Knowledge Partner
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Diplomatist
and problems but has nevertheless permiQed a useful measure of bilateral
coopera*on.
the baQles along the border was about to take place; but in the event, the
Chinese campaign was halted and there was restora*on of an uneasy status
quo that s*ll exists, which is some*mes under threat but on the whole has
survived and kept the two forces away from each other even though there is
no shared percep*on of where the border actually lies.
Rela*ons with China have been more readily restored than rela*ons with
Pakistan. This owes something to the fact that much of the India-China
border area is unpopulated, or sparsely populated, while the India-
Pakistan border traverses populated areas where hos*le encounters
between seQled popula*ons are more likely to occur. The governments of
India and Pakistan have made many aQempts to establish a stable modus
vivendi along their border but this has proved a difficult task and there
has not been any end to the tension and strife in the border zone. The
seQling down in India-China maQers has no parallel in Indo-Pak affairs: on
the contrary, there have been repeated military engagements, some major
wars, and virtually constant border skirmishes have flared up between
them. Pakistan was dismembered through war in 1971 and its eastern
wing became the state of Bangladesh. The trauma of that development is
s*ll not fully absorbed and con*nues to affect South Asia.
Disturbed rela*ons and conflict with some of the neighbours have led to
intensified diploma*c ac*vity by India in order to hold its own
interna*onally, while not seeking to resolve differences through use of force
or by adop*ng confronta*onal measures. China, too, has been rela*vely
restrained on the border ajer its ini*al war-like advances into Indian
territory. But at a short remove from the border zone itself, China had at one
stage followed up its early military ac*ons by providing ac*ve support to
insurgent groups that were trying to disturb order and unity within India.
Such hos*le ac*vity made it impossible for rela*ons between India and
China to be restored to anything like their former level and it was only ajer
China gave up its policy of covert support for dissident groups in India and
other neighbouring countries and progressively distanced itself from the
disrup*ve ac*vi*es it had earlier supported, that a measure of coopera*on
could develop between the two countries.
Yet it should not be forgoQen that, in the midst of their many differences,
India and Pakistan have retained some basic features of coopera*on in
basic maQers of war and peace. For one thing, they have not brought an
end to their formal diploma*c exchanges, for they are interwoven by
geography and culture and cannot avoid minimum interchanges even at
*mes of difficulty and discord. The decisive war of 1971 that restructured
South Asia ended with the Simla Agreement, which ini*ated a process of
regular dialogue aimed at progressive elimina*on of the sources of
conflict. For India, which was in a commanding posi*on ajer its decisive
victory on the baQlefield, it was
nevertheless important that peace
should be restored, not just an It should not be forgoaen
armis*ce but the makings of a that, in the midst of their
long-term seQlement. Indian many differences, India
diplomats drew an important
and Pakistan have retained
lesson from the 1919 Treaty of
Versailles that brought World War some basic features of
I to a conclusion but imposed coopera@on in basic
such onerous terms on Germany maaers of war and peace.
as to propel the combatants
towards another World War, and
were determined not do anything comparable in their own region. The
long-term vision has some*mes faltered, but the Simla Agreement is s*ll
an enduring benchmark and has not lost its relevance.
The border remains a concern and there have been dangerous incidents like
the 2017 confronta*on in Doklam. However, border issues are not the
overwhelming concerns of the two par*es, do not tower above all other
considera*ons of bilateral rela*ons, and have not prevented a sustained rise
in trade and economic exchanges — to the point that China is now India’s
biggest trading partner. It took enlightened leadership from both sides to
permit restora*on of rela*ons and expansion of *es in this manner, to their
mutual benefit. What was jointly achieved can be considered a successful
display of post-conflict diplomacy, which has not eliminated nega*ve issues
Even in the current period of acutely troubled rela*ons, there are a
number of contradictory indica*ons about the direc*on in which rela*ons
are advancing. The interna*onal seqng has not been helpful in promo*ng
a structure of peace in South Asia, and China’s emergence as Pakistan's
chief supporter in the interna*onal arena where it has displaced the US —
that had for so long been in that posi*on — has raised a number of new
Image 2: The ‘BeaLng Retreat’ ceremony jointly conducted by Indian and Pakistani forces
at the InternaLonal Border between India and Pakistan at Wagah, Amritsar India
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