FOREIGN POLICY

APLN Member C. Raja Mohan discusses Indian-Pakistani relations and the easing of border restrictions between the two countries.

“Amid the unending bad news on Indian-Pakistani relations, there is finally something to cheer this week. It comes from moves to open—if only a wee bit—the tightly controlled and heavily guarded land border between the two countries. These steps are about easing the movement of people and goods across the border in Punjab, a single geographic and cultural region that was violently split between India and Pakistan during Partition of India in 1947.

Uncharacteristic goodwill between the two governments is probably not the source of change. But political shifts on both sides seem to be aligning with a possible thaw in relations. Whatever the motivation, these steps—small and one-off for now—suggest a path to a less gloomy and more hopeful phase in bilateral relations. That said, any optimism must be heavily discounted when it comes the troubled ties between India and Pakistan.”

The full article can be viewed here (paywall).

Image: Sanyamgoyal007 via Wikimedia Commons.