Abstract

In international relations, an act of demonstrating cooperation and goodwill with an adversary is known as the Confidence-Building measure. The motive behind these measures is to alleviate misapprehension, tension, fear, and angst between two or multiple parties by emphasizing trust and restricting acceleration in a conflict. India and Pakistan share a prolonged history of mistrust and animosity. The repercussions of this acrimonious relations are profound and extensive. In the past, numerous measures have been initiated by both states to stabilize peace and rekindle the mutual working relationships. To accomplish the challenging task, numerous non-military CBMs have also been initiated from both sides intermittently. However, none of them delivered the desired outcomes and successfully triggered confidence as anticipated. Therefore, in this article, the author delves into finding out the fundamental reasons for the failure of these CBMs between India and Pakistan held in 2001 – 2019.

Key Words

CBMs, Aman ki Asha, Agra Summit, Composite Dialogue, Societal CBMs, Negative Peace

Introduction

According to Webster’s Dictionary, “confidence” is the affirmation of mind or having a strong belief in the integrity of somebody or the reliability and authenticity of a fact. Confidence-Building measures or CBM refer to those measures that are planned to increase these assurances of mind and belief in the state’s guarantee and the realities they make.  The perspective of international relations should be centred on the notion that conflict is a matter of insufficient confidence and that the occurrence and severity of a conflict can be avoided by building confidence (Maiese,2003). International conflict is common, and it stems from international society’s structure; there is no central authority and the substantial need for states to safeguard themselves. This process of reciprocal defence may lead to doubt and danger. Conflict takes place because states follow competing objectives and ideas regarding the dissemination of possessions and benefits and also the norms and rules about how to regulate relations in international society. Though conflict among countries may aggravate and escalate due to a difference in perception. CBM, therefore, affects the margins of international conflict; they do not address the core, but can have spilt over effect in the core issues too (Holst, 1983).

Peace is a term that is generally associated with harmony. Johan Galtung describes two main types of peace which are Positive and Negative peace. Positive peace in inter-state relations can be described as that kind of peace where one state has confidence and trust in the other state, where both the states have all sorts of collaboration in every field and have peace and harmony between them. Whereas Negative peace refers to that kind of peace where states don’t have any confidence in the other state. Whenever there is any incident happens, that country immediately blames the other for that event. Where there is no war between the states, but there is also no peace between them, this is known as Negative peace (Desmond Tutu Peace Foundation, 2013). India and Pakistan have the same sort of situation between them as they both possess negative peace. States need to adopt many strategies and Confidence Building Measures to eradicate the negative peace between them. Indo-Pak History, mistrust, and paucity of confidence seem to be the root cause of this mayhem. Confidence Building Measure is a significant phenomenon that can help resolve the disputes between India and Pakistan. In literature, the emphasis is laid on the military CBMs which are held between these hostile states while non-military CBMs are ignored. Thus, this study analyses the role and function of non-military CBMs, particularly in the context of Indo-Pak antagonistic relations. It will further figure out the reasons for the failure of previous non-military CBMs in India-Pakistan, which were held between the period of 2001 to 2019. This study consists of five parts; the first part will give a brief intro about the research paper; the second part will discuss the role, functions, and types of non-military CBMs in detail. The third part is about the overview of Indo-Pak history. Fourth part briefly analyses the already taken CBMs between these states in the period of 2001-2019, whereas the fifth part examines the general reasons for the failure of CBMs.




Non-Military CBMs

According to OSCE, Guide on Non-military Confidence-Building Measures (CBMs), there is no universally established definition for CBMs on the whole and particularly for non-military CBMs. Non-military Confidence-Building Measures are those actions or processes which are carried out in every stage of the dispute cycle and in all dimensions of security in the spheres of politics, economy, environment, society, or culture to enhance transparency and degree of trust and confidence between two or multiple parties engaged in a conflict to avoid inter-State and/or intra-State disputes from rising or re-accelerating and make the permanent settlement of dispute possible (OSCE, 2012). There are many types of non-military CBMs; some of them are as follows.




Economic CBMs

Economic CBMs can hold together countries and communities through economic collaboration which can lead to building confidence between them. Global competitiveness is the feature of the present-day world in which economic factors play a significant role in establishing a relationship between countries and intra-state actors as interdependencies also foster close and useful relations. States and intra-State actors who are engaged in these relations, rarely endanger their economic prosperity and survival by becoming a part of a conflict. Trade between different countries and communities can also pave the way for discourse and co-operative attitude to mutually solve problems (Zulfqar, 2013). 




