India-Pakistan Relations

India should now focus on handling internal differences, balancing issues across sectors and forging a domestic consensus in order to enhance its negotiating posture vis-a-vis Pakistan

In the aftermath of the disastrous meeting between the Foreign Ministers of India and Pakistan, there is an all-pervasive air of despondency if not frustration as India seems to be running out of options.

India should try and broaden its engagement with all sections of Pakistani society which is getting differentiated due to the simultaneous multiple crises in that country.

The India-Pakistan dialogue could be restructured in a way that allows them to engage each other in a formal but unstructured strategic political dialogue which focuses beyond immediate disputes and problems.

A survey of media reports in newspapers based in Jammu and Kashmir for 2010 reveals that although violence levels are down there are multiple levels at which militancy affects the state.

The survey in J&K and ‘Azad Kashmir’ indicates that people consider unemployment as a major problem, followed by corruption, poor economic development and human rights abuses.

A strategic dialogue mechanism with Pakistan at the level of NSAs, assisted by representatives of the national security establishment including the military on both sides, needs to be initiated to address core questions like the strategic balance and reconciling strategic doctrines.

The robustness of India's nuclear doctrine would face a severe challenge in the case of conventional military offensives into Pakistan in a future Indo-Pak conflict. Such offensives are possible in case Pakistan's nuclear threshold is taken as high and its doctrine one of 'last resort'. However, Pakistani nuclear use options may include lower order nuclear use. In light of this, it recommends that India take a serious look at the Limited War concept as well as revise its nuclear doctrine to 'flexible nuclear retaliation'.

The peace process between India and Pakistan came to an abrupt halt with the Mumbai attacks on November 26, 2008 (26/11). Ironically, the attacks were carried out by Pakistani terrorists minutes after the foreign ministers of both countries met in New Delhi and pledged to take the composite dialogue process forward. Ever since, Pakistan's unwillingness to bring the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks to justice has come in the way of resumption of the composite dialogue. There have been many false starts, but the process continues to be in a state of suspended animation.

Like in the 1950s, the word ‘riparian’ is back again in the India–Pakistan lexicon, becoming this time intensely political, emotional and divisive. This development is both instructive and unsettling. It is instructive to note how the current water realties of the two countries, which have changed significantly since the Indus Water Treaty (IWT) in 1960, will now determine the treaty's future. With growing populations, inadequate water management techniques and the impact of global warming, water resources are under pressure.