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WHY REUNIFICATION?

By: Anubhuti Bhusari, Naman Jain, Kartikeya Kaul and Anjali Singhvi: Symbiosis Law School, Noida.

Introduction: Pre-unification and Post-unification

The notion of reunification of India is a strong and a liberal one whose time has come, but it will undoubtedly take a long time to realise.

Before partition, the people of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh lived in a single country and followed the common values, cultures and traditions. Time and again it has come to our notice and is now an established fact that India is a welfare State.

The ideology on increasing the wealth of our country and creating job opportunities for tons of people through industrialisation can only be brought about through reunification of the country.

It is rightly pointed out by Retd. Supreme Court Justice, Markandey Katju, pertinent to mention how the partition of India in 1947 and the establishment of an Islamic state i.e. Pakistan which was was a historical British con based on the spurious two-nation theory that intended to halt its expansion.

If India reunifies with Pakistan and Bangladesh our industries will be able to undercut their developed-country competitors due to the low cost of labour.

Massive poverty, record unemployment, child malnutrition, distressed farmers, spiralling prices, ignorance, lack of healthcare, rampant corruption, atrocities against minorities, and so on are all common enemies.

We waste our limited and valuable resources fighting between ourselves rather than banding together to combat the challenges that are our true adversaries.

Furthermore, there is a communal venom that has been injected into our body politic by vested interests for over a century. It will certainly take a long period of time to eliminate it.

The aim of Indian Reunification Association (IRA) can only be accomplished in a peaceful and voluntary manner, and it will take a long period, perhaps 10-20 years. During this time, we must carefully explain to the people that we are truly one nation, and have been for ages, and promote the idea of Indian reunification.

However, it is critical that such reunification take place under liberal leadership, which, while providing religious freedom, does not accept religious prejudice from any source and crushes it with a vengeance.

Such progressive leaders would hasten the nation’s industrialisation, secure the welfare of the people, and propel India to the forefront of the international community. At the same time, it is a necessity as said by Retd. Supreme Court Justice Markandey Katju.

 

Disputed Nations

Resolving the India- Pakistan dispute isn’t an easy task; a lot of international alliances and diplomacy is involved in here. For instance, India has strong relations with America and same case is with Pakistan and China.

There is also China Pakistan Economic Corridor which is going to become the centre of geopolitics if the relations between India and Pakistan are not good. Despite the many opportunities that CPEC potentially affords, clearly there are challenges too. security will remain a challenge.

For now, the Pakistani government and military have arranged more than 10,000 security forces to protect the people and projects of CPEC while a long-term and sustainable security mechanism is built. India may try to contain CPEC and dismiss the potential cooperation opportunities brought by the project.

With the concern that an empowered Pakistan will threaten India, India may provoke Pakistan, trapping the two states in traditional hostilities and losing the focus on economic development.

China has played a significant role in helping Pakistan develop its nuclear energy technology, by assisting in the construction of nuclear power plants. China agreed to provide Pakistan with power reactors and a variety of nuclear related products and services, such as research and technical support for uranium enrichment.

Not only has this agreement played an important role in Pakistan’s economic development by enhancing industrial and technological capacity, but it has also helped to bridge the gap between Pakistan’s energy requirements and availability. On July 18, 2005, the U.S. and India announced the launch of the Civil Nuclear Cooperation Initiative.

Under the parameters of this initiative, India will commit all its civilian nuclear facilities to IAEA safeguards. On August 1, 2008, the IAEA Board of Governors approved India’s safeguards agreement, paving the way for India’s consideration at the Nuclear Suppliers Group.

The security- and terrorism-oriented framework that dominated U.S-Pakistan relations since 2001 is being altered by two significant shifts: increasing enmity between the United States and China, Pakistan’s key ally, and U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Also, Pakistan is burdened with hundreds of billion dollars of debt to China and multilateral donors. The US-India strategic partnership has long resided on its synergy on defense, foreign policy, economic interests, and a strong diaspora link further strengthened by shared democratic values.

Then there is this lingering threat on India that, if it takes to bold of a step which corners America, there’s always a fear that allegiance of many nations to India will be disrupted.

 

How unification helps foreign nations – USSR

A major example of how unification of countries is without doubt better is the example of USSR. Three out of four Russians think the Soviet era was the best time in their country’s history, according to a survey published.

Russians have expressed increasingly positive opinions about the Soviet Union over the years, with nostalgia toward the U.S.S.R. and approval of Stalin hitting record highs during his time as the Leader of Soviet union. Just 18% of Russian respondents said they disagree with the idea that the Soviet Union was the best time in their country’s history.

Soviet Union was a union of 15 republic spread all across Asia and Europe. It was the 2nd superpower for decades and the only superpower rival ever to compete with the United States.

The planned economy of the vast Soviet Union offered financial stability, as compared to now, except a few nations like Russia and Ukraine, all of the other nations are struggling financially and their development has been nowhere near to that of the Soviet times.

Stalin’s ruthless push for industrialization had grown the Soviet economy at a remarkable rate, and transformed the Soviet Union from a peasant state into a major industrial power capable of producing enough weapons that were stronger than almost any country in the world.

Even with the economic contradictions of Communism, it is interesting to see how the Soviet economy would have compared to the current ex-soviet countries, in the long run if not for the war.

For fifty years the globe was a bipolar world, with the US and USSR on opposite ends of the Scale supporting small revolutions and wars against each other, but without actually fighting themselves, a system known as “Proxy Wars”.

The Soviet Union was, at least during the times of Stalin and Lenin, one of the dominant players on the world stage. It had a military, nuclear arsenal, economy, and ideology that a good portion of the world was afraid of or respected.

It made nearby powers like China nervous, and had a massive coalition of countries (NATO) watching its every move.

From the 1940s to the 1960s, very much so. They had the strongest army; consumer goods were available to all and were linked to a global Communist movement. They had launched the first satellite and put the first man into space. Also, the first spacewalk and the first woman in space.

So, yes, USSR was an unquestioned superpower by existing definition of world affairs influence. Whether it was “in true sense” depends of what that sense was meant to be. In order to maintain such a status majority of USSR economic output was spent on the military and the foreign aid.

The collapse of Soviet Union had a major impact on the newly formed countries that they still, to this day, are unable to recover from. Since conditions like that could not be kept for long, something had to give. The newly formed ex-soviet countries still struggle to reach the glorious peak that they reached during the Soviet era.

 

Conclusion

The idea of India’s reunification is a powerful and liberal one that has come of age, but it will surely take a long time to realise.

According to Supreme Court Justice, Markandey Katju, the partition of India in 1947 and the formation of an Islamic state, i.e. Pakistan, were significant events. We must carefully convey to the people that we are, and have been, one country for centuries, and push the notion of Indian reunification during this time.

There’s also the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, which will become a geopolitical hotspot if ties between India and Pakistan deteriorate. Fearing that a stronger Pakistan may pose a threat to India, India may provoke Pakistan, locking the two countries in old conflicts and diverting their attention away from economic growth.

By aiding in the building of nuclear power facilities, China has played a key role in assisting Pakistan in developing its nuclear energy technology.

Except for a few nations like Russia and Ukraine, the huge Soviet Union’s planned economy provided financial stability. However, now, all other nations are struggling financially, and their progress is nowhere near that of the Soviet Union.

Stalin’s relentless quest for industrialization had accelerated the Soviet economy’s growth and turned the Soviet Union from a peasant state to a major industrial power capable of generating weaponry capable of defeating nearly any country on the planet.

The fall of the Soviet Union had a significant impact on the newly created countries, which they have yet to recover from.

In a nutshell, we must work more strongly towards the need for re-unification among Pakistan, Bangladesh and India. Necessity is the mother of innovation and following it we need extra-ordinary ways to reunite. Some of the suggested ways are as follows: –

  1. To hold food drives. Food is the basic human emotion that can forgo a lot of sad memories and open doors for happy memories. Holding food stalls of diverse variety and putting forth how beautiful similar the three nations are will help in building the unity.
  2. Government should subsidies more inter-country tourism. After Covid-19, it is evident that mostly everyone wants to travel and it is a good time to boost the market.
  3. Organisations should come together and speak about this at conferences involving students of class 11th and 12th, this is to ensure that the youth and minds away from religious battle have broader horizons.
  4. Government initiatives should be more inclined towards inclusive environment.
  5. Treaties should be signed for re-unification and things should be transparent and done in a democratic manner.

Ultimately, if we understand the benefits that this re-unification will lead to, half the battle is already won. Together we can and we will.

 

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