Post-War World and India PDF

CHAPTER 19 Post - War World and India Aftermath of the World War II The impact of the Second World War was A different for different countries. The worst affected were the European countries,...

CHAPTER 19 Post - War World and India Aftermath of the World War II The impact of the Second World War was A different for different countries. The worst affected were the European countries, especially AN the USSR, Poland and Yugoslavia, which lost about 20% of its population. In economic terms too, the USSR and other European countries lost heavily with the destruction of cities, factories G and mines on a massive scale. About 1700 towns, 31,000 factories and over 70,000 villages of N USSR had been completely destroyed. In contrast the USA suffered less as the war was not fought LA on its territories. In fact, the Second World War Fig 19.1 : View of the city of Warsaw after the war where 85% of buildings helped USA to grow out of its economic misery destroyed caused by the Great Depression. Far from the TE threats of the war, the industries and agriculture of USA actually prospered. This ensured full employment and high productivity in US during the Second World War. In March 1945, the US President, Harry Truman, said, ‘We have emerged from this War, the most powerful nation in the world – the most powerful nation, T perhaps, in all history.’ Even as the war - devastated countries rebuilt their economics, the world saw ER some new processes came into existence. Three of the most important processes were the establishment of the United Nations, Cold War and Decolonisation. The Second World War had been fought on the principles of peace, democracy and SC freedom of nations in contrast to the Nazi ideas of dictatorship and Imperialism. Thus, the first task was to establish a global organisation that would ensure peace and development in all nations. This led to the formation of the United Nations Organisation. Colonial powers like Britain and France could no longer justify their old colonial policies. They also had been politically and economically weakened vis a vis USA which was pressurising them to dismantle the old colonial system which gave the old colonial powers exclusive access to the colonies. The USSR was also emerging as a champion of anti colonial struggles which in many places were led by Communist Parties inspired by the USSR. Under these conditions ,old powers like Britain had no choice but to grant freedom to their old colonies. You 272 Social Studies Post - War World and India  have already read about this in an earlier chapter. As these countries became free, they faced a world greatly torn between Capitalism and Communism, between USA and USSR – and were constantly under pressure to choose between the two rather than follow their own paths of What do you understand by the term development. They also got an ‘decolonisation’? opportunity to negotiate by playing How do you think would the newly freed one power against the other. In this countries have been influenced by the section, we will study about some of competition between the two power blocks? these issues in detail. A United Nations Organisation (UNO) AN The principle Allied countries like Britain, France, USA, USSR and China drafted a Charter for the formation of the UNO even as the war drew to an end. The Charter not only emphasised the need to preserve peace and prevent wars, but also the need to ensure human rights, democracy and eradication of poverty and hunger G for all people in the world. The UN thus started with a twin objective of ensuring lasting peace and human development. At the same time, it recognised the autonomy N of states and promised not to interfere in any internal affairs of a country except in cases mandated by serious human rights violation or threat to world peace. LA At the time of its establishment, UN had membership of 51 countries and today (2016 ) there are 193 countries. As countries liberated themselves from colonial powers in the decade that followed, they joined UN. The UN works through six TE different organs. Each of these organs has specific functions like maintaining peace and security, improving education and health facilities, alleviating poverty, providing justice in the context of international crimes and so on. Some bodies responsible for these functions include International Court of Justice located in Hague; the T World Health Organisation located at Geneva, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation functioning from Paris, and United Nations ER Children's Fund functioning from New York. In electing the Secretary General, the main officer of the UN, all nations participate and the post is rotated across different continents. The General SC Assembly is the main body where regular discussions between nations take place. However, decisions relating to war and peace are taken in the Security Council and five nations have special status within it. These are called permanent members of the Security Council and they are: China, France, United Kingdom; USSR (now Russia) and USA. Any decision taken by the Council can be vetoed (made invalid or Fig 19.2 : Emblem of UNO rejected) by the intervention of even any one of these Free distribution by T.S. Government 2020-21 273 countries. Often the great powers themselves involved in many of the conflicts used their veto power to block any action by the UNO. Sometimes, they have also used their power to force the UN to bend to their dictates. However, the very existence of a forum like UN has forced the great powers to exercise moderation and self-control. The special powers also A have given the great powers a special role Fig 19.3 : UN headquater’s at New york and responsibility in preserving world AN peace. Do you think that wars are related to While the UN has been doing poverty, lack of equitable development and commendable work in the area of cultural exchanges between countries? education, health, cultural exchange According to some, the special powers G and protection of heritage, it has been given to the five powers is undemocratic less successful in preventing wars. It and should be abolished while some has often been held hostage to the ambitions of the super-powers who N others feel that if these country do not have special powers, the UNO cannot LA seek control over the world. function smoothly. Discuss. The Two Camps and the Cold War (1945-1991) TE Two major ideological and political camps emerged in the post war period – the Communist block led by the USSR and the Democratic-Capitalist Block led by the USA. On one hand, the USSR promoted the ideas of equality and state controlled development and suppression of opposition to these principles. On the other hand, T USA promoted the ideas of multiparty democracy and private capitalist controlled process of development. The USSR ER had the entire Eastern Europe (Poland, Hungary, and East Germany) under its influence and many colonies which were gaining freedom like China and SC Vietnam were closely aligned to it. The countries of Western Europe like Britain, France, Spain were closely allied with the USA. The two blocks competed with each other for bringing all the intermediate countries in their blocks. For more than forty-five years after the Second World War, a rather Graph 1 : US and USSR nuclear stockpiles 274 Social Studies Post - War World and India  strange war was fought between the two blocks. It was a war in which the principal contenders did not physically attack each other or fight each other directly and hence, there was no ‘hot’ war. Fig 19.4 : To understand the power of atom bomb you Instead, a War was fought behind can try working this out. The Atom bomb that was closed doors through propaganda dropped in Hiroshima was 15 kilotons and the one in and words. It is called the Cold A Nagasaki was 21 kilotons. The most powerful bomb, War simply because of the Tsar Bomba, of USSR is 50,000 kilo tons. Imagine how absence of a real fight as in AN many pages of the book will it take if we need to traditional wars. This Cold War, represent it with a red dot of the size we have marked for Hiroshima atom bomb. And imagine the impact if Tsar characterised by intense tension Bomba was ever going to be used. between the United States and the G USSR, influenced and shaped almost everything that happened in the world between 1945 and 1991. N The Cold War was not just a propaganda war. It also saw real fighting and cost around 20 million human lives. However, almost all of the people killed were LA citizens of the Third World, viz., countries emerging from colonial domination like Vietnam, Korea, Angola and Afghanistan. This division turned ethnically similar people and geographically adjacent territories into enemies and it led to wasteful TE wars between these countries. Some main tactics used during the Cold War included proxy wars, military alliances, and arms race. Proxy War T Right from the outset, the two countries tried to bring the countries fighting ER for freedom under their sphere of influence. This was done by supporting the two opposing sides in each of those countries. US President Harry Truman authorised support for the anti-communist forces in Turkey and Greece in 1947. The Belgian colony in Africa-Congo, got independence in 1960. But it’s radical communist SC leader, Patrice Lumumba, was killed in 1961, allegedly at the behest of US spy agency called CIA. Angola became independent from Portugual in November 1975. The Communists in Angola captured power with the help of USSR and Cuba. In Latin America, Fidel Castro had led a revolution against an American backed government and sought to build socialism on the lines of USSR. This inspired a large number of people in Latin American countries to fight for a similar transformation in their countries. One of their very popular leaders, Che Guevera, was killed. Even elected governments led by socialists like the government of Chile led by S Allende were toppled by US backed army generals. Free distribution by T.S. Government 2020-21 275  The USSR also tried to expand its sphere of influence. To begin with, in 1950s, it had to face the resistance of countries like Germany, Hungary and Czechoslovakia. It sent its armies to dismiss unfriendly governments and install friendly governments in those countries. After 1960s, China decided to disassociate itself from the USSR and the latter