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India and South Asia

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Abstract

South Asia has been aptly called a‘loveless hothouse where member states feed on each other’s fears’.1 While the Cold War was certainly a factor in creating such an atmosphere, as we noted in Part II, local factors, particularly religious and ethnic differences and the way that they are reinforced by resource issues, have been more important. We now turn to the substance of the different sets of relationships between South Asian nations and to an examination of the prospects for more harmonious regional structures to evolve now that the Cold War is over.

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Endnotes

  1. Rajni Kothari and R.K. Srivastava, ‘Regional Co-operation in South Asia’, in Evelyne Blamont (Ed.), Regional Co-operation and Peace,International Social Science Council of UNESCO, 1989, p. 66.

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  2. L. and S. Rudolph, In Pursuit of Lakshmi, Table 1.

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  3. Quoted in O. P. Singh, StrategicSikkim, B. R. P ublishing Corp., N ew Delhi, 1985, p. 37.

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  4. Quoted in M ohammed A yoob, ‘ I ndia in South A sia: T he Quest for R egional Predominance’, WorldPolicyJournal, V ol. V II, N o. 1, W inter 1989–90, p. 124.

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  5. R. Tomar, India and South Asia: Problems of a Regional Power, Legislative Research Service of the Australian Parliament, Canberra, 1989, pp. FA27–28.

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  6. T.S. Subramanian and Thomas Abraham, ‘Collapse in Colombo: Behind India’s manoeuvre’, Frontline, 6 December 1991, p. 24.

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  7. Tomar, India and South Asia, p. FA29.

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  8. See Bhabani Sen Gupta, India Today, 15 June 1989, p. 101.

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  9. Editorial, The Independent (London), 16 August 1989, as described in ‘India dubbed a regional bully’, The Hindustan Times, 17 August 1989.

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  10. These alleged grievances are laid down in V. Suryanarayan, ‘India-Sri Lanka Accord and the Prospects for Security in South Asia’ in K.P. Misra and V.D. Chopra, (Eds), South Asia-Pacific Region: Emerging Trends, International Institute for Southern Asia-Pacific Studies, New Delhi, 1988, pp. 128–32. See also Mohammed Ayoob, `India in South Asia: The Quest for Regional Predominance’, World Policy Journal, Vol.VII, No.1, Winter 1989–90, p. 123.

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  11. Denzil Peiris, in an article in South of March 1985, gives a detailed table purporting to show locale and details of training camps in Tamil Nadu. See ‘Colombo Rides the Tiger’, p. 14. See also J. Masselos, ‘India: A Power on the Move’, Current Affairs Bulletin, Vol. 64, No. 10, March 1988, p. 25; and Ayoob, `India in South Asia’, p. 123.

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  12. Suryanarayan, ‘India-Sri Lanka Accord and the Prospects thr Security in South Asia’, p. 132.

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  13. Editorial, Times of India, 27 July 1989.

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  14. the bditonat ot The Guardian Weekly ot 23 July 19Sy was, however, opposed to the view of India as a bully in Sri Lanka, arguing that the Sri Lankan government had been unable to bring the bloodthirsty Tigers to heel, and that there was now the prospect of amore moderate Tamil position emerging in the north.

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  15. For the Hindu argument see Walter K. Anderson and Shridhar D. Damle, The Brotherhood in Saffron: The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Hindu Revivalism, Westview Press, Boulder, 1987, p. 77. The secularist position is well summed up by Sisir Gupta, as quoted in Edward Duyker, ‘The Kashmir Conflict: An Historical Overview’, p. 4.

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  16. Selig S. Harrison and Geoffrey Kemp, India and America After the Cold War, Carnegie Endowment Study Group on US-Indian Relations, Carnegie Endowment, Washington DC, 1993, p. 10.

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  17. I am grateful to Dr Manoj Joshi for this information.

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  18. Anon, ‘Strategy’s friends’, Toronto Globe and Mail, 16 December 1986, as in US Department of Defence, Current News, 31 December 1986, p. 14, quoting a source in the US State Department.

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  19. See B.A. Robertson, ‘South Asia and the Gulf Complex’, in Barry Buzan and Gower Rizvi (Eds), South Asian Insecurity and the Great Powers, p. 159.

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  20. The foregoing details are all from B.A. Robertson, ‘South Asia and the Gulf Complex’, pp. 171–2; and Business Recorder, 21 September 1990, as in IDSA, News Review on South Asia/Indian Ocean, Vol. 23, No. 11, November 1990, p. 819.

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  21. Amit Gupta, ‘Fire in the Sky: The Indian Missile Program’, Defense and Diplomacy, No. 10, 1990, p. 45.

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  22. S.N. Kohli, Sea Power and the Indian Ocean, McGraw-Hill, New Delhi, 1978, p. 135; B.A. Robertson, ‘South Asia and the Gulf Complex’, p. 170.

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  23. B.A. Robertson, ‘South Asia and the Gulf Complex’, p. 172.

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  24. See Jasjit Singh, `India and Pakistan: A Small Window of Opportunity’, Times of India, 22 March 1991.

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  25. Author’s conversation with Dr Saeed Rajai Khorasani, Australian National University, 11 May 1991.

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  26. For example, Anon (President of ITC Global Holdings, Singapore), `SAARC: Trading with the World’, Business India, 29 March-11 April, 1993, p. 134.

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  27. For the intrusion of ‘high politics’ into SAARC see Mohammed Ayoob, ‘India in South Asia: The Quest for Regional Predominance’, p. 127.

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  28. S Kamaluddin, ‘South Asia: Progress by Numbers: SAARC summit’s belated step to lower tariffs’, Far Eastern Economic Review, 22 April, 1993, p.17.

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  29. Rajiv Malik, ‘Don’t waste time on SAPTA!’, Business India, 30 August-12 September 1993, pp. 49–50.

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© 1995 Sandy Gordon

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Gordon, S. (1995). India and South Asia. In: India’s Rise to Power. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230371804_12

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