Conflict between india and pakistan briefly. The situation in Kashmir escalated again

Relations between India and Pakistan - the two nuclear powers of South Asia - are straining due to unrest in the predominantly Muslim Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. Indian Interior Minister Rajnath Singh, speaking at a parliamentary hearing, accused Islamabad of trying to destabilize and support terrorism in the border state. The Indian security official's statement came after Pakistani UN Ambassador Maliha Lodhi called on the UN Security Council to put pressure on the Indian government to "stop repression." A new escalation of the "oldest conflict on the UN agenda", in which over the past two weeks 45 people were killed and more than three thousand injured, began after the Indian security forces liquidated an activist of the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen group, which is seeking the separation of Kashmir from India.

Hearings on the Kashmir issue, held in the Lok Sabha (the lower house of the Indian Parliament), were held after the Chief of Staff of the Indian Army Dalbir Singh Suhag visited Jammu and Kashmir last week in connection with the escalation of tension. Following the visit, he presented a report on the situation in the region to Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar.

The latest high-profile incident in Jammu and Kashmir occurred in the city of Kazigund. Indian soldiers opened fire on the crowd, who were throwing stones at them, killing three people. In general, the number of victims of a new escalation in Jammu and Kashmir - the largest in the past six years, despite the curfew introduced in a number of districts of the state, over the past two weeks amounted to 45 people (more than 3 thousand were injured of varying severity).

The riots erupted after security forces killed 22-year-old Burhan Wani, one of the leaders of the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen group, which is fighting to separate Jammu and Kashmir from India and is recognized as a terrorist group, during a special operation on July 8. Burhan Vani was killed in a shootout with Indian soldiers along with two other activists of the organization.

The Indian authorities are convinced that Islamabad is behind the aggravation of the situation in Kashmir. "Instead of solving its internal problems, Pakistan is trying to destabilize India," Indian Interior Minister Rajnath Singh warned at a parliamentary hearing, calling the neighboring state a "sponsor of terrorism." The Indian minister recalled that the Pakistani authorities called Burhan Wani a "martyr" and declared national mourning after his death.

The Indian Interior Minister's statement continued the war of words between the two nuclear-armed Asian powers and longtime antagonists, for whom a divided Kashmir has been a major bone of contention since their founding. This makes the Kashmir issue "the oldest conflict on the UN agenda."

Of the three Indo-Pakistani wars, Kashmir was the cause of two, in 1947 and 1965. The first war broke out immediately after the two countries gained independence as a result of the partition of British India into India and Pakistan. Then Pakistan managed to occupy a third of Kashmir. Another part - 38 thousand square meters. km of the Aksai-Chin mountainous region after the military invasion of 1962 was occupied by China. As a result, Kashmir was divided immediately between the three leading powers of Asia, and the Kashmir problem began to affect the interests of almost 3 billion people.

The Indian security official's statement at a parliamentary hearing came after Pakistani UN Ambassador Maliha Lodhi called on the UN Security Council to put pressure on the Indian government to "stop repression." And a few days earlier, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif added fuel to the diplomatic conflict by calling Burhan Wani "a soldier who fought for independence." At the same time, he promised that Islamabad would continue to provide all possible support to the associates of Burhan Vani.

With the latest escalation in Kashmir, Islamabad has become increasingly bellicose, with Prime Minister Sharif's critics accusing him of not being tough enough. Recall that after the new prime minister Narendra Modi came to power in India in May 2014, good personal relations were established between the two leaders. Mr. Modi made an unexpected gesture, inviting the head of a neighboring state to his inauguration. After that, there was talk in both capitals about an Indo-Pakistani reset. However, the recent events in Kashmir threaten to cross out the achievements of recent years and return the two nuclear states of South Asia to the era of the previous confrontation.

"Having called the normalization of relations with Pakistan one of his priorities and relying on personal contacts with Nawaz Sharif, Prime Minister Modi clearly underestimated the conflict potential of the Kashmir problem, which can escalate from time to time against the will of the leaders of the two states. Apparently, this is what is happening today ", - Tatyana Shaumyan, director of the Center for Indian Studies, explained to Kommersant. According to the expert, the return of this problem to the list of regional conflicts threatens the Asian region with a new destabilization with the participation of three states: India, Pakistan and China, which have not divided Kashmir among themselves.

Islamabad and Delhi are ready to arrange a nuclear massacre at any moment. We continue to analyze contemporary conflict situations in the world that can lead to large-scale wars. Today we will talk about more than 60 years of Indo-Pakistani confrontation, which in the 21st century was aggravated by the fact that both states have developed (or received from their patrons) nuclear weapons and are actively building up their military power.

A threat to everyone

The Indo-Pakistani military conflict occupies perhaps the most sinister place in the list of modern threats to humanity. According to Russian Foreign Ministry official Alexander Shilin, “ The confrontation between these two states became especially explosive when both India and Pakistan, having conducted a series of nuclear tests, demonstrated their ability to create nuclear weapons. Thus, the South Asian military confrontation became the second center of nuclear deterrence in the entire world history (after the Cold War between the USSR and the USA)».

This is exacerbated by the fact that neither India nor Pakistan signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. and continue to refrain from joining it. They consider this treaty discriminatory, that is, it secures the right to possess nuclear weapons for a small group of “privileged” countries and cuts off all other states from the right to ensure their own security by all available means. Accurate data on the nuclear capabilities of the armed forces of India and Pakistan are not published in the open press.

According to some estimates, both states have set themselves the goal (and may have already achieved it) to increase the number of nuclear weapons from 80 to 200 on each side. If they are used, this is enough for an ecological catastrophe to call into question the survival of all mankind. The causes of the conflict and the bitterness with which it develops indicate that such a threat is quite real.

History of the conflict

As you know, India and Pakistan until 1947 were part of the British colony of India. Great Britain in the 17th century, by fire and sword, took "under its wing" the feudal principalities that existed here. They were inhabited by numerous nationalities, which could be roughly divided into the Hindus themselves - the indigenous inhabitants of the country and Muslims - the descendants of the Persians who conquered India in the XII-XIII centuries. All these peoples lived relatively peacefully with each other.

However, the Hindus were concentrated mainly in what is now India, and the Muslims in what is now Pakistan. In the lands that now belong to Bangladesh, the population was mixed. In large part it consisted of Bengals - Hindus who profess Islam.

Britain brought confusion to the relatively peaceful life of the tribes. Following the old and proven principle of "divide and rule", the British pursued a policy of separating the population along religious lines. Nevertheless, the national liberation struggle that is constantly going on here led after the Second World War to the formation of independent states. The northwestern Punjab, Sindh, the Northwestern province, and Balochistan were ceded to Pakistan. This was indisputable, since these lands were inhabited by Muslims.

Part of the previously divided Bengal became a separate area - East Bengal or East Pakistan. This enclave could communicate with the rest of Pakistan only through the territory of India or by sea, but for this it was necessary to travel more than three thousand miles. This division has already created a hotbed of tension between the two countries, but the main problem is the situation with the principalities of Jammu and Kashmir.

In the Kashmir Valley, 9 people out of ten were Muslims. At the same time, historically, the entire ruling elite consisted of Hindus, who naturally wanted to incorporate the principality into India. Naturally, the Muslims did not agree with this prospect. In Kashmir, spontaneous militias began to be created, and groups of armed Pashtuns began to infiltrate from the territory of Pakistan. On October 25, they entered the capital of the principality of Srinagar. Two days later, Indian units took back Srinagar and pushed the rebels back from the city. The government of Pakistan also sent regular troops into the fray. At the same time, repressions against non-believers took place in both countries. Thus began the first Indo-Pakistani war.

Artillery was widely used in bloody battles, armored units and aviation participated. By the summer of 1948, the Pakistani army occupied the northern part of Kashmir. On August 13, the UN Security Council adopted a ceasefire resolution by both sides, but it was not until July 27, 1949 that Pakistan and India signed a truce. Kashmir was divided into two parts. For this, both sides paid a terrible price - more than a million dead and 17 million refugees.

On May 17, 1965, the 1949 armistice was broken., according to many historians, India: a battalion of Indian infantry crossed the ceasefire line in Kashmir and took several Pakistani border posts with battle. On September 1, the regular units of the Pakistani and Indian armies in Kashmir entered into combat contact. The Pakistani Air Force began to strike at major cities and industrial centers in India. Both countries actively deployed airborne troops.

It is not known how all this would have ended if it were not for the strongest diplomatic pressure that forced Delhi to stop the war. The Soviet Union, an old and traditional ally of India, was irritated by this military adventure in Delhi. The Kremlin feared, not without reason, that China might enter the war on the side of its allied Pakistan. If this happened, the US would support India; then the USSR would have been relegated to the background, and its influence in the region would have been undermined.

By request Alexey Kosygin then Egyptian President Nasser personally flew to Delhi and criticized the Indian government for violating the ceasefire agreement. On September 17, the Soviet government invited both sides to meet in Tashkent and resolve the conflict peacefully. On January 4, 1966, Indo-Pakistani negotiations began in the Uzbek capital. After much debate, on January 10, it was decided to withdraw troops to the pre-war line and restore the status quo.

Neither India nor Pakistan were happy with the "pacification": each side considered their victory stolen. Indian generals stated that if the USSR had not intervened, they would have been sitting in Islamabad for a long time. And their Pakistani colleagues claimed that if they had another week, they would have blocked the Indians in southern Kashmir and made a tank attack on Delhi. Soon, both of them again had the opportunity to measure their strength.

It began with the fact that on November 12, 1970, a typhoon swept over Bengal, claiming about three hundred thousand lives. The colossal destruction further worsened the standard of living of the Bengalis. They blamed the Pakistani authorities for their plight and demanded autonomy. Islamabad sent troops there instead of help. It was not a war that began, but a massacre: the first Bengalis who came across were crushed by tanks, grabbed on the streets and taken to a lake in the vicinity of Chittagong, where tens of thousands of people were machine-gunned and their bodies drowned in the lake. Now this lake is called the Lake of the Risen. Mass emigration to India began, where about 10 million people ended up. India began to provide military assistance to the rebel detachments. This eventually led to a new India-Pakistan war.

Bengal became the main theater of hostilities, where the navies of both sides played a crucial role in conducting operations: after all, this Pakistani enclave could only be supplied by sea. Given the overwhelming power of the Indian Navy - an aircraft carrier, 2 cruisers, 17 destroyers and frigates, 4 submarines, while the Pakistani fleet had a cruiser, 7 destroyers and frigates and 4 submarines - the outcome of events was a foregone conclusion. The most important outcome of the war was the loss of Pakistan's enclave: East Pakistan became the independent state of Bangladesh.

