BY AQSA ZAINAB*The 20th
century is drawing to a close with the globe still in the throes of transition that followed the end of the cold war – then disintegration of Soviet Union. In the post cold war era new kind of developments occurred in the world. The milestone, which was expected to be the harbinger of a peaceful international order, has instead ushered in a period of increased instability with conflicts and confrontations in many parts of the world. The resort to nuclear test firing by India and then as a response by Pakistan in May 1998 has brought this volatile region to the brink of a nuclear holocaust.
World is moving towards friendships based on interest but South Asia after passing 50 years of independence has not reached the state of maturity. All this is the result of internal conflicts, under development, and
psyche of Sub—continent that is different from the Western world. Due to the hot climate and harsh weather people here are impatient, nonreliable as the Western world say so.
We have seen the Kargil crises –purely a tragic drama. It was the outcome of hostilities and clash of interest between the two archrivals. Apart from
over-population, poverty and weak social structure, Indo-Pak region concentrate on spending a large sum of their gross national product on military expenditures in the name of defense budget.
There are other questions too:
. Why both states do not compromise?
. How social process theory is relevant?
. What are the hurdles in close relations between them?
. How can these states reverse their energies from destructive to productive ones?
In order to develop friendly relations despite hostilities they have to implement giving each other most favorable nation
status. To achieve this they have to stabilize their local markets first. Then search for international markets for their surplus products. While leaving their religious hostilities, border tensions apart, if they
want to excel in economic sector they simply have to follow the example of European Union because the member states of EU extend cooperation exclusively in world market for the maintenance of peace and security despite
their centuries old hostilities.
Albeit Indo—Pak dyad is basically involved in a destructive conflict i.e. in which one party's aim is to defeat
the other one. That is why they are constant and all weather enemies. But they have to realize that instead of engaging themselves in harmful acts such as war, arms race they need to move towards productive
conflict, which in turn benefit their region and the people. As the Indian Sub-Continent, by virtue of its location and population for many years has been a central arena of the great power struggle for influence that
characterized Asia particularly sub—continent as strategically important area in the wake of de-colonization. India's recent arm's sale agreement with Russia, its power full position in world market is a step towards
achieving the great power status of the region. Where as Pakistan is facing entirely opposite position in international politics?
In future however, any positive element in the context of Pak—India relations is a reductive fallacy. That if positive and peaceful talks between
General Musharraf and Mr. Vajpayee some how start cooperation extended in every sector this phase shall not remain durable and long term; this could at best be termed as a short term tactical move on the part of both
states. At this point in time, both need the West, its capital, aid, technology and expertise. Both states if able to buttress their economies, strengthen their military machines and manage to maintain their
territorial and national integrity as one nation, they will, in all likelihood emerge as competitors. How this process of modernization affects their polities in future remains to be seen. This may come about sometimes
in the next 50 years or so. Nonetheless, at least over the next decade.
Friend ship between nations is not built on abstract principles; it invariably follows the calculus of economic and mutual benefit. To take a
rather simplistic analogy, just as poor and rich blood relatives in a family find it very difficult to enter in to any meaningful, harmonious and abiding friend ship, so do poor and rich nations
too.
*Student, B.A (Hons) IIIrd Year, Department of International Relations, University of Karachi.
