Cool it, India and Pakistan

Last week, hostilities between India and its neighbor Pakistan erupted, sharply deteriorated and threatened to escalate into an all-out war until cooler heads prevailed. While it lasted, the confrontation led to casualties on both sides and was a major threat to world peace. Soldiers on both sides were either killed or injured and a lot […]

Last week, hostilities between India and its neighbor Pakistan erupted, sharply deteriorated and threatened to escalate into an all-out war until cooler heads prevailed. While it lasted, the confrontation led to casualties on both sides and was a major threat to world peace. Soldiers on both sides were either killed or injured and a lot of military hardware was also destroyed in the face-off. 

Given the history of four wars and sporadic flare-ups between these two nuclear powered and heavily armed countries, as well as the near-permanent acrimony between them over the disputed territory of Kashmir, this recent conflict set the world on edge with fears that it could degenerate into all-out war. The two countries have fought wars in 1947, 1965, 1971 and 1999. This is not counting the series of border flare-ups which regularly occur on the disputed Kashmir border.

The recent problem had its roots in a suicide attack by a terrorist from the Jaish-e-Mohammed (self-styled ‘army of Mohammed’) group, which is based in Pakistan controlled portion of Kashmir. The terrorist crossed over into India and attacked a convoy of India’s para-military Central Reserve Police Force on the Jammu Srinagar National Highway. The attack killed 40 Indian police men along with the assailant.

Pakistan condemned the attack but did not go further to punish the group. India then cashed in on it and launched reprisal air strikes on what it said were terrorist camps across the Line of Control (LOC), and into Pakistan-controlled Kashmir. LOC is an internationally designated informal boundary which divides the disputed Kashmir territory and delimits the military operations of India and Pakistan to their respective sides of the LOC. Following India’s violation of the LOC pact, Pakistan then retaliated with airstrikes and its planes also crossed the LOC into Indian-controlled Kashmir. A dogfight ensued and the Pakistanis managed to shoot down an Indian MiG-21 fighter plane and captured the pilot, Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman. In a surprise peace gesture however, Pakistan handed the pilot back to India at the weekend.

Kashmir, the territory at the centre of the storm was created as a buffer and border zone between India and Pakistan following the partitioning of the Indian sub-continent at the time of independence from British colonial rule in 1947.  Up until this time, Kashmir remains a territory divided between India and Pakistan and efforts by the United Nations have so far failed to resolve the logjam. Insurgents from Pakistan-controlled Kashmir therefore sneak into the Indian part and launch terrorist strikes.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “tough” stance against Pakistan was widely seen as being due to the fact he is in the middle of an election campaign. Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, on the other hand, was a cricket legend with little government experience and was determined to prove himself in this crisis. Luckily, both leaders pulled back from the brink and de-escalated the tension between their two countries.

While the tension lasted, the UN, UK, US, Russia and China all expressed concern and urged the two neighbours to step back from the conflict. Both countries have been emboldened in their actions over the decades through strategic alliances with the world’s powers. While Russia and its predecessor the Soviet Union did a lot in the last 50 years to arm India, the US also did a lot to arm and embolden Pakistan. Both nations however developed nuclear weapons mostly on their own power, India in 1974, Pakistan in 1988. 

Now that there has been a de-escalation in tension between the two countries, we urge the United Nations and the international community to step up efforts and produce a lasting settlement over Kashmir. We appreciate that Kashmir is one of the world’s most intractable border problems but with creativity and goodwill on both sides, it could yet be resolved. For us Africans, both India and Pakistan are our good friends and our last wish is to see them in deadly conflict.