The decades that have passed since this war have been rich in new conflicts. Particularly acute occurred in late 2008-early 2009, when the Indian city of Mumbai was attacked by terrorists. At the same time, Pakistan refused to extradite the persons suspected of involvement in this action to India.

Today, India and Pakistan continue to balance on the brink of open war., with the Indian authorities saying that the fourth Indo-Pakistani war should be the last.

The silence before the explosion?

First Vice President of the Academy of Geopolitical Problems doctor of military sciences Konstantin Sivkov in an interview with a SP correspondent, he commented on the situation in modern relations between India and Pakistan:

In my opinion, at the moment the Indo-Pakistani military conflict is at the bottom of the conditional sinusoid. The leadership of Pakistan today is tackling the difficult task of resisting pressure from Islamic fundamentalists who find support in the depths of Pakistani society. In this regard, the conflict with India faded into the background.

But the confrontation between Islam and the Pakistani authorities is very typical for the current world alignment. The Pakistani government is pro-American to the core. And the Islamists who fight against the Americans in Afghanistan and strike at their henchmen in Pakistan represent the other side - objectively, so to speak, anti-imperialist.

As for India, it is not up to Pakistan now either. She sees where the world is heading and is seriously busy rearming her army. Including modern Russian military equipment, which, by the way, is almost never supplied to our troops.

Who is she arming herself against?

It is clear that sooner or later the US may inspire a war with Pakistan. The long-standing conflict is fertile ground for this. In addition, the current NATO war in Afghanistan may influence the provocation of the next round of the Indo-Pakistani military confrontation.

The fact is that during the time it has been going on, the United States has delivered to Afghanistan (and, therefore, indirectly to the Pakistani Taliban) a huge amount of ground weapons, the return of which back to the United States is an economically unprofitable operation. This weapon is destined to be used, and it will shoot. The Indian leadership understands this. And prepare for such a course of events. But the current rearmament of the Indian army has, in my opinion, a more global goal.

- What are you speaking about?

I have repeatedly drawn attention to the fact that the world with catastrophic acceleration rushed to the beginning of the "hot" period of the next world war. This is due to the fact that the global economic crisis has not ended, and it can be resolved only by building a new world order. And there has never been a case in history when a new world order was built without bloodshed. Events in North Africa and elsewhere are the prologue, the first sounds of the coming world war. The Americans are at the head of the new redistribution of the world.

Today we are witnessing an almost fully formed military coalition of US satellites (Europe plus Canada). But the coalition opposing it is still being formed. In my opinion, it has two components. The first is the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa). The second component is the countries of the Arab world. They are just beginning to realize the need to create a single defense space. But the process is moving fast.

The Indian leadership is perhaps most adequately responding to the ominous changes in the world. It seems to me that it is soberly looking into a more or less distant future, when the formed anti-American coalition will still have to face the main enemy. In India, there is a real reform of the army, not like ours.

Disappointing calculations

A slightly different opinion an employee of one of the departments of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Alexander Shilov:

It is clear that India's nuclear deterrence is directed primarily against those states that it considers likely adversaries. First of all, it is Pakistan, which, like India, is taking steps to form strategic nuclear forces. But the potential threat from China has also been a major factor in India's military planning for many years.

Suffice it to recall that the Indian nuclear military program itself, the beginning of which dates back to the mid-60s, was mainly a response to the appearance of nuclear weapons by the PRC (1964), especially since China in 1962 inflicted a heavy defeat on India in the border war . A few dozen charges seem to be enough to deter Pakistan from India. In the opinion of Indian experts, in this case, the minimum would be the potential to ensure the survival of 25-30 carriers with ammunition after the first surprise nuclear strike from Pakistan.

Considering the size of India's territory and the possibility of a significant dispersal of nuclear attack weapons, it can be assumed that a strike from Pakistan, even the most massive one, will not be able to disable most of the Indian strategic nuclear forces. A retaliatory strike by the Indians using at least 15-20 nuclear warheads will undoubtedly lead to irreparable damage up to the complete collapse of the Pakistani economy, especially since the range of Indian aviation and ballistic missiles developed by Delhi allows hitting virtually any object in Pakistan.

Therefore, if we keep in mind only Pakistan, an arsenal of 70-80 ammunition may be more than enough. In fairness, it should be noted that the Indian economy will hardly be able to withstand a nuclear strike using at least 20-30 charges from the same Pakistan.

However, if we proceed simultaneously from the principle of inflicting unacceptable damage and not being the first to use nuclear weapons, then in the case of China, it will be necessary to have an arsenal at least comparable to that of China, and Beijing now has 410 charges, of which no more than 40 are on intercontinental ballistic missiles. that if we count on the first strike from China, then Beijing is able to disable a very significant part of India's nuclear attack weapons. Thus, their total number should be approximately comparable to the Chinese arsenal and reach several hundred in order to ensure the required percentage of survival.

As for Pakistan, the leadership of this country constantly makes it clear that the threshold for the possible use of nuclear weapons in Islamabad may be very low. At the same time (unlike India), Islamabad apparently intends to proceed from the possibility of using its nuclear weapons first.

Yes, according to Pakistani analyst Lieutenant General S. Lodi, « in the event of a dangerous situation where an Indian conventional offensive threatens to break through our defenses, or has already made a breakthrough that cannot be eliminated by the usual measures at our disposal, the government will have no choice but to use our nuclear weapons to stabilize provisions».

