The Politics of the Punjab Boundary Award

According to the partition plan of June 3, 1947, the redrawing of the boundaries of the Punjab and Bengal was to be undertaken by the newly set up Boundary Commission after the provincial assemblies had taken a decision to this effect. The verdict started an intense controversy. In many ways no man made boundary has caused so much trouble and effectively impeded the advent of peace in South Asia as has been done by the Punjab boundary resulting from the Commission's verdict. For both the Pakistanis and the Indians the boundary resulting from the partition of Punjab has proved to be a source of constant headaches and periodic convulsions. Just as the problematic border of the North Western Frontier Province (NWFP) elicited constant British vigilance, the Indo-Pak border in the Punjab area has kept the two nations continuously preoccupied throughout their independent existence. The hasty British departure along with unimaginative surgical partition of the Punjab left many complicated problems for the successor nations of British India. The inability of the British to partition the province in congruence with principles of justice and fair play produced unnecessarily a large pile of complex problems. This article is an attempt to understand the basic principles governing the division of Punjab along with the politics that caused the undesired departure from the adopted principles

Nuclear World Order and Nonproliferation, II; Strategic Insights, v. 6, issue 4 (June 2007)

This article appeared in Strategic Insights, v.6, issue 4 (June 2007)Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited

Conflict and cooperation in the Indian Ocean: Pakistan's interests and choices

The Indian Ocean is studded with many potentially explosive areas. One such area is Pakistan's neighbourhood which includes India, Iran, Afghanistan, China and the Soviet Union. Because of the strategic and commercial importance of the area, the United States is also deeply involved there. Recent developments in the region such as the Khomeini revolution in Iran, the takeover of the Soviet-backed group in Afghanistan and the subsequent deployment of Soviet forces in order to quash the tribal resistance movement, and the rapid changes in the Indian political scene, have invoked fears for the future security of Pakistan

Conflict and cooperation in the Indian Ocean : Pakistan's interests and choices /

Bibliography: p. 67-72.Mode of access: Internet

Media Coverage of Pak-India Standoff 2002: An Analysis

The 2002 military standoff between Pakistan and India was triggered due to the attack on Indian parliament on Dec 13, 2001. For several month hundreds and thousands of soldiers stood eyeball-to-eyeball in one of the biggest military mobilization. There were moments when it was feared that the war was imminent. But better sense prevailed and the standoff, which has started in January, 2002, veered off by October same year. Thus, another potential war was averted between the nuclear-armed neighbors. Media aggressively covered the confrontation, especially when the tension was at peak. Through partisan coverage, media also sharpened the differences and crystallized the animosity. The study has gone through the selected English-language newspapers of both countries over selected days from January to October in 2002 to gauge the nature of coverage. It shows that the coverage in the mainstream media ofboth Pakistan and India was titled towards national sentiments. If Indian media sought revenge against parliament attack, Pakistani media pushed for a matching response in retaliation to India‟s mobilization of army. The coverage increased during the height of tension but it decreased drastically when became clear that there will be no war

Agra Summit and Media Coverage: An Analysis

Relations between Pakistan and India have been through many ups and downs since 1947. Amidst tensions and conflicts, there were moments of peace and parleys. The Agra Summit of 2001 was an important event in the history of the two countries, as it was a concerted effort to resolve some of the key issues through peaceful means. The meeting created a lot of hope and media frenzy. This paper is based on the coverage of the summit in the mainstream media of two countries. Through careful sampling, The Hindu from India and Dawn from Pakistan were selected to study the coverage. The newspapers were scanned for three-day coverage from July 15-17. The research shows that it was saturation coverage. The Hindu led the drive with 55 stories in three days. Dawn was not far behind it with 33 news pieces. The two papers published total 88 stories in three days, which means that around 30 stories were published per day. It also comes to average 15 news items in each newspaper in a day. The political stories were maximum in number, followed by the news related to culture, travel and food. There were also several stories about Kashmir, terrorism and security issues. The coverage was initially balanced but it slightly became partisan by the end of the summit. The attitude of media changed as it became clear that no breakthrough was possible during the two-day summit

The politics of the Punjab boundary award

Der vorliegende Beitrag geht der Frage nach, was genau waehrend des Teilungsprozesses von Punjab, der eine neue Grenze zwischen Indien und Pakistan festlegte, geschah. Diese Grenze zeichnet sich dadurch aus, dass es kaum natuerliche Sperren wie Fluesse oder Berge gibt. Wegen dieses Mangels an natuerlichen Sperren kam es im Zuge des umstrittenen 'Radcliffe award' und der ungewoehnlichen Anfangsbeziehungen zwischen Indien und Pakistan zu vielen Grenzzwischenfaellen, die zu noch mehr Spannungen und Schwierigkeiten in den Beziehungen zwischen beiden Laender fuehrten. Dieser Artikel erlaeutert die Grundprinzipien, die bei der Teilung des Punjab Anwendung fanden. Darueber hinaus werden aktuelle Veraenderungen und deren Konsequenzen behandelt. Der Autor beschreibt zunaechst den Grenzbildungsprozess und beleuchtet die Aufgaben und die Funktion der 'Punjab Boundary Commission'. Danach wird die Rolle und die Politik des 'Punjab boundary award' analysiert. Abschliessend erfolgt eine Darstellung anderer wichtiger Faktoren in diesem Kontext, wie etwa der Sicherheitspolitik, der Wasserverteilung und der Kommunikationsstrukturen. (ICD)German title: Die Politik des 'Punjab boundary award'Available from http://www.sai.uni-heidelberg.de/abt/SAPOL/bin/hpsacp1.pdf / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekSIGLEDEGerman