Contemporary South Asia

Chapters 1 and 2 looked at the world; this chapter turns to India's own region. When India and Pakistan tested nuclear weapons in 1998 the region drew world attention, mostly for its conflicts — border and water disputes, insurgencies, ethnic strife. Yet many in South Asia believe the region can prosper if its states cooperate. Because so much of this depends on domestic politics, the chapter first looks at democracy in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka, then at conflicts and cooperation between states.

• Links: Politics in India since Independence Chapter 4, India's External Relations (the 1947–48, 1965 and 1971 wars, Tashkent, Simla, nuclear policy) and Chapter 7, Regional Aspirations (Jammu and Kashmir); Chapter 2 of this book (China's rise; CPEC); later chapters on International Organisations and Security; India: People and Economy on trade and on rivers.
• UPSC: GS2 — ‘India and its neighbourhood — relations’ and ‘bilateral, regional and global groupings involving India’. Prelims has asked on SAARC and SAFTA (1986, 1992, 2006), Sri Lanka's conflict (1984, 1985, 1998, 2009), India–Bangladesh (1980, 1982, 1983, 1999, 2026), India–Pakistan (1999, 2003, 2009, 2020), BIMSTEC (2025) and neighbours' politics (1979, 1996, 2016, 2021); Mains on the Gujral doctrine (2013), Sri Lanka (2013, 2022), the Maldives (2013, 2024), Bangladesh (2013), SAARC and BIMSTEC (2016, 2022), India–Pakistan soft power (2015) and South Asian waters (2016, 2026).

• South Asia = seven states (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka); Afghanistan and Myanmar often included; India is central and borders the others.
• Democracy: India and Sri Lanka always; Pakistan swings — Ayub (1958), Yahya, Zia (1977), Musharraf (1999); Bangladesh — Mujib, Zia, Ershad, then elections from 1991.
• Nepal: 1990 movement → Maoist insurgency → king's takeover (2002–05) → April 2006 movement → republic (2008) → constitution (2015); Bhutan constitutional monarchy 2008; Maldives republic 1968, parties 2005.
• Sri Lanka: Sinhala majoritarianism → Tamil militancy → LTTE war from 1983 → Indo-Sri Lanka Accord and IPKF (1987–90) → war ends 2009.
• India–Pakistan: Kashmir (wars 1947–48, 1965), Siachen, nuclear tests (1998: Pokhran, Chagai), terrorism, Sir Creek; Indus Waters Treaty (1960).
• Cooperation: SAARC (Dhaka, 1985), SAFTA (signed 2004, in force 1 January 2006); India–Bangladesh Farakka treaty (1996) and enclave exchange (2015); China and the US as outside players.

‘South Asia’ usually means Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The Himalayas to the north and the Indian Ocean, Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal to the south, west and east give the region a natural insularity that largely explains its linguistic, social and cultural distinctiveness. Its eastern and western limits are less clear: Afghanistan and Myanmar are often included; China is an important player but not part of the region. NCERT uses the seven countries above — diverse in every sense, yet one geopolitical space.

Political systems differ. Despite problems, India and Sri Lanka have operated democracy throughout since independence. Pakistan and Bangladesh have had both civilian and military rulers; NCERT says Bangladesh remained a democracy after the Cold War, while Pakistan had elected governments under Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, a military coup in 1999, and civilian government again from 2008. Nepal was a constitutional monarchy, with the danger of the king taking over, until 2006; in 2008 it abolished the monarchy and became a democratic republic. Bhutan became a constitutional monarchy in 2008 and, under the king's leadership, a multi-party democracy. The Maldives was a Sultanate until 1968, then a presidential republic; in June 2005 its parliament voted unanimously for a multi-party system. From Bangladesh's and Nepal's experience, NCERT concludes that democracy is becoming an accepted norm across the region.

Popular support for democracy. A survey of attitudes in the five big countries found wide support for democracy among rich and poor and people of all religions: citizens prefer it to any other form of government and think it suits their country. This matters because it was once believed democracy could flourish only in prosperous countries; South Asia's experience has expanded the global imagination of democracy.

After Pakistan framed its first constitution, General Ayub Khan took over and soon had himself elected; popular dissatisfaction forced him out, and another military ruler, General Yahya Khan, followed. Under Yahya, Pakistan faced the Bangladesh crisis, and after the 1971 war East Pakistan became Bangladesh. An elected government under Zulfikar Ali Bhutto ruled from 1971 to 1977, until General Zia-ul-Haq removed it in 1977. Zia faced a pro-democracy movement from 1982, and an elected government returned in 1988 under Benazir Bhutto; politics then revolved around her Pakistan People's Party and the Muslim League until 1999, when General Pervez Musharraf removed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Musharraf became President in 2001 and the army continued to rule, holding some elections for a democratic image. Since 2008, elected leaders have governed.