In addition, according to a number of statements by the Pakistanis, as a countermeasure in the event of a massive offensive by the Indian ground forces, nuclear land mines can be used to mine the border zone with India.

OUR REFERENCE

The regular armed forces of India number 1.303 million people (fourth largest in the world in terms of the number of armed forces). Reserve 535 thousand people.
Ground forces (980 thousand people) form the backbone of the armed forces. In service with the SV consists of:
- five launchers OTR "Prithvi";
- 3,414 battle tanks (T-55, T-72M1, Arjun, Vijayanta);
- 4,175 field artillery pieces (155-mm FH-77B Bofors howitzers, 152-mm howitzers, 130-mm M46 guns, 122-mm D-30 howitzers, 105-mm Abbot self-propelled howitzers, 105-mm howitzers IFG Mk I / II and M56, 75 mm RKU M48 guns);
- more than 1,200 mortars (160 mm Tampella M58, 120 mm Brandt AM50, 81 mm L16A1 and E1);
- about 100 122-mm MLRS BM-21 and ZRAR;
- ATGM "Milan", "Baby", "Bassoon", "Competition";
- 1,500 recoilless guns (106 mm M40A1, 57 mm M18);
- 1,350 BMP-1/-2; 157 armored personnel carriers OT62/64; over 100 BRDM-2;
- SAM "Kvadrat", "OSA-AKM" and "Strela-1"; ZRPK "Tunguska", as well as MANPADS "Igla", "Strela-2". In addition, there are 2,400 anti-aircraft artillery installations 40-mm L40 / 60, L40 / 70, 30-mm 2S6, 23-mm ZU-23-2, ZSU-23-4 "Shil-ka", 20-mm guns " Oerlikon";
- 160 multi-purpose helicopters "Chitak".

The Air Force (150 thousand people) is armed with 774 combat and 295 auxiliary aircraft. Fighter-bomber aviation includes 367 aircraft, consolidated into 18 Ibae (one Su-30K, three MiG-23s, four Jaguars, six MiG-27s, four MiG-21s). The fighter aviation includes 368 aircraft, consolidated into 20 IAE (14 MiG-21s, one MiG-23MF and UM, three MiG-29s, two Mirage-2000s), as well as eight Su-30MK aircraft. In reconnaissance aviation, there is one squadron of Canberra aircraft (eight machines) and one MiG-25R (six), as well as two MiG-25U, Boeing 707 and Boeing 737 aircraft. EW aviation includes four Canberra aircraft and four helicopter HS 748.
Transport aviation is armed with 212 aircraft, consolidated into 13 squadrons (six An-32s, but two Vo-228s, BAe-748 and Il-76), as well as two Boeing 737-200 aircraft and seven BAe-748 aircraft. In addition, the aviation units are armed with 28 VAe-748, 120 Kiran-1, 56 Kiran-2, 38 Hunter (20 R-56, 18 T-66), 14 Jaguars, nine MiGs -29UB, 44 TS-11 "Iskra" and 88 training NRT-32. Helicopter aviation includes 36 attack helicopters, consolidated into three squadrons of Mi-25 and Mi-35, as well as 159 transport and combat transport helicopters Mi-8, Mi-17, Mi-26 and Chitak, consolidated into 11 squadrons. The air defense forces are organized into 38 squadrons. In service are: 280 PU S-75 "Dvina", S-125 "Pechora". In addition, to increase the combat capabilities of air defense, the command plans to purchase S-300PMU and Buk-M1 anti-aircraft missile systems from Russia.

Naval forces (55 thousand people, including 5 thousand - naval aviation, 1.2 thousand - marines) include 18 submarines, aircraft carrier "Viraat", destroyers of the "Delhi" type, project 61ME, frigates of the "Godavari", "Linder" type, corvettes of the "Khukri" type (pr. ).
The Navy has 23 strike aircraft in service. Sea Harrier (two squadrons); 70 anti-submarine helicopters (six squadrons): 24 Chitak, seven Ka-25s, 14 Ka-28s, 25 Sea Kings; three base patrol aviation squadrons (five Il-38s, eight Tu-142Ms, 19 Do-228s, 18 BN-2 Defenders), a communications squadron (ten Do-228s and three Chetaks), a rescue helicopter squadron (six Sea King helicopters), two training squadrons (six HJT-16s, eight HRT-32s, two Chitak helicopters and four Hughes 300s).

Pakistan Armed Forces

The number of military personnel is 587,000, mobilization resources are 33.5 million people.
Ground forces - 520,000 people. Armament:
- 18 OTR "Hagf", "Shahinya";
- more than 2320 tanks (M47. M48A5, T-55, T-59, 300 T-80UD);
- 850 armored personnel carriers M113;
- 1590 field artillery pieces;
- 240 self-propelled guns;
- 800 ATGM launchers;
- 45 RZSO and 725 mortars;
- more than 2000 anti-aircraft artillery guns;
- 350 MANPADS ("Stinger", "Red Eye", RBS-70), 500 MANPADS "Anza";
- 175 aircraft and 134 AA helicopters (of which 20 are attack AH-1F).

