Decoding the India-Pakistan Cross-Border Challenges
India faces various border issues with the neighbouring Islamic Republic of Pakistan. The two states have had a history of hostility, with multiple wars fought over the disputed region of Kashmir in the North. While the Indian Armed Forces and other arms of the Indian State have been deployed to carry out the Indian interests in the region, Pakistan has been known to use means such as terror financing to run its operations in Kashmir. Organisations such as Jaish-e-Mohammad, Hizbul Mujahideen, The Lashkar-e-Taiba and various other organisations active in the area have had connections to the Pakistani ISI and have been funded by the Pakistani government to carry out operations in the region, which has disrupted civilian life in Kashmir. These terror organisations have an intertwined history of entanglement within themselves as well. The Harakat-ul-Mujahideen, for example, had lost most of its resources for the development of the Jaish-e-Mohammad, and that the Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed have collaborated in the past in attacks for example the 2008 Mumbai attacks. The Indian civilian population as well as governmental assets have suffered at the hands of the Pakistani state and its history of using terror as a means of action. In terms of actual armed forces however, India has won wars such as the Kargil war in 1999 and the War in Bangladesh in 1971, and as of now is performing better in terms of economy and democratic institutions.
The Indian government and Armed Forces have launched various counter terrorist operations in Kashmir, which also led to Pakistan being on the grey list of the FATF (Financial Action Task Force) which had claimed that Pakistan practices terror financing. The Indian military also faces the threat of the Pakistani military, which is perhaps the only functional institution in the country, while it is logistically inferior to the Indian military is still a strong military institution.
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India and Pakistan’s history of contentions and hostility has led to the two states closing most channels of diplomatic ties between them. India’s hostile relations with China has also led to the Chinese growing closer to the Pakistanis, which in turn continues to push India closer to the United States and other western allies. How the Indian state continues to fight against Pakistan is uncertain, what is for sure, however, is the increasing irrelevance of Pakistan in the world and in India as well.
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