tried unsuccessfully to pressurise China. In 1971, USSR invaded Afghanistan to install a friendly government there. The US in turn provided armed support to Afghan rebels who were also religious extremists. A prolonged civil war ensued and as the USSR decided to withdraw from Afghanistan in 1985, the country fell to religious extremists led by the Taliban which has now turned against A the USA. In all this chaos, we can see that the threat of warfare and destruction was faced by the third world which was trying to emerge out of colonial control and the AN wars were not fought so much by the Soviet or US troops but by the people of the third world. Military Alliances G Both USA and USSR were in possession of nuclear weapons but knew very well that neither would be a winner in a nuclear war. Yet, they formed military and N strategic alliances - the west formalised its alliances in an organisation known as North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) in 1949. To counter this, Communist LA nations made similar alliances and signed the Warsaw Pact. In addition to this, U.S. established regional military and strategic alliances like South East Asian Treaty Organisation (SEATO) Map 1 : Cold War Founding members of NATO 1942 and Central Treaty TE Military Alliances Entry: Greece and Turkey 1952, West Organisation (CENTO). Iceland Germany 1955 Spain 1982 Founding members of Warsaw Pact 1955 Even though they Entry: East Germany Sweden 1956 strengthened themselves Withdrawal: Albania 1968 T by creating military Finland blocks, they knew that Norway ER fighting wars would lead to a massive destruction United Denmark Soviet Union of human life, Ireland Kingdom Nether threatening the whole SC l a n d s East Poland civilisations. Hence, they Belgium Germany Luxexm West maintained a constrained bourg Germany Czhecoslovakia Austria relationship acting as a France Switzer Liecht. Hungary Romania land deterrent to each other. San Marino Monaco Italy l Bulgaria The alliances helped u ga Andorra Vatican City rt Spain Albania the super powers which Po Greece Turkey wanted to expand their influence to gain access Morocco Cyprus to : Algeria Tunisia Malta 276 Social Studies Post - War World and India  - the vital resources like oil and minerals - markets for their products and places to safely invest their capital - military bases to launch their troops and weapons - spread their ideology and - gain economic support, to pay huge military expenses Arms and Space Race Both the USSR and USA spent huge amounts of money to conduct research into weapons and build arsenals of devastating nuclear arms and missiles which A could strike across continents. The two countries together had enough nuclear AN arms to destroy the entire earth many times over. Gradually their allies like Britain, France and China too built nuclear arsenals. The competition now also extended G to the space as satellites helped in spying and in directing N missiles. USSR put the first satellite Sputnik and the first LA human Yuri Gagarin in space. This was followed by intense competition between the two TE blocks to put more and more satellites and eventually led to the US sending Neil Armstrong Fig 19.5 : (left) Yuri Gagarin, (right) Man on Moon and others to the Moon in 1969. T Flash points ER As the rival powers accumulated destructive weapons, the world was constantly threatened by a nuclear holocaust. People of all countries lived in constant fear of war. There were many moments when nuclear war between the two countries seemed imminent, but got defused somehow through diplomacy. Some of these were the SC incidents relating to the shooting down of U2 US spy plane over USSR, the discovery of Soviet missile build up in Cuba and several times during the Korean and Middle East wars. Non Alignment Movement (NAM) In 1950s, the world was getting increasingly militarised and divided into two antagonistic camps. The rivalries between the two super powers for military supremacy, ideological conflicts and rivalry to gain economic supremacy lead to the establishment of a bipolar world. Though this conflict did not leave much space Free distribution by T.S. Government 2020-21 277 for those who did not want to be involved in either of the blocks, there was an attempt to create one. The core concerns of people, especially those who were recently de-colonised, like poverty, disease, inequality and colonialism A were not addressed by any of these issues of AN contention. The leaders of newly Fig 19.6 : J. Nehru, Kwame Nkrumah of Kenya, Gamal Abdel independent nations felt Nasser of Egypt, Sukarno of Indonesia, Tito of Yugoslavia at the need for a change from G NAM meeting 1960 the insecure and tense situation. So, in 1955, a conference was held at Bandung in Indonesia. It was the N first Asio-African conference represented by 29 nations. The most important leaders of this conference were Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the then Prime Minister of India, LA Gamal Abdel Nasser, the leader of Egypt and Josip Broz Tito, the leader of Yugoslavia. Pt. Nehru was acknowledged as the chief spokesperson. It paved the way for Non Aligned Movement (NAM). TE Thus, non-alignment was established as an