Amit Ranjan
Dr. Amit Ranjan is a Research Fellow at Indian Council of World Affairs, New Delhi, India.
DOI: http://DOI Number
Keywords: BJP, India, Pakistan, SAARC, neighbour first, dialogues, external factors, domestic institutions, Challenges, Composite dialogue
Abstract
The BJP’s ascent to office in 2014 was accompanied by discussions to enhance ties with Pakistan, but everything quickly turned hazy. The political leadership switched from issue-based discussion to the composite dialogue process in the 1990s after a string of failures to give their bilateral dialogue process a new direction because all of their issues were interconnected. They have yet to make any significant progress. The head of states from the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and Mauritius were invited to the swearing-in ceremony of the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, in May 2014. Afterwards, from many platforms, the Indian prime minister asserted his policy of ‘neighbour first’ ‘cooperation with all’, yet nothing substantive happened between India and Pakistan. Even during the serious deluge in both sides of Jammu and Kashmir, they did not cooperate. In the past, however, there had been moments in 1954, 1963, 1972 and 2007 when the two countries, after successful rounds of talks, were almost on the brink of sealing a deal over the Kashmir valley. Even this form of dialogue has not yielded any concrete result due to embedded trust deficit, role of domestic institutions and interference of external actors.This paper analyses the composite dialogue’s state of development. It aims to respond to the following queries: Why did India and Pakistan’s talks with each other fail to progress? What part do internal institutions and outside parties play in impeding an effective conversation between Pakistan and India?
First Published
June 25, 2015
How to Cite
Amit Ranjan, “India-Pakistan Composite Dialogues: Challenges and Impediments,” Regional Studies 33, no.3 (Summer 2015): 76-92, https://regionalstudies.com.pk/wp/article/india-pakistan-composite-dialogues-challenges-and-impediments/
Issue
Volume 33, Issue 3