid to help India fight.This move offended the Pakistan government, which rightly argued that it should, at the very least, have been consulted before India was given aid. Pakistan’s leaders also argued that the Americans should have forced the Indians to accept arbitration in the Kashmir issue as a Price for receiving aid. Although the Americans promised to consult Pakistan in future, in practice they were leased to get the large non-Communist state into an agreement.
After 1962, both China and the Soviet Union seemed keener to have Pakistan as an ally than the USA. In 1962 Ayub Khan visited China and in 1965, the Soviet Union. These visits displeased the USA.
During the 1965 war between India and Pakistan the USA joined the UK in an arms embargo on both countries.As the Pakistan army was almost entirely supplied and trained by the USA the embargo was far more damaging to it than to India.
In 1971, the USA did not help Pakistan during the civil was in East Pakistan took few measures to help in the war against India.
Relations reached rock bottom when Zia came to power in 1977.The Americans did not approve of military regimes and did not want to form an alliance with Zia.
Then in November 1979 the US Embassy in Islamabad was burned down The USA did not like Zia Conditions and recalled many of its senior officials. All aid programme were cancelled.
The ‘Afghan Miracle’
In December 1979 , however, the situation changed. The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan.Pakistan was suddenly on the front-line in the was against Communism. The attitude of the USA to Zia’s government changed overnight.
Reservations about his domestic policies were quickly put aside. What was more important to the USA was to have Zia’s support to oppose the Soviet Union in Afghanistan.
In return for support the Afghan rebels against the Soviet Union, USA offered Zia substantial economic and military aid, Zia made the most out if American’s need. In 198 he turned down their first offer of aid as insufficient. By 1981 the Americans had agreed to a $1.6 billion aid package over 5 years and a further #1.5 billion loan at low rates of interest to enable Pakistan to Buy modern Us weapons. and this aid enabled Pakistan to enjoy raid economic development and also to become a leading military nation in the region. Not surprisingly, India Objected strongly to the American aid programme. but Pakistan was too valuable an ally for the USA to offend.Indeed, In 1986 a further aid programme providing $4.2 billion worth of military and economic aid was signed.After Israel and Egypt, Pakistan was the third largest recipient of American aid.
The End of the Miracle
However, in 1988 Afghanistan and the Soviet Union signed an agreement to end their war. Almost overnight Pakistan lost its strategic importance to the USA and aid was reduced dramatically . The impact of the loss of American aid was serious problem to the new government of Benazir Bhutto. In her first address to the nation as Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto had promised better relations with the USA,Russia and china.This was a change in her thinking as she had criticized Zia,s close relationship with the USA, However, she realized the vital importance of American aid to Pakistan in June 1989 visited the USA.
The Nuclear Issue
The Americans were particularly concerned about Pakistan’s unclear programme and in 1980 had tried to get it to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Bhutto made a speech to the US Congress saying that her country had no unclear weapons, but had a right to continue its unclear programme to ensure that it could defend itself. She said that Pakistan was willing to declare that the sub-continent should be unclear-free if India did the same.
Bhutti had to work a maintain the relationship with the USA as American officials were not convinced that Pakistan had no unclear weapons . In 1985 the Pressler Amendment had said that the USA could only give aid to a country after the American resident had declared that country had no unclear weapons and was not developing them. During the Afghan crisis, this rule was conveniently ignored.
But when the war ended President George H.W.Bush refused to declare Pakistan was unclear free and blocked aid to the country. He also stopped the sale of 28-f-16 fighter jets which Pakistan had ordered.
The Thaw
President Clinton (who came to power in 1993) wanted to restore relations between the two countries. He agreed that the Pressler Amendment had led to unfair treatment and suggested that If Pakistan stopped producing weapons-grade uranium he could agree to the sale of the E-16s. In January 1995 Defense Secretary, William Perry visited Pakistan and declared that the Pressler Amendment had been a mistake. Bhutti visited the USA in 1996 and following that visit the Brown Amendment authorized the US government to reimburse Pakistan for the F-16 payments and provide $388 million in military equipment. Bhutti was delighted and said ‘The passing of the Brown Amendment has vindicated Pakistan,s principled case and goes a long way towards restoring the warmth,which in the past characterized the relationship between US and Pakistan.’The thaw in the relations was further highlighted when First Lady Hillary Clinton and her daughter Chelsea , visited Pakistan in 1996.
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