Environmental CBMs 

Environmental CBMs refer to collective planning and training in mutual response to natural and manmade disasters. Natural disasters include earthquakes, floods, and long droughts, while manmade disasters include fires and toxic spillage. Various natural resources, such as shared water resources, forestry, etc., are also examples of environmental CBMs. Measures having state and community transboundary focal points can act as Confidence-Building Means if they deal with interdependency and proffer enticement for the state/community agents to collaborate. The problems in the environmental field can be considered non-sensitive, and thus are not politically dangerous (Brauch et al., 2011).




Societal CBMs

Being a part of the human facet, Societal CBMs refers to the system of people-to-people activities, discussions, and joint ventures which lay the basis for mutual understanding and compromise. The examples of societal CBMs are the discourse between educationalists and journalists, joint projects for textbooks and research, educational conferences, exchange of students, public figures and people belonging to different fields, contact between the civil societies, different religious, ethnic and neighborhood groups, travel agreements between countries, etc. The latest technology has lessened distances and made the world a global village (Ahmed, 2007).




Cultural CBMs

Cultural CBMs fall under the third facet just like Societal CBMs, and their rationale is to demonstrate the receptiveness of government to indigenous cultures and respect traditional establishments. Refrain from oppressive laws on language and religion. Respecting all the ethnic minority groups, their different languages, and enabling the traditional establishments to participate in local matters and showing reverence for cultural leaders, etc. also falls under the category of Cultural CBMs (OSCE, 2012). Cultural Diplomacy is being applied for thousands of years, but the terminology has coined lately. History is replete with many instances of Cultural Diplomacy. Adventurers, tourists, merchants, instructors, educators, and artists are existing examples of cultural delegates. Anyone who is interconnected with various cultures (recently or previously) can promote cultural assimilation or interchange. People, like actors, artists, players, poets, authors, musicians, scientists, traders, businessmen, politicians, etc., are such examples of cultural diplomats (Pajtinka, 2014).




Humanitarian CBMs

When a state takes certain measures, which are just for the sake of humanity is known as Humanitarian CBMs. 

India Pak Relations: A Historical Overview

Since the establishment of Pakistan and India in August 1947, both the countries have hostile relations, and their relationship has been fidgety apart from some short-term periods of reconciliation. Three wars have taken place between India and Pakistan, that were fought in 1948, 1965, 1971 and the Kargil crisis in 1999, and various other warlike situations such as the positioning of armies at the international border in 2002. The history of the relations of both countries tells us that the relationship has been an antagonistic one. Several factors have influenced their relationship, such as different ideologies or religions, colonialism, the role of personalities, flawed domestic and international political system, and how both countries view each other. These factors must be kept in mind while examining the reasons behind the enmity between the two countries. Mutual opinions and mistrust, the role of historians and outsiders, and pursuing a different policy (Cheema, 1999). During partition, the violence started among the religious groups, which resulted in a massive migration in both countries. Moreover, as a result of independence, some territories remained under the control of Indian monarchy, which was referred to as princely states. Due to these territories, tensions developed between the two sovereign countries. Mostly Muslim-dominated princely states decided to become part of Pakistan while Hindu-dominated princely states became part of India, apart from some states. Such events have resulted in an unfriendly relationship between these two counties (Pariona, 2019).




Indo Pak and Non-Military CBMs ‘2001 – 2019’

In 1998, India and Pakistan conducted nuclear tests, making the relationship between both countries capricious, which is also regarded as the most precarious potential flashpoint in the present day’s global system. Both States have already fought three wars, and now they cannot afford any Conflict or war between them. Therefore, it is needed to implement the existing CBMs and also formulate new CBMs, which would result in peace and stability in the region (Irshad, n.d).




CBMs in Agra Summit 2001

In May 2001, Pakistan was officially invited by India to revitalize bilateral contacts. The invitation from the Indian President was accepted by President Pervez Musharraf and from 14th to 16th July 2001; a meeting took place between the two leaders in Agra. Agra Summit was regarded as a ground-breaking success after two years of deadlock. The Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee was guaranteed by President Musharraf; “I have come with an open mind and look forward to my discussions with Indian leaders on establishing peaceful, tension-free, and co-operative relations between our two countries”. He further said that he is in Agra to make history and to make Sub-continent a peaceful region and surely peace will tackle poverty which is prevailing in both the nations.

