Make Trade, Not War
Even before the 1947 partition, deep personal animosity divided Jawaharlal Nehru, who would lead India, and Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the father of Pakistan. The ensuing decades saw three wars as well as attempts at rapprochement—none of which stuck.
Photographers: (From top left) Archiv Peter Ruhe/AKG; Bettmann/Corbis; Topfoto/The Image Works; AP Photo
If you haven’t kept watch on the cold war between India and Pakistan, you haven’t missed much. The two countries are locked in a depressingly familiar stasis whose roots trace back to the Aug. 15, 1947, partition of British India. Several weeks of massacres claimed the lives of anywhere from 200,000 to 1 million Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs, while 14 million more were uprooted from their homes. Rancor and mistrust have lasted seven decades: Tentative moves toward rapprochement are regularly followed by provocations, threats of retaliation, and exchanges of fire along the disputed border in Kashmir.
The pattern has changed little under current leaders Nawaz Sharif in Pakistan and Narendra Modi in India, though their governments are at least giving talks another chance. On Aug. 23-24, the two countries’ national security advisers plan to meet in New Delhi to discuss “all issues connected to terrorism,” including the Pakistan Army’s links to militant groups who’ve conducted attacks inside India. But if both sides truly want to improve relations, the first item on their agenda should be trade, not terror.