Prudent as it may have appeared to reconcile to the territorial status quo in the past, policy makers must ask themselves whether such an approach has really worked in India’s favour.
The monograph urges a policy re-positioning by aggregating key geopolitical parameters concerning PoK which potentially impinge on India’s vital territorial and security interests.
Pakistan’s responses with reference to the US encouraging India to play a greater role in Afghanistan raise an intriguing question: were Trump’s statements on India part of a gambit to extract cooperation from Pakistan?
Consisting of five major hydropower projects including the Diamer Bhasha Dam, the North Indus Cascade will cut across Gilgit Baltistan as well as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Associate Fellow, IDSA, Dr Priyanka Singh’s column on CPEC, titled ‘CPEC a misnomer: India must rename it’ was published in the Oped section of ‘The Pioneer’ on May 13, 2017.
Since 1947, the protracted issue of Kashmir has predominantly underpinned the subcontinent’s security discourse having dictated the trajectory of unsettling ties between India and Pakistan. As old as India’s independence from British rule and the consequent creation of Pakistan in 1947, the Kashmir issue is rooted in the indecisive phase preceding Jammu and Kashmir’s (J&K) formal accession to India.
Isolated statements from China and Pakistan soliciting India’s participation in CPEC could be part of a strategic mind-game. India must consider engaging astutely in this mind-game.
India must avoid policy incoherence and inconsistency on PoK that has spanned decades, and navigate a course that helps reshape the domestic as well as external discourses on PoK and pursue Indian claims in a firm, consistent manner.
Why disclaiming Pakistan occupied Kashmir is not prudent
Prudent as it may have appeared to reconcile to the territorial status quo in the past, policy makers must ask themselves whether such an approach has really worked in India’s favour.