Why has stable democracy been hard? NCERT gives several reasons. The social dominance of the military, clergy and landowning aristocracy has led to frequent overthrow of elected governments. The conflict with India has strengthened pro-military groups, who argue that parties and democracy are flawed and that Pakistan's security would suffer under ‘selfish’ parties and ‘chaotic’ democracy, so army rule is justified. Lack of genuine international support for democracy has encouraged the military: the US and other Western countries backed military rule in the past for their own reasons — fearing what they call ‘global Islamic terrorism’ and the risk of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal falling into terrorist hands, they saw the military regime as a protector of Western interests in West and South Asia. Yet there has been strong pro-democracy sentiment, a courageous and relatively free press and a strong human rights movement.

Bangladesh was part of Pakistan from 1947 to 1971, made up of the partitioned areas of Bengal and Assam. Its people resented West Pakistani domination and the imposition of Urdu, protested against unfair treatment of Bengali language and culture, and demanded fair representation in administration and power. Sheikh Mujib-ur Rahman led the struggle and demanded autonomy. In the 1970 elections his Awami League won almost every seat in East Pakistan and a majority in the proposed constituent assembly for all Pakistan, but the West Pakistan-dominated government refused to convene it and arrested Mujib. Under General Yahya Khan the army tried to crush the Bengali mass movement; NCERT says thousands were killed (estimates of the total dead vary widely and remain disputed), causing a huge refugee influx into India. India supported East Pakistan's demand for independence and helped it financially and militarily; the December 1971 war ended with the surrender of Pakistani forces in the east and the birth of Bangladesh.

Bangladesh's constitution declared faith in secularism, democracy and socialism. In 1975 Mujib amended it to a presidential system and abolished all parties except the Awami League, leading to tension; he was assassinated in a military uprising in August 1975. The new military ruler Ziaur Rahman formed the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and won the 1979 elections (UPSC 1979); he was assassinated and Lt Gen H.M. Ershad took over. Students led a renewed democracy movement; Ershad allowed limited political activity, was elected President for five years, and was forced out by mass protests in 1990. Elections were held in 1991, and multi-party representative democracy has worked since, NCERT says.

Nepal was a Hindu kingdom and then for many years a constitutional monarchy in which the king, backed by the army, kept control and restricted democracy. After a strong pro-democracy movement the king accepted a new democratic constitution in 1990, but democratic governments had a short, troubled career. In the 1990s the Maoists spread their influence, pursuing armed insurrection against the monarchy and the ruling elite; a violent conflict followed between Maoist guerrillas and the king's forces, at times a triangular contest among monarchists, democrats and Maoists. In 2002 the king dismissed the government, ending even limited democracy. In April 2006, massive, largely non-violent countrywide protests led by the Seven Party Alliance, the Maoists and social activists forced the king to restore the House of Representatives. A constituent assembly was elected to draft a constitution; some wanted a nominal monarchy; the Maoists suspended armed struggle but wanted radical social and economic restructuring, which not all SPA parties accepted; and the Maoists and some others were deeply suspicious of India's role. In 2008 Nepal became a democratic republic, and in 2015 it adopted a new constitution.

Sri Lanka has retained democracy since independence in 1948 but faced a serious challenge from ethnic conflict and a demand for secession. After independence, politics in Ceylon was dominated by forces representing the majority Sinhala community, hostile to the large number of Tamils who, NCERT says, had migrated from India and settled there. Sinhala nationalists held that Sri Lanka should not give ‘concessions’ to Tamils because it belonged to the Sinhala people only. Neglect of Tamil concerns led to militant Tamil nationalism: from 1983 the LTTE fought the Sri Lankan army for ‘Tamil Eelam’, a separate country, and at one point controlled the island's north-east.

Because the problem involves people of Indian origin, Tamils in India pressed the Indian government to protect Sri Lankan Tamils; India tried at times to negotiate. In 1987 India for the first time got directly involved: it signed an accord with Sri Lanka and sent troops — the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) — to stabilise relations between the government and the Tamils. The Indian Army eventually fought the LTTE, and many Sri Lankans disliked the Indian presence, seeing it as interference; the IPKF withdrew without attaining its objective. The conflict stayed violent; international actors, particularly Norway and other Nordic countries, tried to bring the sides back to negotiations; the armed conflict ended when the LTTE was defeated in 2009. Despite the conflict, Sri Lanka achieved considerable growth and high human development: among the first developing countries to control population growth, the first in the region to liberalise its economy, with the region's highest per capita GDP for many years, and it maintained a democratic system.

