India and Pakistan have been involved in a lot of rivalry and were involved in four wars from the time they gained independence from Great Britain back in 1947 (Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies, 2004, P.2). They are considered to be the largest and most powerful member states of the south Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC). The war between the two has held the economic and social development of this association on a standby. Both India and Pakistan has made a lot of contribution to United States of America. They have been found to be key contributors to both regional and global politics (Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies, 2004, P.2). There has been improvements on the relations between the two especially as from April 2003 the prime ministers from the two countries offered each other an harm of friendship (Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies, 2004, P.2). After this hand of friendship, many relationships between the two which had been cut were restored. Due to the positive issues which the two countries can two together and have positive impacts on both regionally and globally, there is no need of them being rivals. Similarly it is not suitable to have two separate nations in India and Pakistan. Before independent, India was one. After is gained independent in 1947, it was divided in to two states. Some of them were Hindu India while the others were Muslim Pakistan. It is this division which caused the rivalry between the two as each of them blamed the other as their security threat. They fought different wars in 1947, 1965 and 1971.
The history of Asia came with a lot of developments. There were a lot of migrations between 2500 and 1500 B.C of maritime South East Asia from Southern China to Southwards (Anonymous, 2011 p.4). Indians had a lot of influence on the people of South East Asia mainland. The Indians were the rulers and there was a lot of influence from Indian traders, adventures, teachers, priests and other religious leaders (Anonymous, 2011 p.4). There was coexistence between the Buddhists and Hinduism but at long last, the states in mainland mostly practiced Buddhist (Anonymous, 2011 p.4).
When discussing the history of Asia, one cannot ignore the concepts of sub continent history. A lot of Indian history has some aspects relating to its neighbour, the South Asia. Originally in the ancient world, people lived as one because both social and political boarders were fixed so people could cross over to their neighbors any time they want. The social and political boarders which were there that time though they were temporary, they do not any have any match to the boarders which are available today. Some of these boarders can be given an example which occurred during Indian’s Buddhist time and also during the Gupta period; there was a lot of cultural and political affiliation on the part of Afghanistan to the Northern India. Similarly, during the Islamic period, both Afghanistan and northern India majorly became under the rule of Lodhis and the Mughals. India and South Asia were very connected to each other and they dealt and interacted with each other in terms of trade and cultural aspects. Developments in philosophy, science, technology and manufacturing occurred concurrently in both India and South Asia which is a sub continent. Due to this similarities and happenings which occurred almost the same time, it can be concluded that the history of India and that of South Asia are almost similar and have the same characteristics. Therefore when discussing the history of South Asia, it is crucial to look at political entities like subcontinent of India, and any other island associated with it. It also includes states of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and the island nations of Sri Lanka and Maldives.
Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies. (2004). India-Pakistan Relations: Breaking With the Past? Retrieved on May 24, 2011 from http://www.apcss.org/Publications/SAS/AsiaBilateralRelations/India-PakistanRelationsWirsing.pdf
http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~dludden/AgrarianHistorySouthAsia.pdf
Anonymous. (2011). A Short History of South East Asia. Retrieved on May 24, 2011 from http://aero-comlab.stanford.edu/jameson/world_history/A_Short_History_of_South_East_Asia1.pdf