Conflict Between India and Pakistan
Preface
This encyclopedia is about relations between India and Pakistan from 1947 to today, and it endeavors to trace and account for the principal vicissitudes in these relations in their several dimensions—political, military, economic, and cultural. It does not purport to be a detailed account of all aspects of India and/or Pakistan in these years, but it does make occasional reference to earlier history (e.g., of Akbar, Babar, or Aurangzeb) when doing so seems relevant to an understanding of more recent or even contemporary events.
Arguably Indo-Pakistan relations since 1947 have been in a state of Cold War, but such a description is inadequate because there have been diverse armed clashes between the principals (as in 1948, 1965, and 1971). Furthermore, on occasion (such as in 2003–2004) the dominant motif in official Indo-Pakistan relations has been the search for détente and the prospect of a lasting entente. Although this study is primarily about official, that is, intergovernmental relations between these two countries, I am aware and desire to indicate that this subject has its important nongovernmental dimensions and that treating the subject fairly involves taking due account of public moods, fears, hopes, and aversions.