Various things, such as CBMs, reviving dialogue, Kashmir, economic cooperation, and living peacefully, were discussed by the two leaders. The main points of concern in this summit were Terrorism, Siachin issue, and Kashmir Dispute, but the summit did not succeed in giving anticipated outcomes, and no agreement or pact could be finalized. The Joint declaration’s draft was not released as India refused to separately take care of the reservations of Kashmir and Pakistan regarding “cross-border terrorism”. The summit came to an end quietly and disappointingly (Effendi & Choudhry, 2016) 

 The technical aspects of the summit were a disappointment as it did not succeed in calling up a conclusion because there were two disagreements, for India, it was terrorism, and for Pakistan, it was Kashmir. But the bigger picture is that this summit provided an understanding that bilateral problems can be solved by India and Pakistan through cooperation and uninterrupted talks (Layaslalu,2017). In 2001, there was an attack on the Indian Parliament which again India blamed Pakistan for that which was also one of the reasons for the Agra summit failure (Gul, 2007). 

CBMs in the Composite Dialogue process

After the Kargil episode and failure of the Agra Summit, the chances for talks became much weaker as the Indian Parliament came under a terrorist attack on December 13th, 2001. It was largely believed in India that Pakistan was involved in it. But in 2002, the tensions started to lessen, and in six months, Composite Dialogue Process (CDP) again became the focus. Therefore, a step-by-step Initiative was started in April 2003. Diplomatic relationships and direct transport links were restored in July 2003, and a ceasefire began in November. In June 2004, the Composite Dialogue Process was rejuvenated to carry out a decision that was made when India’s former Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee visited Pakistan in January 2004. Since that time, there have been four rounds of serious talks on eight issues between India and Pakistan until the Mumbai terror attacks took place on November 26th, 2008, the purpose of these talks was to make attempts and solve these contentious issues in a way that satisfies both the states (Padder,2002). 

The India-Pakistan Composite Dialogue was the result of the joint statement issued by Atal Behari Vajpayee and General Musharraf on January 6th, 2004 (Comments, 2007) There were many Non-military CBMs which were initiated between India and Pakistan in the Composite Dialogue Process. One of the proposals in October 2003 was to set up rail and road linkages. On April 7th, 2005, the Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh inaugurated the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service which was stopped after the earthquake on October 8, 2005. On December 2nd, 2005, the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service was started again after the quake, May 10th-11th, 2005, the first round of talks to start the Amritsar-Lahore road link began in Islamabad. On January 20th, 2006, the Lahore-Amritsar bus began, and on February 27, 2006, the Amritsar-Nankana Sahib bus also started along the Punjab border (Rediff India Abroad, 2006). India and Pakistan started the Amritsar and Nankana Sahib bus, and it was for the third time that both of the countries restored transport services. On March 24, 2006, Indian prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh, launched this transportation service. Historically, this was a positive step towards the maintenance of peace between both countries. The bus service was inaugurated after a huge request from the Sikh community, living in Pakistan and India. In this way, the passengers would have direct access to Punjab as it connected both Punjabs (Indian and Pakistani). This bus service revived the spiritual relationship between the people of both provinces. It restored their trust, which was evident from their social and diplomatic ties. This was also a major historical event and a step towards peace. Through this bus service, Sikh could easily reach the Golden temple, which is the birthplace of the founding father of the Sikh religion, Guru Nanak. This step would lead to the social interaction of people of both sides and form pleasant relations between Islamabad and Delhi. It also enhanced economic development and produced more chances of mutual trade and business. The bus service could facilitate many people if the visas were easily issued to the passenger from Amritsar and Lahore (Layaslalu,2019).

 The Amritsar-Nankana Sahib bus service was successfully running till recent times, but when India revoked Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan suspended this bus service (India Today, 2019). In 2005, after the earthquake in Pakistan Administered Kashmir, India offered humanitarian aid in the form of food, medicine, etc. and Pakistan accepted it. From 2003 to 2005 and 2007 to 2009, both countries have frequently released over 500 prisoners. In 2006, it was decided by both countries to host festivals and show their films. In 2008, the legal release of Indian films was permitted by the Pakistani Government (Padder, 2012).

In history, all the peace processes and non-military CBMs were halted due to the escalation of the conflicts. The results of these CBMs were the same as the previous ones. In February 2007, the “Samjhauta Express” was assaulted in Panipat, and 68 passengers were killed. The terrorists are supposed to be Hindu fundamentalists. There were forty-two Pakistanis on the train who also lost their lives in the attack. In November 2008, a Muslim terrorist group, Lashkar-e-Taiba carried out attacks in Mumbai, resulted in 164 casualties that even worsen the situation (Krepon, 2011). 




