India and Its Neighbourhood - UPSC General Studies Full Notes

Sir Creek

Sir Creek is a 96-km strip of water disputed between India and Pakistan in the Rann of Kutch marshlands. Originally named Ban Ganga, Sir Creek is named after a British representative.
The Creek opens up in the Arabian Sea and roughly divides the Kutch region of Gujarat from the Sindh Province of Pakistan.

Issue:

The dispute lies in the interpretation of the maritime boundary line between Kutch and Sindh. Before India’s independence, the provincial region was a part of the Bombay Presidency of British India.
But after India’s independence in 1947, Sindh became a part of Pakistan while Kutch remained a part of India.
Pakistan claims the entire creek as per paragraphs 9 and 10 of the Bombay Government Resolution of 1914 signed between then the Government of Sindh and Rao Maharaj of Kutch.
The resolution, which demarcated the boundaries between the two territories, included the creek as part of Sindh, thus setting the boundary as the eastern flank of the creek popularly known as Green Line.
But India claims that the boundary lies mid-channel as depicted in another map drawn in 1925, and implemented by the installation of mid-channel pillars back in 1924.
The marshland of Sir Creek first became disputed in the early 20th century when the Rao of Kutch and the Chief Commissioner of Sindh Province of British India, due to different perceptions of the boundaries, laid claims over the creek.
The case was taken up by the then Government of Bombay, which conducted a survey and mandated its verdict in 1914.
This verdict has two contradictory paragraphs, which make India and Pakistan contenders on the same issue.
Paragraph 9 of this verdict states that the boundary between Kutch and Sindh lies ‘to the east of the Creek,’ (Green Line) which effectively implies that the creek belonged to Sindh and, therefore, to Pakistan.
On the other hand, Paragraph 10 states that since Sir Creek is navigable most of the year.
According to international law and the Thalweg principle, a boundary can only be fixed in the middle of the navigable channel, which means that it has been divided between Sindh and Kutch, and thereby India and Pakistan.
India has used this para to consistently argue that the boundary needs to be fixed in the middle of the creek.
Pakistan, however, claims that Sir Creek isn’t navigable but India claims that since it’s navigable in high tide, the boundary should be drawn from the mid channel.

Importance of Sir Creek

Apart from the strategic location, Sir Creek’s core importance is fishing resources. Sir Creek is considered to be among the largest fishing grounds in Asia.
Another vital reason for two countries locking horns over this creek is the possible presence of great oil and gas concentration under the sea, which are currently unexploited thanks to the impending deadlock on the issue.
If Thalweg principle is to be upheld, Pakistan would lose a considerable portion of the territory that was historically part of the province of Sindh
Acceding to India’s stance would mean shifting of the land/sea terminus point several kilometres to the detriment of Pakistan, leading in turn to a loss of several thousand square kilometres of its Exclusive Economic Zone under the United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

Sino-Pak Cooperation

In the current times it appears that China is propping up Pakistan against India. In what appears to be a complete violation of international law, China has been delivering missile technology and engaging in nuclear commerce with Pakistan.
Unmindful of its commitments under International Law, Pakistan ceded a part of this territory called the Shaksgam Valley to China after singing the SinoPak Cooperation Agreement, 1963. It is often said that Sino-Pak friendship is higher than the Himalayas and deeper than the Gwadar port.

China-Pakistan Economic Corridor

The CPEC is bilateral project between Pakistan and China, intended to promote connectivity across Pakistan with a network of highways, railways, and pipelines accompanied by energy, industrial, and other infrastructure development projects linking the Western part of China to the Gwadar Port in Balochistan, Pakistan running some 3000 km from Xinjiang to Balochistan via Khunjerab Pass in the Northern Parts of Pakistan.
It will pave the way for China to access the Middle East and Africa from Gwadar Port, enabling China to access the Indian Ocean and in return China will support development projects in Pakistan to overcome the latter’s energy crises and stabilizing its faltering economy.
CPEC is a part of OBOR.

Issues with CPEC

CPEC Passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and Baluchistan, both of which are home to a long-running insurgency where it faces terrorism and security risks.
China would also disseminate its ideology and culture in Pakistan through terrestrial distribution of broadcast TV, which will cooperate with Chinese media in the “dissemination of Chinese culture”. A similar Sinification is visible in the Mandalay town of Myanmar which has impacted local architecture and culture.
CPEC project’s lack of transparency and accountability is a cause of concern, as it may be skewed in favour of China economically and strategically.
The Chinese approach of not partnering with local companies will not help Pakistan create job opportunities.
The project may undermine Pakistan’s sovereignty as its foreign policy, especially with India may be dictated by China, complicating the already estranged relations and create political instability in the South Asia;
The political tension in Afghanistan also may severely impede the benefits of transit corridors in South Asia.

