Pakistan-India Relations: An overview of Foreign Policy during Pervez Musharraf Regime

Abstract

In this article, Pakistan-India relations are analysed with special reference

to the era of Pervez Musharraf, regarding his foreign policy. In this article,

all the key factors are highlighted and discussed involving the conflicts

between the two nuclear powered arch-rivals. The Kashmir conflict is at the

centre of all of them. When General Pervez Musharraf took military power

in Pakistan, many problems arose, including those related to the economy

and foreign policy towards its neighbour, particularly India. The war in

Kargil was still hot and Musharraf had to deal with the situation. Before a

policy towards India was defined and implemented to save the people of

these regions from the destruction of a nuclear war, the situation

deteriorated further after the September 11, 2001 attack on the United

States. In September 2006, President Musharraf and Prime Minister Singh

agreed to establish an Indo-Pakistani counter-terrorism institutional

mechanism to identify and conduct counter-terrorism initiatives and

investigations. The 2007 attack on the Samjutha Express in India, which

killed 68 civilians, most of them Pakistani, was also a key point in the

relationship. This led to a major breakdown in relations between the two

countries. More recently, in November 2008, terrorists attacked Mumbai,

killing and injuring many people. Later, relations between the two countries

were very tense. However, many efforts have been made in the history of

the two rivals, and some of them have been very successful, but most of them

were suddenly interrupted.