Pakistan and India: a conflict that began in the 8th century and could end with an atomic war

The Muslim historian Muhammad Qasim Hindu Shah estimated that the conquest of the region that is forming today India, Pakistan and Bangladesh he brought with him 400 million dead. The same scholar says that throughout the centuries of domination and imposition of the Qur'an that began with the arrival of the Umayyad Caliphate troops in 711, the surviving Hindu population suffered Extended process of slavery and forced conversionwhich included mbad castration, chronic mbadacres and deportations. In other words, two out of three Hindus have been killed or forced to convert to Islam.

That is why, when the British took control of India in 1858 and displaced the Muslim dynasties that still reigned in the region, they found among the Hindus a population that lent them strange fidelity. The memory of terror and the desire for revenge over the centuries explained this loyalty.

When independence came in 1947, the territory of the English colony of India was fragmented into three large portions. In the center of the map, was born L & # 39; IndiaMulticultural state dominated by members of the Hindu majority. To the northwest, Pakistan, Muslim and Urdu identity. It was inhabited by a majority belonging to the Pasthun ethnic group and which for centuries had inhabited an immense territory which also occupied the south of present-day Afghanistan, but which was divided at the center in 1893 by the whim of a diplomat English name Mortimer Durand. In the East, it was created bangladeshAnother territory with a Muslim majority and Bengali ethnic group that has been attributed to Pakistan (hence its name from West / East Pakistan).

Tensions between Muslims and Hindus erupted August 15, 1947, the same day of independence from India and Pakistan.

In previous months, the emigration of Hindu settlers had started from areas allocated to Muslims and a much larger number of Koran adherents from the territories of present-day India. In all, 14 million human beings mobilized to escape a mbadacre that could be seen on the horizon. On the day of emancipation and without the control of British troops, began one of the most numerous mbadacres of the modern era. One million people were killed by crowds of civilians, mostly Hindus, who stormed the caravans of Muslims fleeing India on foot.. At that time, crowded whole trains of escaped families were burned and their pbadengers died outrageously. In the ports, the quays in which the emigrants were to board were dyed red when the hordes took them by storm. The killings continued in the big cities where there were still pockets of Islamists and a contradictory majority, as the film brilliantly shows. Slumdog Millonaire from director Danny Boyle.

With the mbadacres of 1947, promises of revenge between Muslims and Hindus were renewed. But in addition, certain political events have caused tensions of the present. From one side, India had kept for her the Kashmir regionenclave of great economic and strategic value inhabited by a Muslim majority. But also, of New Delhi, a political support plan has been launched to members of the Mukti Bahini movement, a political movement of the Bengali ethnic group that sought the independence of Pakistan.

Tensions between Pakistan and India have never stopped. Since the day of independence of both countries, the border has been the scene of attacks, ambushes and exchanges of artillery that have resulted in dozens or even hundreds of deaths.

So much tension became an open conflagration in September 1965when both countries began large-scale hostilities because of the entry of Pakistani troops into Kashmir and the subsequent entry of Indian soldiers into Pakistani territory. But in addition, New Delhi's support for the Bengali separatists has aggravated the situation. The ceasefire was followed by diplomatic negotiations led by the two major superpowers of the moment. Pakistan lost 3,800 men. India, said 3000 dead soldiers.

The United States and the USSR had supported one of the warring parties. Washington has found Pakistan a strong ally in the Far East and the Soviets a partner of choice in India, whose principle of non-alignment was adapted to their strategic needs in the region. In fact, Pakistan has received the best of Western and Indian arsenals huge amounts of Soviet equipment of last generation.

These weapons were put to the test in December 1970 when both countries went to war again. It all started with the triumph of Awami League in the elections held in East Pakistan. This group was supported in its claim of independence by India. Pakistan responded to the challenge with fierce persecution of the party's leaders, who fled to India hastily. A rebellion of local troops formed mainly by Bengalis ends with the declaration of independence of Bangladesh of 27 March 1971 and its recognition by the Indian government.

In the following hours, Pakistan has attempted to take control of its eastern territory and the troops of its opponents have mobilized support those of the newborn country. What followed was almost dThe weeks of intense hostilities in all the reasons. The Pakistanis tried to bring troops to the east, but for that they had to cross nearly a thousand kilometers in enemy territory. The Indians managed to stop this attempt at the cost of nearly ten thousand dead. On the side of the opponent, some 4,000 soldiers fell.