Air Force - 45,000 people. Aircraft and helicopter fleet: 86 Mirage (ZER, 3DP, 3RP, 5RA. RA2, DPA, DPA2), 49 Q-5, 32 F-16 (A and B), 88 J-6, 30 JJ-5, 38 J-7, 40 MFI-17B, 6 MIG-15UTI, 10 T-ZZA, 44 T-37(ViS), 18K-8, 4 Atlangik, 3 R-ZS, 12 S-130 (B and E ), L-100, 2 Boeing 707, 3 Falcon-20, 2 F.27-200, 12 CJ-6A, 6 SA-319, 12 SA-316, 4 SA-321, 12 SA-315B.

Navy - 22,000 people. (including 1,200 in the MP and about 2,000 in the maritime security agency). Ship stock: 10 GSH (1 Agosta-90V, 2 Agosta, 4 Daphne, etc.), 3 SMPL MG 110, b FR URO Amazon, 2 FR Linder, 5 RCA (1 " Japalat", 4 "Danfeng"), 4 PKA (1 "Larkana", 2 "Shanghai-2", 1 "Town"), 3 MTC "Eridan", 1 GISU 6 TN. 3 Aviation of the Navy: Aircraft - 1 pae (3 R-ZS, 5 F-27, 4 "Aglantic-1"); helicopters - 2 aircraft PLV (2 Linu HAS.3.6 Sea King Mk45, 4 SA-319B).

/Sergei Turchenko, based on materials svpressa.ru And topwar.ru /

The conflict between India and Pakistan is a protracted armed confrontation that has actually been going on since 1947, when these countries gained independence. During this time, there have already been three major wars and many minor conflicts. It has not yet been possible to reach an agreement, moreover, at the beginning of the 21st century, relations between these states only worsened.

Causes

The main reason for the conflict between India and Pakistan is the dispute over the Kashmir region. This is an area located in the northwestern part of the Hindustan peninsula. Its division is not actually secured by any official agreements; it is a key hotbed of tension between the countries that occupy it.

Kashmir is currently divided into several parts. This is the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, which is home to about 10 million people, the self-proclaimed state of Azad Kashmir, which can be translated as "free Kashmir", it is home to about 3.5 million people, it is controlled by Pakistan. There are also northern territories of Gilgit-Baltistan under the control of Pakistan, where about 1 million more people live. A small area of ​​Kashmir is within the borders of China.

As a result of the First Kashmir War, India gained control over two-thirds of the territory of the region, the rest passed to Pakistan. Because of this region, the tension between the countries still persists.

First Kashmir War

The conflict between India and Pakistan turned into armed clashes in 1947. After the countries gained independence, the region had to go to Pakistan, as it was dominated by Muslims. But in the leadership of Kashmir there were Hindus who decided to join India.

It all started with the fact that Pakistan declared the northern part of the principality its territory and sent troops there. The Pakistanis quickly defeated the militias. It was assumed that the troops would move towards the main city of Srinagar, but instead the army stopped in the captured settlements, proceeding to loot.

In response, Indian troops took up a circular defense around Srinagar, defeating the Muslim militia operating on the outskirts of the city. Stopping the persecution of the tribal forces, the Hindus tried to unblock the Kashmiri troops in the Poonch region. However, this failed, but the city of Kotli was occupied, but they could not hold it. In November 47, the Muslim militia captured Mipur.

After an attack by tribal troops, Janger was captured. The counteroffensive of the Hindus was called Operation Vijay. India made a new attempt to attack the Pakistani troops on May 1, 1948. They met fierce resistance from the Muslims near Janger, they were joined by Pakistani irregular detachments.

India continued to attack, launching Operation Gulab. Their targets were the Gurez and Keran valleys. At the same time, the besieged in Poonch broke through the blockade. But still, the Muslims were able to continue the blockade of this strategically important city. As part of Operation Bison, Indian light tanks were transferred to Zoji-La. On November 1, they made a sudden and swift offensive, forcing the Muslims to retreat first to Matayan and then to Dras.

Finally, it was possible to carry out the de-blockade of Punch. The city was liberated after a siege that lasted a whole year.

Outcome of the first war

The first stage of the Indo-Pakistani conflict ended with a truce. About 60% of the territory of Kashmir came under the patronage of India, control over the remaining areas was retained by Pakistan. This decision was enshrined in a UN resolution. Officially, the truce began to operate on January 1, 1949.

During the first conflict between India and Pakistan, the Indians lost 1,104 people killed and more than three thousand wounded. On the Pakistani side, 4,133 people were killed and more than 4,500 were injured.

Second Kashmir War

The established truce was broken in 1965. The armed conflict was short-lived, but bloody. It lasted from August to September.

It all started with an attempt by Pakistan to stage an uprising in the Indian part of Kashmir. Back in the spring of 1965, there was a border conflict. Who provoked him remains unknown. After several armed clashes, the combat units were brought to full readiness. Great Britain prevented the conflict from flaring up, which achieved an agreement on As a result, Pakistan received a territory of 900 square kilometers, although it initially claimed a larger area.

These events convinced the Pakistani leadership of the significant superiority of their army. It soon tried to resolve the conflict by force. The secret services of the Muslim state sent saboteurs, whose goal was to launch a war in August 1965. The operation was codenamed "Gibraltar". The Indians became aware of the sabotage, the troops destroyed the camp where the militants were trained.

The onslaught of the Indians was so powerful that soon the largest city of the Pakistani part of Kashmir, Muzaffarabad, was under threat. On September 1, Pakistan launched a counteroffensive, from that moment an open war began. Five days later, the Indian army invaded Pakistan, striking at the large city of Lahore.