The post-Cold War era did not end conflict in the region, and given India's position most interstate conflicts involve India. The most salient is with Pakistan. Soon after Partition the two clashed over Kashmir; NCERT notes that Pakistan's government claimed Kashmir belonged to it. The wars of 1947–48 and 1965 did not settle the matter; the 1947–48 war divided the territory into Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and the Indian province of Jammu and Kashmir, separated by the Line of Control. India won a decisive war in 1971, but Kashmir remained unsettled. The conflict also concerns strategic issues such as control of the Siachen glacier and the arms race, which took a new form when both acquired nuclear weapons and missiles in the 1990s: India tested at Pokhran in 1998 and Pakistan responded within days in the Chagai Hills. NCERT judges that since then the possibility of a direct, full-scale war has declined.

Mutual suspicion. The Indian government blames Pakistan for a strategy of low-key violence — helping Kashmiri militants with arms, training, money and protection for terrorist strikes; it believes Pakistan aided pro-Khalistani militants in 1985–95; and its spy agency, the ISI, is alleged to run anti-India campaigns in the North-East through Bangladesh and Nepal. Pakistan in turn blames India and its agencies for fomenting trouble in Sindh and Balochistan. River waters: after a fierce argument over the Indus basin, the two signed the Indus Waters Treaty in 1960 with World Bank help; NCERT says it survived all their military conflicts, with minor differences over interpretation. They also disagree on the demarcation line in Sir Creek in the Rann of Kutch — minor in itself, but it may affect control of sea resources nearby. NCERT says negotiations continue on all these issues.

Bangladesh. The two governments have differed on several issues, including sharing the Ganga and Brahmaputra waters. India has been unhappy with Bangladesh's denial of illegal immigration into India, its support for anti-Indian Islamic fundamentalist groups, its refusal to let Indian troops move through its territory to the North-East, and its decision not to export natural gas to India or let Myanmar do so through its territory. Bangladeshi governments have felt that India behaves like a regional bully over river waters, encourages rebellion in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, tries to extract its gas and is unfair in trade. The boundary dispute took long to resolve. Yet the two cooperate on many issues: economic relations have improved greatly; Bangladesh is part of India's Look East / Act East link to Southeast Asia via Myanmar; they cooperate on disaster management and the environment; and in 2015 they exchanged enclaves.

Nepal. India and Nepal have a very special relationship: a treaty lets citizens of each travel to and work in the other without visas or passports. There have been trade disputes; India has disliked the warm Nepal–China relationship and inaction against anti-Indian elements, and its security agencies saw the Maoist movement as a threat given the Naxalite groups in Indian states. Many Nepalis feel India interferes in their internal affairs, has designs on their river waters and hydroelectricity, and restricts landlocked Nepal's access to the sea through India. Still, relations are fairly stable: trade, scientific cooperation, common natural resources, electricity generation and interlocking water-management grids hold them together. Sri Lanka. Difficulties have mostly concerned the ethnic conflict; Indian leaders and citizens cannot stay neutral when Tamils are killed, but after 1987 India prefers disengagement from Sri Lanka's internal troubles; a free trade agreement and post-tsunami help brought the two closer. Bhutan. A very special relationship with no major conflict: the Bhutanese monarch's efforts to remove guerrillas and militants of north-eastern India operating in Bhutan helped India; India builds big hydroelectric projects there and is its biggest source of development aid. Maldives. Ties are warm: in November 1988, when Tamil mercenaries from Sri Lanka attacked the Maldives, India's air force and navy responded quickly to its request; India has helped its economic development, tourism and fisheries.

Why do neighbours worry? Given India's size and power, smaller neighbours are bound to be suspicious and fear that India wants to be a regionally dominant power; India, for its part, often feels exploited by them and dislikes their political instability, fearing it lets outside powers gain influence. Not all conflicts involve India: Nepal and Bhutan have disagreed over the migration of ethnic Nepalese into Bhutan; Bangladesh and Myanmar over the Rohingya who moved into Bangladesh and India; Bangladesh and Nepal over Himalayan river waters. But the major conflicts are between India and the others, partly because of geography — India is central and the only country that borders all the others.

