Himalayan Frontiers of India: Historical, Geo-Political and Strategic Perspectives

237 Pages·2009·3.617 MB·English

by  K. Warikoo

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Himalayan Frontiers of India
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2 The Himalayas, a great natural frontier for India, symbolize India’s spiritual
4 and national consciousness. The Himalayan region displays a wide diversity
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at Along the Himalayas converge the boundaries of South and Central Asian
e] countries, which lend a unique geo-political and geo-strategic importance to
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this region.
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a This book provides a comprehensive analysis of historical, geo-political
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g and strategic perspectives on the Himalayan frontiers of India. Drawing on
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r detailed analyses by academics and area specialists, it explains the develop-
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T ments in and across the Himalayas and their implications for India. Topics
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such as religious extremism, international and cross-border terrorism, insur-
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re Himalayan Frontiers of India will be of interest to scholars in South and
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n Central Asian studies, International Relations and Security Studies.
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Professor K. Warikoo is Director of the Central Asian Studies Programme
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N at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He has authored several books
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on Kashmir, Central Asia and Afghanistan, and is the founding editor of
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F Himalayan and Central Asian Studies.
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Routledge Contemporary South Asia Series
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2 1 Pakistan 7 Islamist Militancy in Bangladesh
4 Social and cultural transformations A complex web
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0 in a Muslim nation Ali Riaz
t Mohammad A. Qadeer
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] 8 Regionalism in South Asia
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m 2 Labor, Democratization and Negotiating cooperation, institutional
m Development in India and Pakistan structures
ra Christopher Candland Kishore C. Dash
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r 9 Federalism, Nationalism and
P 3 China–India Relations
T Development
Contemporary dynamics
S India and the Punjab economy
I Amardeep Athwal
L Pritam Singh
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e - 4 Madrasas in South Asia 10 Human Development and Social Power
tr Teaching terror? Perspectives from South Asia
en Jamal Malik Ananya Mukherjee Reed
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5 Labor, Globalization and the State 11 The South Asian Diaspora
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N Workers, women and migrants Transnational networks and changing
B confront neoliberalism identities
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L Edited by Debdas Banerjee and Edited by Rajesh Rai and Peter Reeves
NF Michael Goldfield
[I 12 Pakistan–Japan Relations
y 6 Indian Literature and Popular Cinema Continuity and change in economic
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d Recasting classics relations and security interests
de Edited by Heidi R. M. Pauwels Ahmad Rashid Malik
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Himalayan Frontiers of India
Historical, geo-political and
strategic perspectives
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1 Edited by
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: K. Warikoo
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First published 2009 by Routledge
5 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
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2 Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
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: by Routledge
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0 270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016
at Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group,
] an informa business
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This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2008.
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a “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
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g collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”
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Pr © 2009 K. Warikoo
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S All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
I reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic,
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N mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
- invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
e information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
r writing from the publishers.
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e British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
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Himalayan frontiers of India : historical, geo-political, and strategic
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I perspectives / [edited by] K. Warikoo.
L p. cm.—(Routledge contemporary South Asia series ; 13)
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N Includes bibliographical references and index.
I 1. Geopolitics—India. 2. Geopolitics—Himalaya Mountains
y [ Region. 3. India—Foreign relations. I. Warikoo, K. (Kulbhushan),
b 1951–
d DS485.H6H54995 2009
e 327.54—dc22 2008021719
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o ISBN 0-203-88732-8 Master e-book ISBN
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ISBN10: 0–415–46839–6 (hbk)
ISBN10: 0–203–88732–8 (ebk)
ISBN13: 978–0–415–46839–8 (hbk)
ISBN13: 978–0–203–88732–5 (ebk)
Contents
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2 List of contributors vii
4 Preface viii
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0 Acknowledgments xv
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m 1 India’s gateway to Central Asia: trans-Himalayan
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trade and cultural movements through Kashmir and
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gr Ladakh, 1846–1947 1
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Pr K. WARIKOO
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S 2 ‘Great Game’ on the Kashmir frontiers 14
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N K. WARIKOO
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re 3 The Gilgit dimension of the Kashmir frontier 36
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e P. N. JALALI
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E 4 India’s Himalayan frontier: strategic challenges
N and opportunities in the twenty-first century 46
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LI VIJAY KAPUR
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I 5 Strategic dimensions of the trans-Himalayan frontiers 56
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y AFSIR KARIM
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de 6 The Ceasefire Line and Line of Control in Jammu and
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o Kashmir: evolution of a border 67
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7 The Northern Areas of Jammu and Kashmir 78
B. RAMAN
vi Contents
8 Jammu and Kashmir: contours and challenges of
cross-border terrorism 89
M. M. KHAJOORIA
9 Tibet and the security of the Indian Himalayan belt 102
2 P. STOBDAN
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2 10 The India–Nepal open border: nature, issues
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us and problems 122
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1 11 Indo-Bhutan relations: strategic perspectives 137
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4 RAJESH KHARAT
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t 12 Security of the north-east Himalayan frontiers:
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] challenges and responses 167
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BIBHUTI BHUSAN NANDY
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gr 13 Security of Himalayan frontiers: role of
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r science and technology, modern air surveillance,
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T remote sensing 180
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I VINOD PATNEY
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e Notes 191
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nt Bibliography 209
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C Index 215
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Contributors
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2 Prof. K. Warikoo is Director of the Central Asian Studies Programme, School
4 of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
