IndiaEssay -pakistan Nuclear Threat part 1 Essay - 3,302 words

India-Pakistan Nuclear Threat In May 1998, India carried out five nuclear tests and formally declared itself a "nuclear weapon state" (NWS). This dramatic move stunned the world and immediately triggered a new round of the nuclear arms race in South Asia. India's archenemy, Pakistan, responded by setting off six announced nuclear tests just two weeks later. The nuclear crisis in South Asia was intensified by the Indian-Pakistani military conflict in Kashmir and almost brought the two countries into another major war in summer 1999. As the world's attention shifts to the Kashmir conflict, the challenge the Indian nuclear tests pose to the international nuclear order and the nonproliferation regime should not be overlooked. The conflict is not a recent one, however. It lasts from the beginning of the century, being an important constituent of the cold war relations.


For thousands of years, countless lives have been lost in battles over disputed territories. While the primary, tangible point of disputation in most border disputes is an easily identifiable piece of land on a map; such disputes are often far more complex than what can be measured in square miles. Often times, cultural tradition, ethnic legacy, and religious beliefs become dimensions that make such conflicts far more complex than can be resolved by a simple treaty creating a new border. This is the case in the Jammu and Kashmir region, located between northwestern India and northeastern Pakistan. Prior to 1947, the region comprising Pakistan, India, and Kashmir was known as British India, and was a colony of the British Empire consisting of hundreds of small states, each of which was controlled by a local leader know as a maharajah. When the British left the region in 1947, it was up to the individual states to determine which of the two new independent countries they wished to join. Those countries with Muslim majorities opted to become part of Pakistan, while those Hindu majorities chose to become part of the new India. While for the most part this system worked out well, two areas complicated the transition. One problem came from the geographic divide between two culturally distinct pockets of Muslims in British India.


The country we now know as Pakistan was the region known as West Pakistan when colonial powers left in 1947. However, the region of Bengali also possessed a heavy Muslim majority, but was separated from West Pakistan by Hindu controlled parts of India. This region, which became East Pakistan, affiliated itself with West Pakistan by religion and constitution, but not by cultural heritage. Much like Alaska is part of the United States, but divided from the rest of the nation by Canada, East Pakistan found itself surrounded by India, but constitutionally united with West Pakistan. In Kashmir, another difficult situation would present itself. While the majority of the Kashmiri people were Muslim, the Maharajah of Kashmir was Hindu, and thus saw to it that Kashmir aligned itself with India, despite the Muslim majority.


The United Nations has intervened several times in the turbulent situation between India and Pakistan. A resolution to the war of 1947-1948 was mediated by the United Nations as both nations agreed in late December of 1948 to divide to country and establish "a line of control". This agreement called for the people of Kashmir to eventually determine their own fate in a free and fair referendum, which never materialized. In 1957 legislation passed by India, without the consent of the Kashmiri people, essentially declared the disputed territory part of India. This action was in direct violation of the previously agreed upon treaty, and ignited fresh hostilities. In 1965 fighting broke out again; eventually ending in another U.N.-brokered agreement signed on January 1st, 1966.


In the cease-fire agreement, both sides pledged to work towards a peaceful resolution of their differences. The peace remained stable until 1971 when a civil war erupted in East Pakistan, which is now known as Bangladesh. This war once again precipitated hostilities between India and Pakistan in the Kashmir region, and was not stopped until the Simla Agreement brokered by the UN took effect in 1971. Since 1971, the duel has been a stalemate, as both sides exchange fire from time to time, and continue to posture asserting their national positions, but not engaging in full-scale armed conflict. On the nuclear side of things, many countries adopted the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in an attempt to curb the spread of nuclear weapons and their threat to international peace and security. Neither India nor Pakistan has embraced either of these treaties, arguing that they are hypocritical attempts by the nuclear powers of the world to prevent other nations from pursuing their right to self determination and self defense.


The latest crisis surfaced when terrorists assaulted Indias Parliament in New Delhi on December 13, 2001. In A ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

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Essay Tags: cold war, united states, united state, india, nuclear

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