India - Background
India is a land of ancient civilization, with cities and villages, cultivated fields, and great works of art dating back 4,000 years. India's high population density and variety of social, economic, and cultural configurations are the products of a long process of regional expansion. In the last decade of the twentieth century, such expansion has led to the rapid erosion of India's forest and wilderness areas in the face of ever-increasing demands for resources and gigantic population pressures--India's population is projected to exceed 1 billion by the twenty-first century.
In the mid-1990s, India remains a strong unified nation, with a long history of constitutional government and democracy, but at any moment there are half a dozen regional political agitations underway and a dozen guerrilla movements in different parts of the country advocating various types of official recognition or outright independence based on ethnic affiliation. The unity of the country as a whole has never been seriously threatened by these movements. Because the benefits of union within India have outweighed the advantages of independence for most people within each state, there have always been moderate elements within the states willing to make deals with the central government, and security forces have proven capable of repressing any armed struggle at the regional level. In addition, state-level opposition, whether in the legislatures or in the streets, has been an effective means of preventing massive interference from New Delhi in the day-to-day lives of citizens, and thus has provided a crucial check that has preserved the democratic system and the constitution.
Challenges to Internal Security
One of the most serious challenges to India's internal security and democratic traditions has come from so-called communal disorders, or riots, based on ethnic cleavages. The most typical form is a religious riot, mostly between Hindus and Muslims, although some of these disturbances also occur between different castes or linguistic groups. Most of these struggles start with neighborhood squabbles of little significance, but rapidly escalate into mob looting and burning, street fighting, and violent intervention by the police or paramilitary forces.
Religious ideology has played only a small part in these events. Instead, the pressures of urban life in overcrowded, poorer neighborhoods, combined with competition for limited economic opportunities, create an environment in which ethnic differences become convenient labels for defining enemies, and criminal behavior becomes commonplace. Whether ignited by a street accident or a major political event, passions in these areas may be directed into mob action. However, after the catastrophe of independence (when hundreds of thousands in North India died during the partition of India and Pakistan and at least 12 million became refugees), and because the pattern of rioting has continued annually in various cities, a culture of distrust has grown up among a sizable minority of Hindus and Muslims. This distrust has manifested itself in the nationwide agitations fomented by elements of the BJP and communal Hindu parties in the early 1990s. It reached a peak in December 1992 with the dramatic destruction of the Babri Masjid, a mosque in Ayodhya (in Uttar Pradesh), and communal riots and bombings in major cities throughout India in early 1993. In this manner, the frictions of daily life in an overcrowded, poor nation have had a major impact on the national political agenda.
Tension with Pakistan
The internal conflict between Hindus and Muslims has received some of its stimulus since 1947 from the international conflict between India and Pakistan. One of the great tragedies of the freedom struggle was the relentless polarization of opinion between the Congress, which came to represent mostly Hindus, and the All-India Muslim League (Muslim League--see Glossary), which eventually stood behind a demand for a separate homeland for a Muslim majority. This division, encouraged under British rule by provisions for separate electorates for Muslims, led to the partition of Pakistan from India and the outbreak of hostilities over Kashmir. Warfare between India and Pakistan occurred in 1947, 1965, and 1971; the last conflict led to the independence of Bangladesh (formerly East Pakistan) and a major strategic victory by India.
The perception of Pakistan as an enemy nation has overshadowed all other Indian foreign policy considerations because neither country has relinquished claims over Kashmir, and a series of border irritations continue to bedevil attempts at rapprochement. In the late 1980s, tensions over large-scale military maneuvers almost led to war, and regular fighting over glacial wastelands in Kashmir continues to keep the pressure high. An added dimension emerged in 1987 when Pakistan publicly admitted that it possessed nuclear weapons capability, matching Indian nuclear capabilities demonstrated in 1974. In the mid-1990s, both nations continue to devote a large percentage of their military budgets to developing or to purchasing advanced weaponry, which is mostly aimed at each other--a serious drain of resources needed for economic growth.
By 2005 the gradual easing out of tensions between India and Pakistan had enabled a series of confidence building measures (CBMs). Since then the slow but steady negotiations have aimed at addressing the contentious issues such as Siachen, Sir Creek, Baglihar, Tulbul navigation project, drug trafficking, terrorism, organised crime, prisoners, roadblocks to trade and transit routes. While significant achievements have been made on certain issues, there are some issues over which no agreements had been reached.
The agreement on conventional CBMs is merely in finalisation of the proposals put forward in the Agra Summit in 1999. It has taken six years to agree to implement the said proposals which acts as a dampener for speeding up the pace of the CBMs. Moreover, genuine security concerns need to be retained while chalking out these measures which are precisely the reason for the stalling in this area. Indian Defence Minister Mr Pranab Mukherjee's observations that Pakistan has built bunkers and reinforced defence structures in Tanghdar, Batalik, Kargil and Nowshera sectors since the November 2003 ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC) could hamper the movement. There is a need to institutionalise nuclear CBMs and establish nuclear risk reduction centers on the lines of the ones established between the US and the former Soviet Union.
