Indian Politics

• One party (Congress – Gandhi) state 1948 – 1977• Opened to multiple parties• Congress back in power 1981-96• Baratiya Janata Party (BJP)

– led destruction of Babri mosque in Ayodhya (Uttar Pradesh)BJP in ascendancy 1996 ->

• BJP philosophy – Indian nationalism, Hindu practice, (Hindutva)– liberal in economic matters, – higher-caste dominated,

• now branching to other castes (esp. dalit), • strongly opposed to Pakistan• in favor of nuclear India • non-aligned, leans towards Russia as balance

Challenges to Indian democracy – separatism and fundamentalism

• 1948 – 1 million dead; 17 million refugees• Punjab – Sikh majority – 3000 killed in

Delhi in 1984 after Gandhi assassination – army control; rich state; uneasy relations

• Assam – lowland-highland tribal conflicts – Hindu. core against periphery; Moslem immigrants from Bangladesh

• Kashmir

India -RegionalIncomes

Not muchconfidencehere –

Contrast with expatinvestmentin China

• Created state in 1948 separate from India; E. Pakistan exclave

• 1971 Bengali rebellion – independence of Bangladesh after war with India

• Allied to and supported by China • Ally of U.S. in the Cold War – base of Afghan

mujahaddin (CIA bases) • Major arms and drugs route to Afghan.• Cycles of civilian and military control• Military coup Fall 1999 Musharraf

• Internal turmoil –President (secular) v. religious Islamists

Pakistan

Kashmir history• 1947: India leaves independence for sub

continent• 1947-1949: civil war, creation of India and East

and West Pakistan• Kashmir caught in the middle:

– as a result of the bequest of its territory to Maharajah in the 19th century by the british

– Wants to be independent; seeks support from India– Pakistan invades and keeps western part– Jammu and Ladakh (buddhist) side with India– Eastern high valley especially contentious

• 1965: another war

Jammu/Kashmir government

                                     

Recent Events• 1999: on the verge

– Pakistani militants invade India

• Dec. 2001: another buildup on the disputed border– Pakistani terrorists attack Indian parliament

• but calmed down by the US– Convinced Musharraf (with $$$) to back off and gave

Pakistan a key role in the fight against terrorism

• Recent hopes for negotiations• Dashed by the killing of a leading Pakistani

militant in Kashmir

Pakistan and India Military Indicators