Comparative Study across Generations of India and Pakistan on Bilateral Conflict Resolution

Abstract

There are few countries in the world, which have more commonalities as India and Pakistan do. Just seventy years these two countries were one Indian State ruled by the British and before that multitude of Muslim rulers had been ruling this country. Geographically and culturally, both countries are close, have four common languages, striking similarity in dress, food habits, mannerism, customs and way of life. Two religions form major groups in the countries: Muslims are in the majority in Pakistan but are a minority in India, whereas Hindus are a majority in India and a minority in Pakistan. Their trade with each other is minimal compared to their trade with other countries. Having recounted all the above, the two countries stay distant and at odds to each other even after more than 65 years of separation and independence. While there are issues at the government level that need to get a resolution, no solution can come to fore unless the public opinion is behind the governments on either side. The public opinion between the generations with in Pakistan remains divided on relationships with India and it seems to be the case across the border. Objective of this research was to carry out a comparative analysis across India and Pakistan to ascertain people perception towards IndiaPakistan relationship, impact of historical events since independence on these relationships and the way forward in resolving the long standing conflicts in order to have harmonious, peaceful and mutually beneficial region. Furthermore, a minimum sample size of 150 each from India and Pakistan was further equally divided between three generations categorized in this research, namely Generation 1 (people above 60 years of age), Generation 2 (40-60) and Generation 3(Below 40) to discover the impact of history in their perception, thought process, conflict resolution appreciation and any influence of generation gap.