The Cold War
Nehru and the early leadership of independent India had envisioned a nation at peace with the rest of the world, in keeping with Gandhian ideals and socialist goals. Under Nehru's guidance, India distanced itself from Cold War politics and played a major part in the Nonaligned Movement. Until the early 1960s, India spent relatively little on national defense and enjoyed an excellent relationship with the United States, a relationship that peaked in John F. Kennedy's presidency. India's strategic position changed after China defeated the Indian army in the border war of 1962 and war with Pakistan occurred in 1965. During this period, the situation became more precarious because India had opponents on two fronts. In addition, Pakistan began to receive substantial amounts of military assistance from the United States, ostensibly to support anticommunism, but it was no secret that most of the weapons purchased with United States aid were a deterrent projected against India. Under these circumstances, India began to move closer to the Soviet Union, purchasing outright large amounts of military hardware or making agreements to produce it indigenously.
Relations between the United States and India reached a low point in 1971 during the Bangladesh war of independence, when a United States naval force entered the Bay of Bengal to show support for Pakistan although doing nothing to forestall its defeat. This display of force, which could not be opposed by India or the Soviet Union, served only to strain the relationship between India and the United States and heightened Cold War tensions in South Asia. During the 1970s, as the United States and China improved relations and China became closer in turn to Pakistan, India's strategic position became more entwined with Cold War issues, and the Soviet connection became even more important. These international postures contrasted dramatically with the increasing importance to India of American scientific and economic links, which were strengthened by the increasing emigration of Indian citizens to North America. The overall result, however, was India's weaker international situation in the view of some Americans.
During the 1980s, then, India was still officially a nonaligned nation but in fact found itself deeply embedded in Cold War strategy. India's reaction to the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan was a disquieting feature of Indian foreign policy, in that India decried the Soviet military presence but did nothing against it. Continued United States support for Pakistan, plus the buildup of United States strike forces on the small island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, heightened tensions. It was no coincidence, therefore, that the 1980s witnessed a major expansion of Indian naval forces, with the addition of two aircraft carriers, a submarine fleet, and major surface ships, including transport craft. But although the Indian buildup made the United States unhappy, India's technological capacities remained inferior to those of the United States Navy, and the Indian navy was never a large threat to United States interests. Instead, the growth of the Indian navy had major implications for the regional balance of power within South Asia. The Indian navy could potentially create a second front against Pakistan should major hostilities recur.
India's military buildup allowed it to intervene in low-intensity conflicts throughout South Asia. From 1987 to 1990, the Indian Peace Keeping Force of more than 60,000 personnel was active in Sri Lanka and became embroiled in a fruitless war against Tamil separatist guerrillas. And, in 1988 Indian forces briefly intervened in Maldives to prevent a coup. Regular border problems with Bangladesh after 1971, the Indian annexation of Sikkim in 1975, and the 1989 closure of the border with Nepal over economic disagreements all added up to the picture of a big country bullying its smaller neighbors, a vision Indian leaders took great pains to dispel. Thus, even though the country officially remained at peace during the 1980s, India's growing military power and the intersecting problems of regional dominance and Cold War ambivalence drove an ambitious foreign policy.
Post-Cold War Era
The Indian strategic position changed dramatically in the early 1990s. The end of the Cold War, and then the disintegration of the Soviet Union itself, deprived India of a great ally but also put a stop to many of the worldwide tensions that had relentlessly pulled India into global alignments. When the United States cut off military aid to Pakistan in 1990, it defused one of the most intractable barriers to good relations with India. Then, in 1992, the Persian Gulf War against Iraq brought India grudgingly into an alignment with both Pakistan and the United States, a connection strengthened in 1994 when troops from all three nations cooperated in Somalia under the aegis of the United Nations.
The possession of nuclear weapons by Pakistan and India immersed them in a familiar scenario of mutually assured destruction and made it more problematic for India, despite its military superiority, to overrun Pakistan. Thus, in the mid-1990s, despite continuing hostility over Kashmir, which intensified as the internal situation there disintegrated in the 1990s, the long-term possibilities for official peace between the two countries remained good. Threats from other South Asian nations were negligible. Issues with China were unresolved but not very significant. No other country in the world presented a strategic threat. As budgetary problems beset the government in the mid-1990s, therefore, the Indian military began cutbacks. The military also expanded contacts with a variety of other nations, including Russia and the United States. India hence has entered a period of relative security and multilateral contacts quite different from its twenty-five-year Cold War immersion.
India is a complex geographic, historical, religious, social, economic, and political entity. India is one of the oldest human civilizations and yet displays no cultural features common to all its members. It is one of the richest nations in history, but most of its people are among the poorest in the world. Its ideology rests on some of the most sublime concepts of humanism and nonviolence, but deep-seated discrimination and violent responses are daily news. It has one of the world's most stable political structures, but that structure is constantly in crisis. The nation is seeking a type of great power status, but no one is sure what that involves. India, in the end, defies easy analysis.
