A ‘New’ Wave of Indo-Pak Bilateralism or Peak of Futile Talks and CBMs: An Estimate of Musharraf Era (1999-2008)

Abstract

Musharraf Era is one of the significant epochs of South Asian history. During this period, Indo-Pak relations experienced a number of ups and downs. Historically, if on one hand Kargil Issue was considered the „brain-child of Musharraf‟, the nuclear explosion during Nawaz regime were considered a befitting response to Indian preemption. Although Musharraf started his rule in an atmosphere of distrust and blame-game, yet he gained confidence, especially after the 9/11 Incident and the status of non-NATO ally in War on Terrorism. During this period, Kashmir Issue became the focus of bilateralism between the two countries. The crux of this episode of history lies in the fact that both countries converged their energies on trust building and removing confusion on two main issues, Kashmir, and the building responsible mechanism on nuclear arms. The methodology employed is qualitative one and the events have been documented after careful criticism of the available sources with optimum impartiality. In this piece of research, an effort has been made to prove this hypothesis that if the conducive atmosphere developed was not ruined by the incidents like attacks on Indian Parliament, Mumbai Incident, Samjhota Express, etc., the CBMs developed during this golden periods of opportunities, maximum advancements could be made on the „roadmap‟ of peace building and normality in the South Asian region.