Pakistan India Relation

The history of South Asia is laden more with the incidents of hostilities than with the memories of friendship. Zooming in, between Pakistan and India, the arch rivals, enmity overrides empathy. 

At the hostility level, between Pakistan and India, the Cold War era (1947-1991) was a characteristic of at least two full scale wars in 1965 and 1971 while the post-Cold War era experienced only a limited war in Kargil in 1999. 

Nevertheless, it seems that the space for hostility between both the countries is fast shrinking. Neither the Kargil war nor the terrorist activities (like the terrorist attack on Indian Parliament in 2001 and the terrorist attacks across Mumbai in 2008) by non-state actors could initiate the next spell of disaster called war. The activities of non-state actors, however, were not without any effect as the bilateral trade bore the brunt and reduced to the minimum. 

According to Karachi Chamber and Commerce and Industry (KCCI), the formal trade volume between both the countries reduced from US $ 319 million in the Fiscal Year (FY) 1998-99 to US $ 181 million in the FY 1999-2000, owing to the Kargil war. Interestingly, in the FY 1998-1999, Pakistan was exporting goods worth US $ 173.66 million to India while Pakistan was importing goods worth US $ 145.85 million from India, thereby accruing the trade balance of US $ 28.81 million in favour of India. In the FY 1999-2000, however, Pakistan was exporting goods worth US $ 53.84 million to India while Pakistan was importing goods worth US $ 127.38 million from India, thereby accruing the trade balance of US $ 73.74 million in favour of India. Another interesting aspect is that in the FY 2000-2001, Pakistan was exporting goods worth US $ 55.41 million which were marginally more than that of export in the preceding FY while Pakistan was importing goods worth US $ 238 million which were substantially (US $ 110.95 million) more than the preceding FY. The trend indicated that, despite the Kargil war,...