Page 164 - Failure to Triumph - Journey of A Student

Illustrative lecturettes on two high and average level topics is given below.

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 civilization 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, and the
politicians of both the countries rub salt to 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 many folds 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 the 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 destabilizing 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 are more of a puppet in that country as the Pakistan army rules the roost. Even if the

politicians want to bring peace, the Pakistan army and the ISI will not allow that to happen. For most
part of the post-independence era, it was one or the other Army General who ruled Pakistan, last
being General Parvez Musharraf. Hence, the Pakistan army is very powerful and if the politicians
don’t tow their line, the government is taken over by a military coup.

The only way ahead is to strengthen the political system of that country and restrict the military to
play the role of defence instead of administering the nation. This will give way to democratic
governance and through this the will of the people who are tired of bloodshed will force the

politicians to adopt a policy of cooperation and peace. This way, both the countries can cut down on
their defence expenditures and spend more money on other social issues. This will see the entire
region blooming and only then initiatives like Samjauta Express, cricket tie-ups and other cultural and
social exchange programmes will benefit in uniting the people of both the countries.