Relations with America
It is a striking historical coincidence that India came under the grip of colonialism just as the US found its independence. When India gained independence, the world entered the period of the Cold War. As if destined to ignore each other, the US and India looked in different directions. Today, more than ever, the US and India realise that they share common values and security concerns; and that there is an objective convergence of interests.
Although members of the US armed forces, several thousands in number, are known to have served in India at one stage during the British Raj, India had to face a turbulent relationship with the US in its formative years as an independent democracy. It was to witness a radical change in the American attitude towards India only after the Cold War ceased. These years were traumatic for the Indian state which was in the process of building a nation. Many in the government and military establishments, during the 1962 war with China , would recall with a tinge of regret that the India's request for military help did not receive due attention from the American administration. The Indian government asked for aircraft and air defence systems but had to be contented with small arms and communication sets only. Historians have recorded that the Indian Air Force was discouraged from using air power to deal with the threat posed by the Chinese invasion. However, the two air forces flew together during exercise Shiksha and flights of the U2 spy plane were permitted from Indian Air Force bases.
Similarly, the memories of the intimidation from the ships of the US sixth fleet sailing into the Bay of Bengal during the 1971 war with Pakistan remained vivid. There is a strong belief amongst defence analysts that the American indifference persuaded the Indian regime to enter into a treaty with the USSR for its protection. In such a backdrop of perceived antipathy towards the Indian state, the Indo-US Memorandum of Understanding on defence matters, signed in 1984, remained virtually unnoticed.
The year 2002 is considered to be a watershed in this direction from where the two countries have not looked back. The next three years were remarkably vibrant. The navies of both countries conducted several joint exercises under the banners of Ex-Malabar in which complex maneuvers involving war ships, aircraft, submarines and P-3 Orion maritime aircraft were undertaken. The objective was to practise interception of suspect vessels in high seas. In yet another example of visible cooperation, ships of the Indian Navy escorted a flotilla of US ships through the Malacca Straits on their way to participate in the operation Enduring Freedom. The American and Indian soldiers got together on several occasions to participate in joint para-trooping exercises in India and US including high altitude descents in the mountains of the Himalayan range. A US army contingent spent several days in the Jungle Warfare School in Mizoram examining counter-insurgency procedures. The two air forces took part in several joint aerial combat exercises in which frontline aircraft of both the countries participated. The cooperative spirit was quite evident in moving a contingent of Jaguar aircraft of the Indian Air Force, through continents and oceans, to arrive at a base in Alaska after numerous mid-air refuelling maneuvers.
At a deeper policy level, the relationship matured with the setting up of integrated institutional forums and structures between the two countries in matters relating to cooperation in defence research and development,intelligence exchanges etc. The US government showed great sagacity in lifting sanctions on nearly one thousand items which were to be imported for progress of work in on-going projects of the Defence Research and Development Organisation.There is definitely, therefore, a deepening strategic partnership in "moving beyond the next steps in strategic partnership to a strategic dialogue". The American administration acknowledges the capacity of the Indian State in shouldering the burdens of addressing the global and regional security concerns with a shared understanding of human problems and values. In this sense, India and US are opening the doors to each other in an intense engagement and cooperation in high technology trade and space.
The Next Steps in Strategic Partnership, announced in January 2004, was designed to increase cooperation in civilian nuclear activities, civilian space programs, high-technology trade, and missile defense.
Since January 2004, cooperation under the Next Steps in Strategic Partnership progressed through a series of reciprocal steps that built on each other. These steps included expanded engagement on nuclear regulatory and safety issues, enhanced cooperation in missile defense, peaceful uses of space technology, and steps to create the appropriate environment for increased high-technology commerce.
The successful completion of the Next Steps in Strategic Partnership is an important milestone in the transformation of the relationship between the United States and India. In particular, completion of the Next Steps in Strategic Partnership will enable the United States to expand the scope of bilateral commercial satellite cooperation, remove U.S. export license requirements for unilaterally controlled nuclear items to most end users, and revise export license requirements for certain items going to safeguarded civil nuclear power facilities.
Completion of the Next Steps in Strategic Partnership demonstrates that President Bush's and Prime Minister Singh's vision of a U.S.-India strategic partnership is becoming a reality, and paves the way for greater cooperation on strategic, energy security, and economic matters.
The hallmark of the visit of Defence Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee to the United States in June 2005 was the formalisation of the Defence Framework between India and the United States. It was a major milestone on a path charted by the Agreed Minutes of Defence Relations mutually arrived at between the two democracies in January 1995.
The document, 'New framework for India-US Defence Relations" signed by him and the US Defence Secretary, Mr Donald Rumsfeld in Washington followed the completion of 10-year India-US Defence Cooperation Agreement (1995 - 2005). "The ten-year framework document for the period 2005-2015 has been finalised after a great deal of bilateral discussion and it is a blueprint for India-US defence relations for the next ten years", the Minister informed. He asserted that "the four-page document is neither a treaty nor an agreement".
The framework document focuses on cooperation in training, joint exercises, technology transfer and disaster management. Emphasising the importance of co-production, transfer of technology and joint marketing of armaments with the US, the Defence Minister said that the closer relations with Washington would in no way lead to parting with old friends.