Aman Ki Asha as a CBM

Aman ki Asha was another CBM which took place between them in 2010. Media can also play a vital role in acting as a Confidence-Building Measure. In 2010, the two powerful media groups, Pakistan’s Jung groups and India’s Time of India (TOI) started a new project, Aman ki Asha or AKA. AKA was an initiative, first of its kind, started by the media groups of these two enemy countries making it a unique project. It was given the name of Aman ki Asha meaning hope for peace to display a spirit of cooperation, Aman meaning peace is a word from the Urdu language proposed by the Jung group, and Asha meaning hope is a Hindi word proposed by the delegation of TOI  (Behuria, 2010)

 The two AKA activities were business meetings between India and Pakistan. On May 19-20, 2010, using the platform of AKA, the first meeting between the leading businessmen of India and Pakistan took place in New Delhi. It was an important meeting because it was useful in reducing the tensions that had increased due to the Mumbai terrorist attacks in 2008. Eight sectors were identified as the highest potential in cooperation such as Healthcare, energy, education, bilateral trade, visa relaxation, and telephone connectivity. On May 7th -8th, 2012, the AKA meeting of business and trade took place for the second time in Lahore, it was given the name of “Dividends” because it was successful in encouraging trade between India and Pakistan since 2011 after the first meeting (The News, 2012). Two “strategic seminars”, a conference on “Water is Life”, and a media conference of famous journalists from India and Pakistan were also arranged by AKA in its early years (Akhtar, 2015). 

Right from its start, AKA encouraged exchanges in the fields of culture, art, and music as well. (Rid, 2019) Two major campaigns were started by AKA as well, first and the earliest one was a campaign “Milne Do or Let People Meet” to ease up the visa regime which was started in the first few months after the creation of AKA in January 2010 and another campaign “In the name of humanity” was started to support the prisoners in both countries. ‘Milne Do Campaign’ of AKA was successful to some extent after the signing of a new relaxed visa regime between the two governments on September 8th, 2012 but most of the applicants from Pakistan were denied visas by the Indian government particularly after the Uri attack in September 2016 in Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir (Geo News, 2012).

To summarize, in its early years, Aman ki Asha was fairly effective in establishing peace but did not succeed in the end as it suffers from several gaps (Akhtar, 2014). Undoubtedly, it faced a decline after the Hamid Mir incident in the year, 2014, which acted as an impediment for the peace movement (Rid, 2019). However, if we conclude Aman ki, Asha, as a people to people related CBM, it was somehow an unsuccessful CBM in building peace between India and Pakistan due to lack of political will, civil-military clashes, and the media’s negative reporting.




CBMs from 2010 to 2019

There were no prominent CBMs which were initiated between the year 2010 to 2019, In the year 2011, Renewal of Indo-Pakistan dialogue becomes a reality again at the Thimphu meeting held between the Foreign Secretary of India, Nirupama Rao and the Foreign Secretary of Pakistan, Salman Bashir. In New Delhi, the tensions lessened after the two countries had another meeting in June in Pakistan. Afterwards, S.M. Krishna, External Affairs Minister visited Pakistan to discuss with Shah Mehmood Qureshi, the Foreign Minister of Pakistan (Dikshit, 2016)  According to the reports, the jail sentence of Gopal Das, an Indian convict, was remitted by President Asif Ali Zardari on humanitarian grounds (Dawn, 2011) In the year 2012, an Indian man, Surjeet Singh who was arrested around 30 years ago in the eastern border of Pakistan, was freed by Pakistan. More than 300 Indian fishermen were also released by Pakistan who was detained in the last few months as they were inside a murky border in Sir Creek’s salt marsh (Hussain, n.d).

In 2013, a delegation from the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry was invited by Narendra Modi, who was Gujrat Province’s Chief Minister, to come to the 6th Vibrant Gujrat Investor Summit (The Express Tribune, 2013). In 2014, the Commerce Ministers were of the view that a reciprocal Non-Discriminatory Market Access or NDMA must be formed. Opening up the Wagah-Attari border by both countries for trade during the whole year was also agreed upon by the ministers in this year (Mehra, 2016). In 2014, To show goodwill gestures, 151 Indian fishermen were also released by Pakistan on 25th May before the visit of Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Sharif to Delhi, India. In reciprocation to the prisoners’ release by Pakistan, 32 Pakistani fishermen were also freed on 28th May by India. Same Year Modi sent a shawl to the mother of Sharif as a gift, and the Prime Minister of Pakistan returned the favor by sending a white sari to the mother of the Prime Minister of India. They both played mother diplomacy as a small peaceful gesture from both sides (The Hindu, 2016). For talks at the foreign secretary-level, a meeting took place between the Foreign Secretary of India, S Jaishankar, and Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary, Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhary on March 3rd, 2015. Since 2012, it was the first time when the talks took place between India and Pakistan (Krepon, 2017). 

