What if there was no Kashmir conflict or if this conflict was solved, then would Pak and India cooperate with each other?

By: Josue Diaz , Ph.D Public Policy, New York University (2018) Written Tue image: google.com If the Kashmir issue is ...

By:

Josue Diaz, Ph.D Public Policy, New York University (2018)

Written Tue

image: google.com

If the Kashmir issue is resolved in some way, then yes the hostilities will decrease, and there should be some positivity in bilateral relations. However, it is overly optimistic to say that the two will begin cooperating with each other.

There is decades of mistrust and contentious issues like the Indus Water Treaty, nuclear rivalry, right wing extremism in India that wants Pakistan to be part of India or break apart Balochistan, or right wing extremism in Pakistan that believes in the twisted ideology of Ghazwa-e-Hind and wants all of India to be an Islamic land, etc. etc.

Then there is the ever insatiable China, who can never be at peace with a prosperous neighbor like India, and will find ways to instigate Pakistan into newer, perhaps even more ludicrous issues to fight with India.

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Ashish Rana, I was born from where Islamabad is closer than Delhi.

Written Mon

Its never going to be ‘all great on the western front’ for India. And that is because of how nation states operate. Conflict of interests always exist. Yes JnK is a huge conflict, but its not because of the conflict, but because of inability to solve it and concede even a little to the other side.

But India and Pakistan are a unique case because they are essentially the same people, divided by religion. The objective of creation of Pakistan was to make peace. But since the beginning we had the JnK dispute.

I have an optimist view and a pessimist view on this and I swing in between based on mood and status of relationship between the two nations.

By a pessimist view, The decision makers still suffer the mentality of ‘Two Nations Theory’ which is more of about mutually incompatible two cultures fighting for superiority over the other. Kashmir problem (not JnK dispute), is essentially a manifestation of that. In case of absence of Kashmir problem, I would not deny any possibility of its manifestation in another form, but it may not be this ugly. Water is one such issue.

By an optimist’s view, the confidence building activities would be common. Constant cricket matches to the point where no one actually cares who wins (i remember there was a time when the ‘rivalary’ was lost for some time between 2004–2007). Trade and open trade routes. Mutual dependence. Cultural exchanges like Pakistani musicians in India and Indian travelers in Pakistan.

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