After that, both sides carried out offensives with varying degrees of success. In East Pakistan, the Indian Air Force carried out regular strikes. On September 23, the war ended under pressure from the UN.

Consequences

With the participation of the USSR, the Tashkent Declaration on a ceasefire was signed. In both countries, state propaganda reported a convincing victory. In reality, it was actually a draw. The Pakistani and Indian air forces suffered significant losses, although there is no reliable information.

Some 3,000 Indians and 3,800 Pakistanis were killed in the fighting. NATO countries have imposed an arms embargo on these countries. As a result, Pakistan began to cooperate with China, and India was forced to establish close ties with the USSR.

Bangladesh War of Independence

A new round of the Indo-Pakistani conflict happened in 1971. This time the reason was the intervention of India in the civil war in the territory

The crisis was long overdue there, the inhabitants of the eastern part of the country constantly felt like second-class people, the language spoken in the west was recognized as the state language, after a powerful tropical cyclone that killed about 500,000 people, the central authorities began to be accused of inaction and ineffective assistance . In the east, they demanded the resignation of President Yahya Khan. At the end of 1970, the Freedom League party, which advocated the autonomy of eastern Pakistan, won the parliamentary elections.

According to the constitution, the Freedom League could form a government, but the leaders of western Pakistan were against the appointment of Rahman as prime minister. As a result, the latter announced the beginning of the struggle for the independence of eastern Pakistan. The army launched an operation to suppress the rebels, Rahman was arrested. After that, his brother read over the radio the text of the declaration of independence, proclaiming the creation of Bangladesh. The Civil War began.

Indian intervention

At first, she moved steadily forward. According to various estimates, from 300,000 to 1,000,000 inhabitants of the eastern part of the country were killed, about 8 million refugees went to India.

Prime Minister Indira Gandhi supported the independence of Bangladesh, thus beginning a new round in the history of the conflict between India and Pakistan. The Indians began to support the guerrilla groups, and also carried out successful military operations, retreating across the border. On November 21, the Indian Air Force carried out strikes on targets in Pakistan. The regular troops moved in. After air raids on Indian bases, Gandhi officially announced the start of the war.

On all fronts, the superiority was on the side of the Indians.

Bangladesh gains independence

As a result of the intervention of the Indian army, Bangladesh gained independence. After the defeat in the war, Yahya Khanu retired.

Relations between the countries normalized after the signing of the Simla Agreement in 1972. It was the largest conflict between these two countries. Pakistan lost 7,982 killed, Indians 1,047.

Current state

For Pakistan and India, Kashmir still remains a stumbling block. Since then, there have been two armed border conflicts (in 1984 and 1999), which were not of a large-scale nature.

In the 21st century, relations between India and Pakistan have escalated due to the fact that both states received from their patrons or developed nuclear weapons themselves.

Today, the United States and China are supplying arms to Pakistan, and Russia to India. Interestingly, at the same time, Pakistan is interested in military cooperation with the Russian Federation, while America is trying to take away contracts for the supply of weapons to India.

At the time of colonial domination, part of India was under the direct control of the British authorities, while the other was made up of native principalities that had their own rulers semi-autonomous from the British. In the course of granting independence (1947), Britain's "direct" possessions on the subcontinent were divided according to religious principles into two independent states - Hindu and Muslim (India and Pakistan). The native princes (whose number reached 600) received the right to independently decide whether to enter the first or second.

Indo-Pakistani War 1947-48. Movie 1

The Muslim Nawab (monarch) of the Grand Principality of Hyderabad in the center of India decided to join Pakistan. Then the Indian government in 1948 brought its troops into this principality, motivating their actions by the fact that there are many Hindus in Hyderabad. The opposite happened in Kashmir, populated mainly by Muslims and bordering on West Pakistan. His prince, himself a Hindu, announced his intention to annex his possession to India or become an independent sovereign. In October 1947, Pashtun tribes invaded Kashmir from Pakistani territory to prevent the transition of this area under the sovereignty of India. The ruler of Kashmir turned to Delhi for help.

Indo-Pakistani War 1947-48. Movie 2

By 1948, the conflict in Kashmir had escalated into First Indo-Pakistani War. She turned out to be short-lived. In January 1949, an armistice agreement was signed. Thanks to the activities of the mediation commission of the UN Security Council in the summer of 1949, a ceasefire line was established, one part of which was recognized as an international border, and the other became the line of actual control (which was somewhat changed later as a result of second And third Indo-Pakistani wars of 1965 and 1971). Northwestern Kashmir (more than a third of the entire region) was under the control of Pakistan. Subsequently, the Azad Kashmir (Free Kashmir) formation was created there, formally representing a free territory.

Partition of British India in 1947. Formation of independent India and Pakistan. The map shows the disputed territories - Hyderabad and Kashmir, as well as areas with a mixed Indo-Muslim population

Two-thirds of the former principality of Kashmir came under the rule of India. These lands were united with adjacent areas inhabited by Hindus, and made up the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. The Security Council in 1949 adopted a resolution to hold a plebiscite in Kashmir after the withdrawal of Pakistani troops from its northwestern part. But Pakistan refused to comply with the UN demands, and the plebiscite was thwarted. Through control of northwestern Kashmir, Pakistan gained a border with China. Here, in the 1970-1980s, the Karakoram Highway was laid, providing Pakistan with a connection with the PRC.

The Indo-Pakistani conflict over Kashmir has not been resolved. The Pakistani government has since seen India as its main enemy. Separatists remained in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, who opposed joining Pakistan or India and demanded the creation of an independent Kashmir state.

