It’s time to reimagine South Asia

It’s time to reimagine South Asia

Context:

India-China-Pakistan cooperation can transform the situation in South Asia

Examples showing how India and Pakistan, which were part of a single socio-economic and cultural entity before 1947, have now completely drifted apart:

• There are no direct flights between New Delhi and Islamabad.
• The frequency of Delhi-Lahore and Mumbai-Karachi flights has become minimal. T
• The Mumbai-Karachi ferry service was stopped after the 1965 war.
• The number of phone calls between Indian and Pakistani citizens (including calls between close relatives of divided families) is negligible. This is mostly out of fear of being questioned by their respective security agencies.
• At less than $3 billion annually, trade with Pakistan accounts for a meagre 0.4% of India’s growing global commerce.

The China Factor:

• China has become a new factor influencing India’s negative attitude towards Pakistan
• This has been the case for both policy makers and common people

How can China become a part of the solution, rather than being perceived as a part of the India-Pakistan problem?

A three-way India-China-Pakistan cooperation is the only and necessary solution.

How can this be achieved?

• The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) provides a practical framework for such partnership
• However, India is opposed to BRI

On what ground is this opposition based?

The government’s opposition to the BRI is based, among other things, on the argument that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a flagship project under the BRI, violates India’s sovereignty since it passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK)

Does this argument have a strong base?

No

Why?

1. CPEC does not recognise PoK to be Pakistan’s sovereign territory. Article VI in the 1963 China-Pakistan boundary agreement clearly states in that “after the settlement of the Kashmir dispute between Pakistan and India, the sovereign authority concerned will reopen negotiations with the Government of the People’s Republic of China….”
2. There is little possibility of India ever getting PoK, or Pakistan ever getting the Indian side of Kashmir, through war or by any other means.
3. Both China and Pakistan have stated that they are open to India joining CPEC. China has also expressed its readiness to rename CPEC suitably to both address India’s concerns and to reflect the project’s expanded regional scope

How will India benefit if it joins CPEC?

India would gain land access, through Pakistan, to Afghanistan, Iran, Central Asia and western China.

How is CPEC beneficial for entire South-Asia?

• The CPEC-plus-India can be linked to the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Corridor, thus creating a grand garland of connectivity and integration for the whole of South Asia
• The proposed connectivity initiative, which would create strong new bonds of regional cooperation and interdependence, could also help resolve three long-standing geopolitical problems in the region, — terrorism, Kashmir and Afghanistan.

Way Ahead:

• The BRI provides an opportunity for India, Pakistan and all other countries in the region to come together and rise in shared progress and prosperity.
• Its high-time for India and Pakistan to foster regional cooperation and not rivalry