NEWS HIGHLIGHTS
Theme : India’s Neighbors
Paper : GS - 2
After an economic crisis and constitutional crisis, Pakistan is now facing a water crisis in the form of extreme floods, affecting one-third of its area, which has made the situation of Pakistan worse.
Incidents of Terrorism- With an average of more than one suicide bombing every week, 35,000 Pakistanis have died since 9/11. In the province of Balochistan, there is a five-year-old nationalist insurgency that shows no sign of going away.
TABLE OF CONTENT
- Context
- What are the Issues with Pakistan?
- Failed State?
- Reasons for this Situation In Pakistan
- Opportunities that can be reaped by India
- Conclusion
Context :
After an economic crisis and constitutional crisis, Pakistan is now facing a water crisis in the form of extreme floods, affecting one-third of its area, which has made the situation of Pakistan worse.
What are the Issues with Pakistan?
- Rise in sectarian violence
- Poor law and order situation
- Incidents of Terrorism- With an average of more than one suicide bombing every week, 35,000 Pakistanis have died since 9/11. In the province of Balochistan, there is a five-year-old nationalist insurgency that shows no sign of going away.
- Crumbling Economy– The current account has turned into a deficit with higher prices for imported oil accompanied by lower prices for exported cotton.
- High debt accumulations– Due to huge currency depreciation and faulty policies of the Shehbaz Sharif-led Pakistan government, the country’s debt jumps to a record high of Pakistani Rupee (PKR) 60 trillion.
- High corruption– For decades, Pakistan has refused to tax its feudal landlords, leading to a 12 percent tax/GDP ratio and a high dependency on foreign donors, with 99 percent of the population reporting attendant corruption. Only 860,000 of the 183 million population pay tax.
- Dismal performance on social indicators– Pakistan’s education lags behind Bangladesh’s. Only 0.7 percent of the Pakistani GDP is spent on health.
Failed State?
- A failed state is a government that has become incapable of providing the basic functions and responsibilities of a sovereign nation, such as military defense, law enforcement, justice, education, or economic stability.
- Common characteristics of failed states include ongoing civil violence, corruption, crime, poverty, illiteracy, and crumbling infrastructure.
- Countries like Afghanistan, Somalia, and Yemen are considered failed states.
Reasons for this Situation In Pakistan :
- Lack of a Credible civilian leadership: Pakistan’s founders expected the idea of Pakistan to shape the state of Pakistan; instead, a military bureaucracy governs the state and imposes its vision of a Pakistani nation.
- Ever since its inception, the army has played a decisive role in internal governance and foreign policy.
- Terrorism as a diplomatic tool: Pakistan is idiosyncratic to the common notion of diplomacy. Pakistan is the only state in the world that sponsors terrorism as a state policy be it in India or Afghanistan.
- FATF watchlist- Pakistan has been on the grey list of the FATF since June 2018 for failing to check money laundering, leading to terror financing.
- Amid long delays in the completion of projects and building up arrears, the once much celebrated China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is increasingly becoming dysfunctional leading to increasing frustration in both countries.
- Drying up aid– The Americans are believed to be squeezing Pakistan through the IMF which has imposed extremely tough conditions. The Chinese too are becoming skittish. Their investments in CPEC are dogged by delays.
Opportunities that can be reaped by India :
- Take back PoK- Some defense analysts suggest using the situation to negotiate for getting back the Pakistan Occupied Kashmir territory without a full-scale war.
- Opportunity to negotiate low-hanging fruits– Such as creating a direct transit corridor to Afghanistan and Central Asia, Sir Creek issue, maritime boundary and fishermen issues.
- Renegotiating the Indus River Treaty– As this treaty is highly favorable to lower riparian states i.e Pakistan, leaving India with less water.
- The ceasefire along the PoK border- There was a rare thaw in the relations between the two countries as their armies announced a sudden and rare reaffirmation of a 2003 ceasefire agreement, pledging to bring a halt to the violence that killed at least 74 people in 2020 alone.This is being seen in the context of Pakistan’s economic crisis to sustain a proxy war on the borders.