In 2016, a list of prisoners was exchanged between India and Pakistan. On April 10th, Pakistan expressed its grief over a fire in a temple in Kerala. On April 26th, the Foreign Ministers of India and Pakistan met each other during a meeting of “Heart of Asia”. On 25th December, 220 fishermen were released by Pakistan (Dawn, 2011). Visas were issued to the blind cricket team of Pakistan by the Indian High Commission in 2017, so that the team could take part in the World T-20 Championship, in India. The government also issued No Objection Certificates or NOCs to the team (Ahmed, 2017).

Failure of Non-Military CBMs in India and Pakistan

In South Asia, the record of CBMs regarding India and Pakistan has been disappointed and unimpressive in the past because of the inimical political situation on both sides; the process has been somewhat slow. Nevertheless, it is worth mentioning that NGOs or Non-Governmental Organizations also took initiatives that were inspiring. It shows that the people of the two countries have a desire to move forward and work together. But still, there are certain factors which always create hurdle in building peace between the states (Javaid,2010). Some reasons for the failure are as follows.




Lack of Political will

In the present situation, while the political will is fading recurrently, CBMs, which are not easy to set up but not difficult to mess up, have not been completely successful. Lack of verifiability exists in various CBMs, and its result is that both countries are affected by distrust, doubt, and misinformation on various matters. CBMs are frequently used as political tools by the governments of both countries to be successful in particular constituencies, but it can ultimately be extremely harmful.




Different Narratives

There were different reports and narratives regarding some specific matters which heightened the tensions. The wide range of mass media modifies the realities into different contexts. Mumbai attacks upset Indians whereas Pakistanis moaned at human casualties in Kashmir. India claims the involvement of foreign agents in terrorist activities in Kashmir. On the other hand, Pakistan views them as revolutionists, fighting for their independence. India blamed Pakistani Intelligence services for plotting these attacks in India. Pakistan claims that the Indian intelligence agency RAW is the mastermind of all terrorist activities in Pakistan. These attacks aim at hampering the peace process between both countries (Haegeland, 2018).




The Priority of Military CBMs over Non-Military CBMs

It is necessary to have a balance between military and non-military CBMs so that conditions for peace can be created in India and Pakistan. Non-military CBMs such as water, climate, trade, culture, media, technology, and CBMs for the sake of technology can pave the way for continuing the process of talks among two or more belligerent parties. There is a vast possibility in South Asia to encourage inter-state and intra-state collaboration in non-military fields as immense poverty, illiteracy, energy and water-crisis, the spread of drugs and light weapons, and violence based on ethnicity, religion, and sectarianism make it reasonable to have a basic understanding and trust so that insecurities at the societal and cultural level can be removed but pursuing military CBMs has been stressed upon till now (Ahmar,2001).




Rigid Mindset

Numerous propagandists are aborting the efforts of the youth to end enmity just because of their growing social, political, and psychological impact. Many factors are involved in this process. The efforts of previous and existing youth cannot be denied. The family as an institution in both countries is very strong. The younger and older generations have strictly adhered to their norms, customs, and values. Complete obedience and respect are expected from the youngsters. The elders and parents in the family transmit their ideas, views, and beliefs to their youngsters. The animosity, biasness, and radical thoughts are passed on to the next generation. The ordeals and harsh experiences in the past and the wrong perception of all these incidents is instilled in the minds of the youth (Shah, 1997).




Biased Curriculum

Mostly, social interaction is a unilateral process—most of the student’s study in the government institutes. The government portrays the history and diplomatic situation following national interest and distorts facts in the textbooks. The curriculum is designed in compliance with official policy to mold the thoughts of the generation in favor of the state. The history books are prepared with caution and only one fake side/perspective is presented to the readers, containing substandard and biased research papers, resulting in psychologically confused, prejudices, biased, orthodox, impulsive, and short-tempered generation.

