Page 239 - SSB Interview: The Complete Guide, Second Edition

Indo-Pak Relations (High Level Topic)

Respected GTO Sir, and my dear friends,

I have chosen to speak on Indo-Pak relations as this is a very important
subject for all of us. I will be covering this topic in four parts, namely,
introduction, recent developments, the way ahead and conclusion. Coming to

the introduction, we all know that India and Pakistan were one and fought
British imperialism together to gain freedom. But at the time of granting

freedom, the British, in keeping with their policy of divide and rule, gave fuel
to the fire of Muslim sentiments and facilitated partition of the nation into
Pakistan and India based on religion. Perhaps, the British thought this to be

the best way to keep an ancient civilisation like ours under check from raising
its head in the future. The partition of 1947 saw the death of several Muslims
and Hindus in the adjoining areas of the border, and the gruesome memories

have not been forgotten by the people of either side. The politicians of both
countries rub salt into the wounds to keep this feeling of hatred alive. In the
last six decades post-independence, we have had three wars between the two

countries, namely 1962, 1971 and the recent Kargil aggression. Though all
the three times Pakistan lost to India, the feeling of insecurity has increased
manifolds as a consequence of these wars and both nations are spending

almost 7 to 8% of their GDP on defence.

Coming to developments in the past three decades, Pakistan, not being in a
position to wage a war and win against the mighty Indian armed forces, has

resorted to terrorism and other low intensity conflicts. On one hand, it is
instigating the Kashmiri youth and funding them to cause terrorism in India
in the name of Allah and Jihad, and on the other hand, it is also feeding drugs

into bordering Punjab and Rajasthan, in addition to infusing counterfeit
currency into the Indian market. The recent terrorist attacks on Taj Hotel and
on local trains in Mumbai, and on the Indian parliament have proved beyond

doubt their involvement in destabilising India. India has made several
attempts to bring them to the negotiation table to resolve the unsettled border
dispute and find a political solution through bilateral talks. However, each

time, their politicians reciprocated with more violence. In fact, the politicians