Difficult Neighbourhood: the Key Objectives of Pakistan’s Foreign Policy Towards India in the Twenty‑First Century

Abstract

What role does India play in Pakistan’s international strategy? The article tackles this question and explores the crucial elements of Islamabad’s policy towards India, focusing on selected internal and external security issues. Pakistani political/military leaders look upon India as its major security challenge. The alleged threat from the powerful neighbour has served as the convenient explanation for justifying enormous military expenditures and building powerful army in Pakistan, which substantially weakened democratic institutions and civilian governments and consolidated military’s grip of the state power. This sense of fear was fuelled by the catastrophist mindset, claiming that India has always regarded partition of the subcontinent as a “historical aberration” and its main goal was to undo the partition or at least to subjugate Pakistan into a client‑state. The protracted, war‑prone relations between the two nuclear states can be defined as “difficult neighbourhood.” The chapter approaches the problem of Pakistan’s policy towards India in several key parts. The introduction looks at the historical developments and current internal situation in Pakistan. The first part offers an in‑depth analysis of Pakistan’s attitude towards the Kashmir issue, the second part analyses the strategies aimed at counterbalance India’s hegemony in the region, encapsulating the phenomenon of Pakistan‑China and Pakistan‑U.S. relations. The last part briefly observes the problem of water scarcity in India‑Pakistan relations, which has a direct impact on South Asian security.

Keywords

• Pakistan’s foreign policy
• Kashmir conflict
• India‑Pakistan relations