The ceasefire does not mean the end of the tensions and the war at the border continues in the form of sporadic fighting. Meanwhile, Pakistan is committed to strengthening the power of Muslim groups operating in Kashmir while developing a secret plan to acquire nuclear weapons to offset their military weakness. India, with the help of its allies, has launched a similar program to catch up with its opponents.

The first third world nuclear race

In January 1972, Pakistani President Nawaz Shariff approved the plan to endow his country with nuclear weapons. The idea was initially developed by his predecessor, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who understood that the only way to avoid another defeat like the one in 1971 was to have weapons of mbad destruction.

To carry out their plan, they brought together the most renowned scientists in their country and initiated a secret plan for technology acquisition abroad. The construction of development and testing facilities in Baluchistan province was the start of a program that, five years later, began giving first results. By 1976, the design was ready, but delays due to external pressures and internal political speculation caused only in 1998, the first test of an atomic weapon was done. On May 28 of the same year, an artifact of 40 kilotons was destroyed in the Chagai underground facility. Five similar detonations in the following days announced the birth of the new nuclear power station.

India reacted to the ordeal and denounced Pakistan for failing to comply with international agreements on nuclear non-proliferation. But in reality, it was a sham because New Delhi had developed its own nuclear weapon as part of an equally secret program.

In fact he had already blown up his own atomic bomb in 1974, but he always maintained that it was a peaceful research plan. When both parties acknowledged having nuclear weapons and were ready to use them in case of renewed conflict, the existence of arsenals and their intention to continue their plans for the development of nuclear war were recognized.

The United States tolerated the nuclear development of its Pakistani allies, which they needed to continue feeding the Afghan rebels fighting the Russian invaders. After all, the mujahideen who fought against the Moscow troops were part of the Pashtun ethnic group that lived in northern Pakistan and were approached by US arms. The line imagined in 1893 by Mortimer Durand, who had separated them, was now used to create a sanctuary from which reinforcements arrived at the Afghan rebels.

And the Soviet Union has pledged to weaken this support by forcing Pakistan to increase spending on the nuclear program and weaken its economy. He did so by providing India with the appropriate technology and vectors to carry his atomic artifacts.

The existence of atomic bombs on both sides of the conflict has unleashed an unprecedented atomic race in the third world.. Although their poverty rates and infrastructure are enormous, both countries have invested billions of dollars a year to boost their nuclear arsenals. From the Bhabha Atomic Research Center, India has developed new weapons to provide an estimated total of 140 nuclear weapons to the arsenals of its country. Pakistan, meanwhile, would have 90 to 130 nuclear weapons. The added arsenals are enough to cause unimaginable havoc if they are thrown into some of the world's most populous areas.

At present, both countries have developed ballistic missiles equipped with nuclear loading to reach strategic points within the adversary's territory. The latest product developed by Pakistan is the "Ghauri". It can carry its nuclear loading 1,300 kilometers from its launch area. India has recently introduced its latest development, the Agni 5 missile. This model is capable of achieving targets at 5,000 kilometers.

Such a deployment of weapons is not just a game of deterrence. Pakistan continues to support the Kashmiri rebels, eager to continue to erode their opponents. New Delhi openly accuses Carachi of being behind the Muslim group Jaish-e-Mohammed, responsible for the attack on a police station in Kashmir on February 14, during which 42 Indian policemen were killed. According to intelligence reports, many Kashmiri rebel groups had their first war experience among the most radical Islamist groups They operate in Afghanistan and northern Pakistan, where they send the secret services of their opponents.

India's response was to engage a troop deployment along the common border and launch an air offensive against the terrorist group's sanctuaries on Pakistani territory.. The destruction of two Indian planes by Pakistani anti-aircraft systems and the news of at least a dozen casualties in clashes between troops of both countries are raising fears that the escalation of tension will give rise to a new confrontation like this. was the case in 1965 and 1971.

The difference between these conflicts and the one that develops in the present is that In past wars, both opponents used only conventional weapons. Today, however, they have nearly 300 atomic weapons to tear each other apart.. And all this, in one of the most vulnerable regions because of its demographic concentration. The results of a new open war between Pakistan and India could result catastrophic. As it began, centuries ago, when Umayyad troops arrived in India and ended with two out of three inhabitants of the region, initiating a succession of reprisals that could lead to a nuclear disaster.

Edition: Julieta Monge Molina