Can India succeed in normalizing relations with Pakistan?

            A big question arises when it comes to the current and future relationship between India and Pakistan. Whether the conflict and dispute between these two countries will continue or whether the nuclear installation and other bilateral ties will resolve such problems.

           
           The post-independence history of the two neighbours is also a story of conflict and seemingly unending hostility. These countries have fought four and a half wars since 1947 and numerous battles. The ongoing Kashmir dispute and other boundary issues between Pakistan and India have a physical manifestation over rivalry. “Kashmir runs in our blood” said Pakistan’s President and Army Chief, General Parvez Musharraf stated by Ayesha Siddiqa, in a publication by The Network of Consumer Protection, Islamabad. The Kashmir dispute has gained a deep salience with respect to the relationship between the two countries.

            
              The trade between India and Pakistan is more of competitive rather than complimentary and thus has a little scope of expansion. Though more than seven decades after separation between India and Pakistan, it is hard to state the mistrust between these two neighbours. Also after undergoing decades of conflicts and clashes, the countries almost assign the worst possible motives to each other. The people today in both the countries have acquired a form of hatred that even in every cricket match between India and Pakistan, there arises abhorrence as if a war is going to end with victory on one side and defeat on the other. The main reason for the antagonistic relation between India and Pakistan is due to the lack of vision in both the countries in leadership that makes in finding a solution for the Kashmir issue. Although both the governments have made a decision to resolve the issue, one is still not sure about each other county’s political and economical ability. And ego clashes too make the crisis more prevalent.

            Another constrain that these nations face is the new trend in making foreign policies like economic requirements, geographic locations, external threat etc which furthermore departs the ties. The recent killing of Indian military personnel by Pakistan army and death of Pakistan soldiers by Indian army has inculcated a mindset of insecurity regarding the border safety. Also there is a major play for religious extremism between these two countries which benefits the relationship to move further apart.                 

           
           The future of relationship between India and Pakistan can be tightly bonded if both sides employ special high level emissaries and avoid pitfalls and to enhance the foreign policies and bilateral ties and also to augment trade between these two countries.