India’s Objections to OBOR-CPEC

India has not supported OBOR. China’s insistence on establishing the CPEC project through PoK is seen by India as infringing its sovereignty.
China is building roads and infrastructure in the disputed territory of Gilgit-Balistan, which is under Pakistan’s control but which India claims as a part of Jammu and Kashmir.
If the CPEC project gets implemented successfully, this would hamper India’s strategic interests in the South Asian region. It will serve Beijing’s strategic ambition to encircle India.
CPEC can aid Pakistan’s legitimacy in the Kashmir dispute.
China’s increasing footprints in the South Asian region is detrimental to India’s strategic hold e.g. construction of the Hambantota Port in Sri Lanka provided China with a critical strategic location in the Indian Ocean.

India’s Choice:

India’s future strategy thrust on CPEC must be based on a careful reassessment of the potential benefits as well as disadvantages from OBOR project.
India should speed up work on development of its own strategic projects like, Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar Economic Corridor (BCIM) and Chabahar Port.
The Asia-Africa Growth Corridor is an India-Japan economic cooperation agreement, it can provide India great strategic benefits and counter China’s OBOR project.

Cross-border Terrorism

Terrorism emanating from territories under Pakistan’s control remains a core concern in bilateral relations.
India has consistently stressed the need for Pakistan to take credible, irreversible and verifiable action to end cross border terrorism against India.
Pakistan has yet not brought the perpetrators of Mumbai terror attacks 2008 to justice in the ongoing trials, even after all the evidence have been provided to them.
India has firmly stated that it will not tolerate and compromise on issues regarding national security.
Based on attacks in India and involvement of the neighbouring country, the Indian Army had conducted surgical strikes at various terrorist launch pads across the Line of Control, as an answer to the attack at the army camp in Uri, Jammu and Kashmir.
India had again hit back over the cross border terror attack on the convoy of Indian security forces in Pulwama by carrying out a successful air strike at a training camp of JeM in Balakot, Pakistan.

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Other issues:

The issue of Fake Indian currency notes (FICN) is a cause for major concern. Pakistan continues to push this into India by various routes such as Nepal, Bangladesh, through the Line of Control (LOC) and through the gulf nations among many others. According to a newspaper article, a study conducted by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) showed that at any given point of time there is INR 4 Billion worth of fake Indian currency which is in circulation.
The second major issue is the Pakistan Army’s reluctance to shed its power and the resources it controls. Any peace deal with India and the real settlement of disputes will deny the Pakistani armed forces, their power and financial resources.
India has over 150 nuclear warheads and Pakistan has over 160 nuclear warheads. India is very clear as far its policy is concerned. It has adopted the ‘No first use policy’. However, Pakistan’s nuclear weapons have been designed to target India.

Current Cooperations:

Economic Ties: As far as the economic cooperation is concerned, the trade between the two countries is little less than USD 2 billion. India still continues to export Pharmaceutical and other surgical instruments to Pakistan.
India granted Pakistan, the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) in 1996 and suspended it in 2019 after the Pulwama attack
Pakistan has refused to grant this status to India. Indian industries are far superior to Pakistan’s and this has prevented Pakistan from granting the MFN status to India.
Trade through Third Party: A lot of trade between the two countries is conducted through third states such as the UAE. As per various reports, the bilateral trade between the two nations is estimated to grow at USD 10 billion, if the relations improve.
Connectivity: Pakistan has refused India the right to connectivity. India seeks to engage with Afghanistan in the economic terms and transit through Pakistan will be helpful. However, Pakistan has refused to permit Indian trucks to travel to Afghanistan
India was also pursuing the Iran-Pakistan-India oil pipeline and the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India gas pipeline. Both these projects have been stalled presently.
Cooperation at UN: One area where the two nations are cooperating is the field of UN Peacekeeping forces. The forces serve together. In the past, there has been intelligence cooperation between the two nations. However, it has met with limited success.
Cooperation at Multilateral groups: Multilateral groups such as the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) have been stalled due to Pakistan and its bureaucratic nature.
People to People Contact: The visit to religious shrines between India and Pakistan is governed by the Bilateral Protocol on Visits to Religious Shrines signed between India and Pakistan in 1974. The protocol provides for three Hindu pilgrimages and four Sikh pilgrimages every year to visit 15 shrines in Pakistan while five Pakistan pilgrims visit 7 shrines in India. Ex: In November 2019, India and Pakistan operationalized the Kartarpur Corridor project.
- Another religious corridor project that is explored is the Sharda Peeth corridor project. The temple is located in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK).
Cultural ties: Normally, cultural relations do improve the relations between the two countries. However, this holds true only when nations have genuine disputes and are keen to settle it. In recent times, Indian movies have been banned in Pakistan and in retaliation the demand for ban on Pakistani artists in India arises.