Despite many conflicts, the states of South Asia recognise the value of cooperation. The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), begun in 1985, is the major multilateral initiative, but persistent political differences have limited its success. Its members signed the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) agreement — signed in 2004 and in force from 1 January 2006 — promising a free trade zone for the whole region by lowering tariffs. Some neighbours fear SAFTA is a way for India to ‘invade’ their markets and influence their societies and politics; India thinks there are real benefits for all and that freer trade will help political cooperation; some in India think SAFTA is not worth the trouble since India already has bilateral agreements with Bhutan, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

India–Pakistan peace efforts. Though relations seem a story of endemic conflict, the two have agreed on confidence-building measures to reduce the risk of war; social activists and public figures have worked to build friendship between the peoples; leaders have met at summits; bus routes were opened, trade increased and visas became easier — although NCERT notes that the situation has since changed. Outside powers. No region exists in a vacuum. China and the US are key players: Sino-Indian relations improved, but China's strategic partnership with Pakistan remains a major irritant, while development and globalisation have multiplied India–China economic ties since 1991. US involvement grew rapidly after the Cold War: it has good relations with both India and Pakistan and increasingly acts as a moderator between them; economic reforms in both deepened American participation; the large South Asian diaspora in the US and the region's huge population and markets give it a further stake. Whether South Asia stays conflict-prone or becomes a regional bloc with common cultural features and trade interests, NCERT concludes, will depend more on its own peoples and governments than on any outside power.

Try each first. Q1 and Q2 are also in the self-check.

Numbers

One-liners

• South Asia: rivalry and goodwill, suspicion and trust coexist.
• India and Sri Lanka have always been democracies; Pakistan and Bangladesh have swung between civilian and military rule.
• Pakistan's military dominance rests on its social power, the India conflict and past Western backing.
• Nepal reached a republic through two people's movements and the end of a Maoist insurgency.
• Sri Lanka's war grew from Sinhala majoritarianism and Tamil militancy; India's IPKF intervention failed.
• India–Pakistan: Kashmir, Siachen, nuclear arms, terrorism, Sir Creek — but the Indus treaty long held.
• Neighbours fear India's dominance; India fears instability that lets outsiders in.
• SAARC and SAFTA have underperformed; China and the US are key outside players.

Traps to avoid

• SAARC's first summit and Charter: Dhaka 1985; its secretariat is in Kathmandu; BIMSTEC's is in Dhaka.
• SAFTA came into force on 1 January 2006, not December 2005 (UPSC 2006).
• BIMSTEC began with the Bangkok Declaration of 1997, not a Dhaka Declaration of 1999 (UPSC 2025).
• The IPKF withdrawal ended in March 1990 (NCERT's text says 1989, its own timeline 1987–90).
• International Mother Language Day (21 February) was declared by UNESCO, not UNICEF (UPSC 2021).
• The Madhesis are in Nepal and the Rohingya in Myanmar — not the Kurds in Bangladesh (UPSC 2016).
• Tin Bigha was leased to Bangladesh; sovereignty stays with India. Kachchatheevu was recognised as Sri Lankan in 1974.
• The 1985 talks between Sri Lanka's government and Tamil groups were held in Thimphu, Bhutan.
• Siachen lies north of the Nubra valley; Sir Creek is in the Rann of Kutch.
• Pakistan joined SEATO in 1954 and the Baghdad Pact (later CENTO) in 1955.

Prelims — what UPSC asks

• SAARC and regional groupings: SAARC members (1986), India's central position (1992), SAFTA dates and tariffs (2006), BIMSTEC (2025), India's projects and bridges in the neighbourhood (2026).
• Sri Lanka: India's special envoy G. Parthasarathy (1984), A. Amirthalingam and the TULF's demand for a separate state (1985), the Thimphu talks (1998), Elephant Pass (2009).
• Bangladesh and neighbours' politics: the BNP's 1979 victory (1979), a two-party system (1996), the Bengali language demand (2021), Madhesis and Rohingya (2016), trade with neighbours (2020).
• India–Bangladesh and India–Pakistan: Farakka (1980), New Moore island (1982, 1983), Tin Bigha and Kachchatheevu (1999), the composite dialogue (1999), Simla and Lahore (2003), Baglihar and the Indus treaty (2009), Siachen (2020), Kahuta (1986), HDI ranking (2003).

Mains — where it appears and how to answer

• GS2 neighbourhood: the Gujral doctrine (2013); Sri Lanka — domestic factors in foreign policy (2013) and India's role in the 2022 crisis (2022); the Maldives — political developments (2013) and its strategic importance (2024); Bangladesh — the Shahbag protests (2013) and India's role in 1971 (GS1 2013); Afghanistan after ISAF (2013).
• GS2 regional cooperation: SAARC and Pakistan-linked terrorism (2016); BIMSTEC compared with SAARC (2022); soft power in India–Pakistan relations (2015).
• GS1 waters: the Indus Waters Treaty (2016) and South Asian waters as asset and conflict (2026) — Indus, Ganga (Farakka), Teesta, Nepal's rivers; update with the 2025 abeyance as a fact.
• Answer frame: the region (definition, asymmetry, India's centrality) → domestic politics of the neighbour → issue as facts → each government's stated position, attributed → cooperation already achieved → way forward (Gujral doctrine, Neighbourhood First, connectivity, people-to-people). Keep the tone factual; do not take sides on disputed facts.

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