British India Independence Act and South Asia State Demarcation

The national liberation movement in Indian cities and rural areas was expanding. Anti-British speeches began among the Indian troops of the British-Indian Army. The Indian part of the officer corps, not to mention the rank and file, was losing loyalty to the British crown. In an effort to get ahead of the curve, on August 15, 1947, the British Parliament passed the Indian Independence Act.

The British government, in accordance with the plan developed by the last Viceroy of India, Lord Louis Mountbatten, divided the country in 1947 along religious lines. Instead of a single state, two dominions were created - Pakistan, to which territories populated predominantly by Muslims, and the Indian Union (India proper), where the majority of the population were Hindus, departed. At the same time, the territory of India proper cut Pakistan into two parts with a wedge - West Pakistan (modern Pakistan) and East Pakistan (modern Bangladesh), which were separated by 1600 km and inhabited by various peoples (Bengalis - in the east, Punjabis, Sindhis, Pashtuns and Baluchis - in the West). At the same time, even a whole nation, the Bengalis, was divided according to religious principle: its Muslim part turned out to be part of East Pakistan, and the Hindu Bengalis made up the population of the Indian state of Bengal. East Pakistan was surrounded by Indian territory on three sides, on the fourth - its border passed through the waters of the Bay of Bengal. Partition was accompanied exclusively by the bloody migration of millions of Hindus and Sikhs to India, and Muslims to Pakistan. Died, according to various estimates, from half a million to a million people.
To the content of the chapter

First Indo-Pakistani War

Additional tension in the situation was introduced by granting the "native" principalities the right to independently decide on joining the Indian or Pakistani state. Using it, the Nawab of the largest principality of Hyderabad in the center of India decided to join Pakistan. The Indian government, not wanting to lose this territory, sent its troops into the principality in 1948, ignoring the protests of Great Britain and the United States

Similarly, the ruler of Kashmir, predominantly Muslim and bordering West Pakistan, being a Hindu by religion, declared his intention to annex his dominion to India or become an independent sovereign. Then, in October 1947, Pashtun tribes invaded Kashmir from Pakistani territory, who wanted to prevent the transition of this predominantly Muslim territory under the sovereignty of India. The ruler of Kashmir appealed to Delhi for military assistance and hastened to officially proclaim the accession of the principality to the Indian Union. (¦)

By 1948, the conflict in Kashmir had escalated into the first Indian-Pakistani war. It was short-lived, and in January 1949 a ceasefire agreement was signed between the parties. Thanks to the activities of the mediation commission of the UN Security Council in the summer of 1949, a ceasefire line was established, one part of which was recognized as an international border, and the other became the line of actual control (somewhat later changed as a result of the second and third Indian-Pakistani wars of 1965 and 1971 .). Northwestern Kashmir was under the control of Pakistan (subsequently, the formation of "Azad Kashmir" (Free Kashmir) was created there), formally representing a free territory.

Two thirds of the former principality of Kashmir came under the rule of India. These Kashmiri lands were united with adjacent areas inhabited by Hindus, and made up the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. The Security Council in 1949 adopted a resolution to hold a plebiscite in Kashmir after the withdrawal of Pakistani troops from its northwestern part. But Pakistan refused to comply with the UN demands, and the plebiscite was thwarted. Pakistan gained access to the border with China thanks to its control over northwestern Kashmir, through which the strategic Karakoram Highway was laid in the 1970s and 1980s, providing Pakistan with a reliable connection with the PRC.

The India-Pakistan conflict over Kashmir has not been resolved. The events of the late 1940s determined the basic anti-Indian orientation of Pakistan's foreign policy. The Pakistani leadership from that time began to view India as a source of threat to the independence of Pakistan.

At the same time, in the state of Jammu and Kashmir itself, as part of India, there were separatist sentiments, the carriers of which opposed joining Pakistan or India and demanded the creation of an independent Kashmir state. On top of that, the eastern part of the state historically until the XI century. was part of Tibet, and its population still gravitates toward ties with the Tibetans. In this regard, the leadership of the PRC, which extended its control to Tibet after the victory of the Chinese revolution in 1949, began to show interest in the Kashmir problem, especially since there was no clarity on the issue of the border line between the Tibetan lands of the PRC and Indian possessions in Jammu and Kashmir. - in particular, in the area of ​​​​the Aksai Chin Plateau, along which the strategically important road for China passed from Western Tibet to Xinjiang. A hotbed of chronic tension has emerged in South Asia.
Deep relations with the USA and the USSR
Diplomatic relations of India with the USA and the USSR were established even before the proclamation of its independence, since the status of a dominion made it possible to do so. But India did not develop close relations with either Moscow or Washington. The superpowers were preoccupied with things in more important regions for them - in Europe, East Asia, the Middle East. This, in its own way, unusual and short-lived "vacuum of interest" in India partly contributed to the formation of Delhi's specific foreign policy line, the authorship of which belongs to the head of the first government of independent India, Jawaharlal Nehru.
The deterioration of Soviet-Chinese relations in the early 1960s led to Moscow's growing interest in military-political cooperation with India, whose relations with the PRC remained tense after two conflicts over the previous ten years. The USSR provided India with significant economic assistance and began to develop military ties with it. In the first half of the 1960s, the scale of military supplies from the Soviet Union exceeded the amount of aid coming to India from the United States. This began to worry Washington. The John F. Kennedy administration set the goal of strengthening relations with India, despite Delhi's commitment to non-alignment and neutralism. The American president called India the key to Asia, believing that with American help it could become a “showcase” for the West, win economic competition with China and become a powerful counterbalance to it. After the Sino-Indian conflict, India became the largest recipient of US economic aid, although Washington was irritated by India's unwillingness to cooperate more actively with the US against China.

