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The Indo-Pak Conflicts

Ever since the partition of the sub-continent more than 50 years ago, India and Pakistan have been arch rivals. Kashmir remains a bone of contention between the two countries even after over 50 years of independence. The Pakistan Government calls it the 'core' issue and says that the eventual merger of J&K with Pakistan is the only acceptable solution to the problem.

In the history of Indo-Pak bilateral relations, Kashmir has occupied the most prominent position. Pakistan's constant harping on the issue of plebiscite has not gone down well with the Indian political elite and policy makers, but Pakistan has not refrained from raising this issue in the international fora.

India and Pakistan have thrice gone to war over the territory, in 1947-8 ,in 1965 and in 1971, India and Pakistan fought again over Bangladeshi independence, and during this time there was also some conflict between the two sides in Kashmir.and in the summer of 1999, the two countries came to brink of another war after Pakistani-backed forces infiltrated Indian part of Kashmir.

Pakistan, as a nuclear weapon state locked in a conventional conflict with India, also a nuclear weapon state, would only heighten the fears of a nuclear flashpoint on the subcontinent and serve to internationalise the Kashmir issue. Such a situation would expectedly draw US attention to the problem which Pakistan thought could be made to work to its advantage provided the military situation was shaping favourably. This could be interpreted as the diplomatic objective for the Pakistani move into Kargil.

Nuclear Countdown

India first began building its own nuclear weapons in the mid-1960s, after China began nuclear tests.
In 1974, India conducted its first nuclear test - the so-called "Smiling Buddha" detonations in the Rajasthan Desert.
A few years later, Pakistan began to develop its own programme of nuclear weapons.
Both countries were also developing and testing both short-range and intermediate-range missiles.
In April 1998, Pakistan finally tested its new Ghauri intermediate-range nuclear missile, named after a 12th century Muslim warrior who conquered part of India. This test is thought to have prompted India's nuclear tests the following month.
On Monday May 11, India announced it had conducted three underground tests at Pokhran in the northern state of Rajasthan. Two days later it announced that another two explosions had taken place.
India's actions were widely condemned by the international community and Pakistan was urged not to retaliate.
But on May 28, Pakistan announced that it had conducted five nuclear tests of its own in south-western Baluchistan.
The tests were widely criticised throughout the world, and led to the imposition by some countries of sanctions.
On September 22, the US lifted economic and military sanctions.
But despite strong American pressure, neither side has so far signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty or the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.

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