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History
Historically the nation of Pakistan never existed. It was carved out of British India, as a homeland for the Muslims of South Asia. It originally consisted of two parts, West Pakistan and East Pakistan India gained independence on 15th August, 1947 from the British Empire. The state of Pakistan was carved out of North-West Indian territories and the most of Bengal as a homeland for the Muslims of South Asia after agitations by the Muslim League, led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Ever since their founding, India and Pakistan have been arch-rivals, vying for regional supremacy in South Asia. India and Pakistan had their first armed conflict in 1947 itself, over the erstwhile Kingdom of Kashmir. This was followed by two more wars, in 1965 and in 1971. The 1971 war led to the independence of East Pakistan, which became the state of Bangladesh. There was one more armed conflict, the Kargil Conflict of 1999. But this conflict has not been declared as a ‘war’, simply because the Pakistani govt. refuses acknowledge the fact that Pakistani soldiers were involved in the conflict. It maintains that the Indian Army fought the mujahideen. That is, Kashmiri separatists and not the Pakistani Army. There were also a couple of high-tension standoffs, Operation Brasstacks (1989) and Operation Parakram (2001-02), following the attack on the Indian Parliament. India conducted nuclear tests in 1974 and in 1998, followed by which Pakistan too conducted nuclear tests in 1998. Thus both India and Pakistan have nuclear weapons, which are said to be state of the art. This accumulation of nuclear weapons between two arch-rivals has the world analysts in a tizzy. During Operation Parakram, many nations feared a nuclear war which could leave millions dead. Operation Parakram also saw the largest mobilization of any nuclear-powered nations directly against each other. India has also accused Pakistan’s secret service, the ISI with funding and training Kashmiri separatists and radical Islamic militants like the Lashkar-e-Toiba and the Jaish-e-Mohammad which have carried out a spate of bombings and attacks, including the attack on the Indian parliament, which have left thousands dead. The Pakistan in turn has blamed the RAW, India’s external intelligence agency, with supporting the BLA. 
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| Wars Fought
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1947 War
Fought over the state of Kashmir. The Princely states of British India were given the choice to join either India or Pakistan. The Maharaja of Kashmir did not want to join either. After the withdrawal of the British troops in 1947, Pakistani soldiers and armed Pushtun militias from the North West Frontier Province invaded Kashmir to annex it into Pakistan. The Maharaja turned to India for help and was forced to sign a treaty of accession to India. Indian troops were then airlifted into Kashmir and managed to capture two-thirds of Kashmir from the Pakistani forces. But the Pakistanis could not be pushed beyond a certain point, which was later turned into the Line of Control (LOC) in Kashmir. West Kashmir went to Pakistan, and the remaining portion went to India following a UN mandated cease-fire. |
 
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1965 War
It was the culmination of skirmishes that took place between April 1965 and September 1965. The war began following the failure of Pakistan’s Operation Gibraltar, which sought to incite an insurgency in Kashmir. Ended in a UN-mandated cease-fire. |
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1971 War (Bangladesh Liberation War)
East Pakistan had been trying to seek independence from West Pakistan, which in turn retaliated with brutal force, including genocide. As East-Pakistani refugees began pouring into India, India expressed support for the East Pakistan cause. In swift, blitzkrieg moves, the Indian armed forces decimated the Pakistani armed forces, especially in East Pakistan, and the Pakistani troops stationed in East Pakistan surrendered in under a week. Resulted in a complete victory for India and the independence of East Pakistan, which became Bangladesh. |
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1999 Conflict (Kargil Conflict)
Pakistani soldiers and trained Kashmiri insurgents occupied Indian border posts in Kashmir. This was followed by Operation Vijay by the Indian Army to remove the intruders and recapture the border posts. Resulted in Indian victory. Was the only second ground war between nuclear armed nations.
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Reasons for Conflict
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Kashmir
Kashmir as been the flash point for all Indo-Pak conflicts. Pakistan stakes its claim on Kashmir and views the treaty of accession signed between the Maharaja of Kashmir and the Indian Union as illegal. Pakistan maintains that Muslim-majority Kashmir should be a part of Pakistan. Rann of Kutch Pakistan claims that Rann of Kutch, a muslim-majority province of the erstwhile state of Jungaad is a territory of Pakistan. |
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Extremism
India has accused the Pakistani army and the ISI of training and funding radical Islamic fundamentalist terror organizations and Kashmiri separatist organizations. The activities of these organizations have resulted in the deaths of thousands of Indians and innumerable Indian soldiers. Many of these organizations are based in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) or Azad Kashmir and the North West Frontier Provinces of Pakistan. Regional Superiority India and Pakistan, since their independence, have been vying for regional superiority. So far, India seems to be winning.
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| The Present Day
India has been a stable democracy for 60 years and will go in for elections again in April-May 2009, when 714 million people will cast their vote, the biggest exercise of democracy anywhere in the world. Pakistan has had a troubling history of coups and counter-coups, interspersed with inefficient democratic governments. The military dictator, Pervez Musharaff was thrown out of power a few months back and a democratic government was elected. But it looks like the military is poised to come back to power in Pakistan. Religious extremism has been gaining ground in Pakistan. The Taliban and Al-Qaeda control large swathes of land in the FATA and the NWFP. The army is losing the ‘War against Terror’ along the Afghan border. The military looks more powerful than ever. The Zardari-led government. looks poised to fall soon. Pakistan seems to be on the brink of collapse. After the recent terror attacks in Mumbai, pressure has mounted on Pakistan to crack down on extremism. India has laid the blame squarely at Pakistan’s door. India has even threatened to take out the terror camps themselves if Pakistan doesn’t. Tension is at its highest since Operation Parakram.
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Relation to the Third World War
Both India and Pakistan are armed with nuclear weapons. This means that any conventional war between the two could quickly escalate into a nuclear conflict. What is further worrying is that the nuclear weapons in Pakistan are kept under army control and the army seems to be ever so slightly tilting towards religious fanaticism. It seems to be supporting the very groups which have threatened to destroy India. Other than this, the growing clout of the Taliban is even more worrying. If Pakistan were to fall to religious extremists, for the first time, nuclear weapons would be available to them. They could target anyone, anywhere. Pakistan is also an ally of China and India is an ally of Russia, which means that incase of an Indo-Pak war, the possibility of China and Russia being drawn into the struggle would be great, and the situation could spiral out of anybody’s control.
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