Afraid of being deceived in its hopes of turning India into a reliable partner, the US administration began to pay more attention to cooperation with Pakistan. After the "July Revolution" of 1958 in Iraq and its withdrawal from the Baghdad Pact in 1959, the value of Pakistan for American strategy in the Middle East increased so much that in March 1959 the United States concluded an agreement with Pakistan that provided for the use of US military forces. in case of aggression against Pakistan. Since 1965, Pakistan began to receive modern weapons from the United States.

But the development of US-Pakistani ties was not without problems either. The United States understood that the confrontation with India determines the interest of the Pakistani government in cooperation with the PRC on an anti-Indian basis. The prospect of a Sino-Pakistani bloc did not suit Washington.

But such a bloc was also undesirable for Moscow. That is why, focusing on rapprochement with India, the Soviet Union sought to maintain good relations with Pakistan. The task of Soviet diplomacy was to limit Pakistani-Chinese and US-Pakistani rapprochement. The Soviet-Pakistani dialogue developed successfully.

Indian-Pakistani relations were tense in the first half of the 1960s. The visit of Indian Prime Minister J. Nehru to Karachi in 1960 and six-month bilateral negotiations on the Kashmir issue in 1962-1963. and in the first half of 1964 did not lead to an improvement in the situation. Since the end of 1964, armed clashes began on the Indo-Pakistani border. In the summer of 1965, they escalated into a full-scale war.

The development of events aroused the concern of the USSR and the USA, who feared the strengthening of China's position in South Asia. The United States, maneuvering between India and Pakistan, has suspended military assistance to the latter since the outbreak of hostilities, while warning China against interfering in the Indo-Pakistani conflict.

Moscow found itself in a position convenient for fulfilling the mediating mission: it had friendly relations with both India and Pakistan. The governments of both countries agreed to accept Soviet mediation. The United States also did not object to him. Indian Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri and Pakistani President Mohammed Ayub Khan arrived in the USSR. In January 1966, Indo-Pakistani negotiations were held in Tashkent with the participation of the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR A.N. Kosygin, which ended with the signing of a joint Declaration of India and Pakistan on ending the war and restoring the status quo. Formally, it was believed that during the negotiations the Soviet Union provided "good offices" to the conflicting parties, but in fact the mission of the USSR rather resembled "mediation", since the Soviet delegate directly participated in the negotiations, which, in principle, is not provided for by the procedure for rendering "good offices".

The United States took a neutral position during the conflict. This was frowned upon in Pakistan, believing that Washington should have supported it more vigorously. Partly "in defiance" of the United States in October 1967, President of Pakistan M. Ayub Khan paid a visit to Moscow, during which he hinted at Pakistan's desire to reduce dependence on the United States in the military-political field. In early 1968, the Pakistani authorities announced their disinterest in extending the agreement that allowed the United States to use radar installations in Peshawar to collect information about Soviet military installations. During A.N. Kosygin's visit to Pakistan in April 1968, the USSR agreed to supply arms to Pakistan. This angered India. Trying to maintain good relations with both India and Pakistan, Moscow was generally inclined to stay on the side of Delhi.

The formation of Bangladesh and the Indo-Pakistani War

On the periphery of international relations, elements of confrontation were more noticeable than in Europe. This was confirmed by developments in South Asia. By the beginning of the 70s, the opinion in the Soviet Union was finally established, according to which India is a reliable partner of the USSR in the East, since Soviet-Chinese relations were extremely strained, and relations between the PRC and India were also very cold. True, India did not want to be drawn into the Soviet-Chinese confrontation. But she did not trust China, especially since she saw the desire of the new US administration to move closer to it. India was losing its position as a priority partner of the United States in the region, as it was in the 60s. (¦) Delhi knew that India's "historical adversary", Pakistan, was trying to help improve US-China relations in order to devalue cooperation with India for Washington. Finally, Indian politicians believed that there was such a negative factor as R. Nixon's "personal dislike for India" and the "anti-Indian fuse" of his national security adviser H. Kissinger. In the early 1970s, the previously existing US-Indian understanding was fading away.

True, the situation in the region developed rapidly, regardless of the mood in Delhi. After the division of British India, the state of Pakistan turned out to consist of two parts - western and eastern - which did not touch each other and were separated by a wedge of Indian territory. The capital of Pakistan was located in the west, and the eastern part felt abandoned and provincial. Its inhabitants believed that the central government did not pay attention to the problems of East Pakistan and discriminated against it in matters of funding, although half the population lived in the eastern part of the country.

In the parliamentary elections of 1970 in Pakistan, the East Bengal Awami League party won the majority of votes. Thus, in theory, its leader - Mujibur Rahman, who advocated the granting of autonomy to East Pakistan - received the right to head the central government. But by order of the head of the military administration of Pakistan (dictator) General A.M. Yahya Khan, who came to power in 1969, in March 1971 M. Rahman was arrested. Army units loyal to AM Yahya Khan were sent to East Pakistan from West Pakistan.
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