“Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself”. Unfortunately, both the immediate neighbours – Pakistan and China – are hostile towards India however; the growing political and economic instabilities in Pakistan are a serious concern for India resulting in refugee problem, terrorism and nuclear weapons going in the wrong hands of terrorists. India’s motto of relationship with other countries is – Vasudev Kutumbakam meaning thereby that the whole world is one family.
The growing political instability in Pakistan cannot but be a source of concern for India. Former Prime Minister, Imran Khan—who survived an assassination attempt—resumed his long march to Islamabad to press for early general elections. He took on not just the ruling Shehbaz Sharif-led administration but also the army, which wields the real power in that country. The army considers the former premier’s charges as “absolutely unacceptable”. Actually, Khan became PM with the help of ..
Pakistan’s political tensions and Army’s direct interference in the political upheaval have resulted in serious economic fall resulting in high inflation, enormous unemployment of youth and poor foreign exchange reserves. The worst has been nature’s fury of floods in the country from June to October last year, which killed 1,739 people, 45,000 wounded and caused Pak ₨ (PKR) 3.2 trillion ($14.9 billion) of damage and PKR 3.3 trillion ($15.2 billion) of economic losses. Floods have also da ..
Country. People of Pakistan expected financial and material aid from India but on humanitarian grounds but its raising of Kashmir issue in the UN Security Council during that time constrained India for any aid though it provided food and medical aids to most of the needy countries like Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Africa, Ukraine and so on.
Due to political instability and high corruption especially in Army, Pakistan’s economy had a free fall from 6 per cent to 2 per cent of the GDP and due to this natural disaster, Pakistan’s economy further dipped to only 0.4 per cent of the GDP as per World Bank. Shehbaz Sharif government is finding it difficult to tackle the raging double-digit food inflation—wheat price inflation in rural areas has spiraled from 4.8 per cent in January 2022 to 38 per cent in July—which is bound to severely ..
To be sure, Islamabad has secured loan pledges from its allies like China, UAE and Saudi Arabia. But servicing its massive external debt of $130 billion cannot be prioritised while it fashions a policy response to a climate change-related disaster. The forex reserves of the country dropped to $7.93 billion which is actually 0.0 per cent because China has contributed $2.3 bn, Saudi Arabia $3.2 bn and IMF $1.4 bn to shore up its forex. The depreciation of PKR exchange rate peaked at PKR 225 per ..
What does this imply for India? The prospect of a regime change per se does not matter but India cannot be immune to the dramatic developments unfolding in Pakistan. The last thing India wants is for the instability to spiral out of control into chaos and anarchy. A failing State is only a recipe for more cross-border terrorism and a more “active” line of control. It may cause refugee problem towards the neighbouring countries including India as it happened during the Bangladesh liberation wa ..
Pakistan’s new army chief Gen Asim Munir has to play a key role in managing risks of conflicts with India on the East and Afghanistan on the West. Taliban government in Afghanistan has not accepted the Durand Line as the ‘official’ boundary between Afghanistan and Pakistan. The insurgent group Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) also known as Pakistan Taliban is an alliance of militant networks formed in 2007 to unify opposition against the Pakistani military. TTP’s stated objectives are the expulsion of Islamabad’s influence in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and neighboring Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province in Pakistan, the implementation of a strict interpretation of sharia throughout Pakistan. Taliban is providing a haven to the anti-Pakistan insurgent group the TTP, which has killed thousands of Pakistanis and seeks to establish a Taliban-style, Shariah-compliant state in Pakistan. This has stunned Islamabad, which was operating on the assumption that the ..