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Photo: CNN
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While it's never exactly been warm and fuzzy, the relationship between south
Asian neighbors India and Pakistan has really hit the rocks in recent months.
In fact, the two nations' armies currently stand eye-to-eye along their
shared border with war a distinct possibility. India has massed 500,000 of
its troops on one side of the divide and Pakistan has responded in kind with
300,000 men on the other. The situation is all the more worrisome as both
nations are known to possess nuclear weapon technology.
The latest escalation of tensions between the two countries comes in the wake
of the December 13 attack on India's parliament, which Indian officials say
was carried out by Kashmiri militants. Seven Indian policemen were killed in
what appears to have been an attempted suicide mission to blow up the
building.
Kashmir is the region in the northernmost corner of both Pakistan and India.
Control of the area is divided between the two countries and has long served
as a source of friction between them.
Immediately following the attack on India's parliament, accusations began to fly between the
longtime rivals. The Indian government claimed Pakistan had allowed radical
groups to flourish under its watch and demanded that Pakistani President
Pervez Musharraf take steps to crack down on them. India also announced that
it would not allow Pakistani aircraft to fly through Indian airspace, and
that it planned to withdraw much of its diplomatic staff from Pakistan.
Shortly thereafter, Pakistan responded by taking similar steps.
As the diplomatic and rhetorical skirmishes continued, the nations deployed
an increasing number of troops and artillery along their shared border. Then
on January 26, in a move that sent an unmistakable message, India carried out
a successful public test of a ballistic missile designed to carry a nuclear
warhead.
While the India-Pakistan conflict has long been on the radar screens of
American foreign policy-makers, it has only occasionally attracted the
attention that other global hotspots, such as the Middle East, have. But with
eradicating terrorism now at the very top of the U.S. agenda, maintaining
stability throughout all of south Asia has taken on unprecedented importance.
In the wake of the military campaign in Afghanistan, the U.S. wants strong,
cooperative governments in the region who will assist America in its search
for violent, anti-Western sects such as al Qaeda.
Since the dispute between India and Pakistan has been heading toward a boiling
point, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell has taken an increasingly
active diplomatic role to soothe nerves on both sides.
The secretary has visited both India and Pakistan since the December 13
attack on the Indian parliament. He has also reportedly spoken a number of
times with leaders in both nations via telephone. And he has been credited
with helping to convince President Musharraf to curb the most radical
organizations operating within Pakistan's borders, which may have been behind
the New Delhi attack.
A Long, Bitter Feud
The intense and, at times, violent rivalry between the two nations pre-dates
the current standoff by more than 50 years. In 1947, the two countries were
partitioned out of lands controlled by the British. Since then, they have
fought three wars, none of which have satisfactorily resolved the issues that
divide them.
With just over 1 billion inhabitants, India is the second most populous
nation on earth and the world's most populous democracy. The vast majority
of Indians are Hindu, but the government has long been distinctly secular in
nature. Roughly one-third of all Indians live in poverty, according to a
1994 estimate by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.
Sandwiched geographically between India to its southeast and Afghanistan to
its northwest, Pakistan is home to 144 million people, most of whom are Muslim.
Though officially known as "The Islamic Republic of Pakistan," Pakistan under
its current leader is hardly the model of democratic rule. In October 1999,
General Musharraf (who at the time was serving as Chief of Army Staff and
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee) suspended the country's
constitution. He then named himself Chief Executive and has ruled Pakistan
absolutely ever since. Roughly two in five Pakistanis live in poverty,
according to the CIA.
When the British partitioned the lands they controlled into what is now known
as Pakistan and India in 1947, they envisioned the former as a nation for the
region's Muslim population and the latter as a home for its Hindus. In the
weeks and months that followed British withdrawal, millions uprooted and
moved from one side of the India-Pakistan border to the other, depending on
their religious persuasion. The disruption led to fighting between ethnic
and religious groups who claimed various lands as their own. It is estimated
that 500,000 people died during the re-settlement.
The region of Kashmir, however, was never clearly designated as either part
of Pakistan or India by the British. Instead, the decision was left to the maharajah of the province at the time; he eventually chose India. Indians
have pointed to the maharajah's choice as proof that Kashmir is theirs.
Pakistanis contend that the decision made by the maharajah is invalid because
of the political pressure he was subjected to at the time. They claim
Kashmir is theirs.
In 1947 and 1967, India and Pakistan went to war over which nation would
control Kashmir. Both conflicts ended in stalemate and resulted in what is
currently known as the "Line of Control" that divides the land into two
sections, 2/3 of which is India-controlled. The rest of the region is
controlled by Pakistan.
Sixty percent of Kashmiris are Muslim and some portion of them believes the
entire region should be controlled by Pakistan. Currently, there are
believed to be more than two dozen militant organizations covertly seeking to
accomplish that goal inside Kashmir, many of which abide by a radical Muslim
orthodoxy. Over the years, these guerilla operations have claimed
responsibility for numerous attacks on Indian military positions in Kashmir
in an effort to get the Indians to relinquish control of the region. They
have also taken credit for attacks elsewhere in India, including the
attempted bombing of the parliament in Delhi.
Since that December 13 attack, Pakistani leader General Musharraf has acceded
to demands that he curb these radical groups, many of which were believed to
have been operating not just within Pakistan-controlled Kashmir but other
regions of Pakistan. According to various reports, Musharraf has reined in
these groups in recent weeks. His moves have helped to calm Indian nerves, at
least momentarily. But the heated rivalry between India and Pakistan shows
no sign of abating anytime soon.
By Ethan Zindler
Tune into "Be Heard: An MTV Global Discussion With Colin Powell," premiering February 14 at 8 p.m. ET. Colin Powell answers your questions about world events during the show. Check the Weekly Schedule for encore air times.
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