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t Maj. Gen. (Rtd.) Afsir Karim is the editor of AAKROSH, quarterly journal
] a on terrorism and internal conflicts.
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Prof. Vijay Kapur is Professor in the Faculty of Management Studies,
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a University of Delhi, Delhi.
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o Sat Paul Sahni, a veteran journalist from Jammu and Kashmir and former
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P Director General of Information and Public Relations, J and K Govern-
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S ment, is author of several books on Kashmir.
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N P. N. Jalali, a veteran journalist from Jammu and Kashmir, was Chief of PTI,
- Srinagar for more than 20 years.
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t B. Raman is former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, New Delhi.
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C Prof. B. C. Upreti is Director of the Centre of South Asian Studies,
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University of Rajasthan, Jaipur.
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B Prof. P. Stobdan is former Director of the Centre for Regional and Strategic
LI Studies, University of Jammu, Jammu.
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N Dr Rajesh Kharat is Associate Professor in the Department of Political
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y [ Science, University of Mumbai, Mumbai.
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d M. M. Khajooria is former Director General of Police, Jammu and Kashmir.
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a B. B. Nandy is former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, New Delhi.
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nl Air Marshal (Rtd) Vinod Patney is former Chief of the Air Staff.
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Preface
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2 The Himalayan range is the embodiment of divinity, of nature in its splendour
4 and of culture in the deepest sense of the word. It has been inextricably
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0 interwoven with the life and culture of India since time immemorial. It has
at been the repository of rich biodiversity, the source of main river systems and
e] glaciers and the symbol of India’s spiritual and national consciousness. It is
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the geographical feature that dominates India most and which has acted as
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a a great natural frontier. Though geographically speaking the Himalayan
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g Range is embraced at its western and eastern extremities by the Indus and
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r Brahmaputra respectively, we cannot isolate the Hindu Kush, Karakoram
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T and Pamirs regions, which are continuous and interlocked with the great
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Himalayan mountain system. Stretching over 2,500 km from Kashmir in the
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N west to Arunachal Pradesh in the east, it has provided India with a natural
- and most formidable line of defence. However, its imposing geographical
re features did not prevent the region from being a complex of cultural
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n interaction, migration, overland trade and communication. The Himalayan
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C region has been the cradle from where ancient Indian culture, including
T Mahayana Buddhism, spread to different countries in Central, South East
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N and East Asia. Such cross-cultural contacts were not confined only to the
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religious philosophy of Mahayana Buddhism, but also included art,
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F architecture, literature etc. The movement produced a harmonious blend of
N cultures, arts, science and literature. After the Chinese occupation of Tibet,
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y [ Indian Himalaya became the last refuge of Buddhism. That explains the
b rationale behind the setting up of specialized Buddhist Studies Institutes in
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e Ladakh, Gangtok and Arunachal Pradesh after the late 1950s.
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a The importance of the Himalayas as the natural frontier of India in the
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l north is immersed in Indian ethos and psyche.
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[In the north (of our country) stands the Lord of Mountains and the very
Preface ix
embodiment of divinity – the Himalayas, like a measuring rod of the earth
spanning the eastern and western oceans.]
This is how Kalidasa in his Kumara Sambhava described the Himalayas as
devatma – a divine personality, and as the measuring rod spanning the Eastern
and Western Oceans, thereby pinpointing the northern frontiers of India. To
the majority of Indians, the Himalayas are mythical mountains referred to by
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1 the Vedas, Puranas and other scriptures. The Himalayas are part of our
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2 history, tradition and cultural heritage. Most of our sacred shrines and places
st of pilgrimage are situated in the Himalayan heights. So much so, there is no
gu fulfilment of life to an Indian without some sort of Himalayan experience.
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A The very fact that the boundaries of Tajikistan, Afghanistan, China,
5 Pakistan, India and Myanmar converge along the Himalayas lends a unique
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2 geo-strategic importance to this region. Its potential for instability and con-
4 flict is furthered by the ethnic-religious jigsaw prevailing in the Himalayas
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0 and trans-Himalayas where people of Buddhist, Hindu and Islamic faiths are
at concentrated in various areas and are vulnerable to extraneous influences.
e] Major international land frontier disputes pertain to this area. Whereas
m India and Pakistan have been locked in a conflict over Kashmir since 1947,
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a the Sino-Indian border dispute remains to be settled. Any cross-border frat-
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g ernization of people of Xinjiang and Tibet in China, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan,
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r Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Indian Himalayas from Kashmir up to North
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T East India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanmar, on ethnic and reli-
S gious lines is a potential source of conflict in the region and a threat to
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N the security of concerned states. With the disintegration of the erstwhile
- USSR and the emergence of newly independent Central Asian states – all
re having a predominantly Muslim population, a new geo-political situation has
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n arisen across the north-western Himalayas. Due to its geo-strategic proximity
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C to South and West Asia, Central Asia has emerged as a distinct geo-political
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entity stimulating global attention and interest.
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N The rise of the Taliban to power in Kabul in September 1996, which turned
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Afghanistan into the centre of Islamist extremism, global terrorism, and
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FL drugs and arms trafficking brought Central Asia to the focus of global
N attention. The establishment of an extremist Islamist order in Afghanistan
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y [ and the active involvement of Islamist Mujahideen in cross-border terrorism
b and jihad (Holy war), whether in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir,
d
e Tajikistan or some other CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States)
ad countries, adversely affected regional security, peace and stability in the
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l Himalayan and adjoining Central Asian region. Though the Taliban and
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w Osama bin Laden and his network were actively engaged in encouraging
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D Islamist extremism and terrorism in South, Central and South East Asia and
also in the West, it was only after the dreadful terrorist strikes on the World
Trade Center and Pentagon on 9/11, that the United States and its Western
allies realized the severity of the challenge they posed. Even after more than
seven years of global campaigning against terror, the Taliban and Al Qaeda
cadres have not been vanquished. In fact, the past two years have witnessed