Conclusion

One of the biggest reasons for the failure between India and Pakistan is the nonexistence of trust between them. Therefore, the major cause of the disappointing past has been the trust discrepancy. None of the states is willing to trust each other, and they continue accusing and causing troubles for each other. The only way to establish some trust between them is by launching some enthralling confidence-building actions. Infinite loathing and pessimism have disillusioned our minds so intensely that when someone from India talks respectably about Pakistan or vice versa, s/he is straightaway tagged as the enemy’s agent. The only way to resolve these issues is to initiate some new CBMs and restart the already prevailed CBMs which are not working due to various reasons, can alter the insight of the peoples, and it is only achievable when both states’ public cooperates will one another at the individual level.

The second main reason has always been the massive disputes between both the states. The fundamental bone of contention between them is the Kashmir Issue. Pakistan has often invited India to the table for the dialogues to resolve the dispute of Kashmir issue, but India always declines any offer related to Kashmir. Pakistan proclaims Kashmir as its integral part and India claims Kashmir to be the heart of the state. Therefore, India gets offended when Pakistan even tries to raise the question about Kashmir. In the current political scenario, Modi and his party in India is in power and blatantly spewing hatred against Muslims and disseminating Hindutva policies. BJP’s recent move of revoking the articles of 350 and 37-A, has even worsened the situation. In the backdrop of the prevailing freedom fight and lockdown in Kashmir, it is indispensable to coerce India to come to the table talks for negotiating the Kashmir issue. Another point of concern is that the Kashmir issue should not be the cause of failure of non-Military CBMs between India and Pakistan since they both direly needs to take baby steps like CBMs which can take them both to the discourse so that they can dwell on the bigger issues like Kashmir as well.

The third reason for the failure of non-military CBM is the non-serious and prejudiced attitude of both the states in the past. Whenever any incident happens in either land, mudslinging against the enemy state commences, and a spurge of hostility grips everything including the political stances and initiatives. Both the states immediately cease employing the ongoing CBMs and pull themselves back. For example, in the Agra summit, several CBMs were initiated, but after a brief period, an attack on the Indian Parliament in 2001 sabotaged every move.  India’s instantly blamed Pakistan for the attack and immediately ceased all those CBMs which were in the process between them during that period. Later in 2004, composite dialogues between India and Pakistan were working reasonably well but in 2007 another attack on ‘Samjauta Express’ which claimed 68 passengers’ lives out of which 42 were Pakistani. This was another setback for the CBMs. Afterwards, in 2008, a Terrorist group Lashk-e-Taiba attacked Mumbai and caused 164 causalities, which even deteriorated the state of affairs between India and Pakistan, and all the CBMs came to a halt once again. Apart from that, lack of political will, rigid mindset, and biased curriculum are the other key reasons for the failure of previous CBMs.

It is essential to change the whole system to alter the mindset of the masses. All platforms including, political, family, educational, mass media, movies, channels, etc. should stop transmitting hatred and prejudice and promote reason, logic, and peace. This is the ultimate solution to end this hostility; otherwise, the politicians of both countries will continue their blame game and belligerent attitude against each other (Javaid,2010). The deep-rooted enmities with embittered past between the bellicose states cannot be ended within weeks. It entails a long-term negotiation procedure from both sides. In this context, the CBM can contribute to the promotion of peace between Islamabad and Delhi. Both countries need to adopt a moderate outlook and remove misconceptions against each other. In short, an unambiguous perception to resolve the conflicts and a sincere/sensible team and leadership to promulgate CBMs is required (Ahmar,2001). Kashmir's cause will not be affected by carrying out trade between India and Pakistan. There are innumerable instances of hostile states trading liberally with each other while keeping their political stance and differences intact.  This can be better illustrated with the example of the US and the Soviet Union, China and Japan, Taiwan, and China, and even China and India who traded with one another frequently. To institutionalize the process of CBMs between both India and Pakistan, it’s essential to change the 'enemy' impression in each other’s minds. It might be politically or logistically convenient for one party to initiate a CBM one-sidedly, but such an independent move involves great risk. Such an initiative can be a failure if that CBM is not reciprocated by the other stakeholder. CBMs are expected to be fruitful when planned and implemented correspondingly, and when all the parties grant their consent to the agreements unanimously. Recently Pakistan initiated the Kartarpur project and India immediately responded positively, which depicts that it is a successful CBM and both states are willing to make this CBM work in the future as well.  For additional advancement in India and Pakistan ties, a collaboration between the two provinces on culture, environment, agriculture, water crisis, and education must be strengthened.

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