international organisation with an aim to promote cultural and economic cooperation among the newly independent countries of Asia, Africa and later Latin America. The first Summit was held at Belgrade in Yugoslavia in September 1961. It was T attended by 25 member countries. By 2012, the membership has grown to 120 countries with 17 Observers. The first Summit was the culmination of three major ER concerns: - Cooperation among the member nations of NAM, most of them had newly emerged as free countries. SC - Growing Cold War tensions and its impact on the world at large. - To prevent any of the newly decolonised independent countries from joining any of the military blocks. Over the years, the NAM helped countries like India to take an independent position when the two super powers fell apart and pulled countries to their side. It also helped the newly emerging countries to bargain for space and assistance from the super powers by playing one against the other. To some extent, it also helped to ease tensions amongst the NAM countries. Even though both the blocks looked at NAM with suspicion, the US regarded the NAM as being closer to the USSR on wider international issues. Its inaction in the case of Soviet invasion of Afghanistan 278 Social Studies Post - War World and India  was often seen as a partisan position contrary to NAM’s principles. Another weakness of NAM was its inability to effectively stop its own members from waging wars against each other. Thus, when What was the main purpose of 1955 Iran and Iraq were in a long war lasting seven Bandung conference? or more years, NAM could do little about How did super powers react to the it. Despite these limitations, the NAM principles of Non-alignment? helped the newly independent nations assert their autonomy in international Why were the Non-aligned nations affairs in a world torn between the two known as third world countries? A super powers. AN West Asian Conflicts West Asia refers to the region towards the west of Asia. The term ‘Middle East’ is also used to describe this area. The conflicts that developed between Arabs and Jews are often described as the West Asian Crisis. It was mainly related to the G occupation of Palestine. Palestine, which was inhabited by Arabs, was under the control of Britain before Second World War. Jerusalem, which is a holy city for N Jews, Christians and Muslims alike, is situated in it. The Jews traditionally considered Palestine as their ‘Promised Land’ from where LA they had been exiled in ancient times and pushed across Europe and Asia. In Europe, they were a persecuted community as Christians considered them responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The conflict came to a head in Germany under the TE Nazis when millions of Jews of Europe were jailed and killed. A movement had emerged among the Jews called the ‘Zionist Movement’ which called for uniting Jews spread across the world and to reclaim Palestine as their homeland and build a separate state for Jews. After 1945, this demand was supported T by Western powers. However, since Palestinians (who were mostly Arab Muslims) were already living there, this became a bone of contention. ER Matters were also complicated by the discovery of massive oil reserves in the Middle East, especially in the Arabian peninsula. Both US and USSR wanted to bring this region under their sphere of influence and would not let the other country SC establish its control. In 1947, United Nations passed a resolution, according to which, Palestine was divided into two parts -Arab and Jewish States. In 1948, the British withdrew their troops from Palestine and Israel was created for Jews. The Arabs did not agree to giving up their homeland. The Arabs refused to recognise Israel as a legitimate state. The policies pursued by the state of Israel increased the bitterness. The Arabs were forced to leave their homes and properties and had to take shelter as refugees in the other Arab states. The President of Egypt, Gamal Abdel Nasser (1918-1970), made an effort to unite the Arabs. He formed fidayeens (suicide squads) for causing explosions in Free distribution by T.S. Government 2020-21 279 public places in Map 2 : Israel. In 1956, Israel attacked Egypt with the support of Western powers and both United States and USSR demanded a A cessation of war and a cease-fire. AN Israel had to withdraw its army. In 1967, Arabs attacked Israel G once again. Israel decided that offence is the best form of defense and it attacked Egypt and destroyed N its entire air force. It also occupied the territories of Gaza, Golan Heights and the West Bank. Israel while refusing to return the occupied territories despite UN LA resolution, agreed for a ceasefire. Israel believed that these occupied territories would act as buffer zones. This war was a setback to the Arab cause. In the meanwhile, an organisation called Palestinian Liberation Organisation TE (PLO hereafter) was established in 1964 in Jordon and added a new dimension by bringing together all the different Arab factions. Its aim was to regain the land it lost without violence. However, in 1967, PLO under the leadership of Yasser Arafat applied pressure and force on Arab states to attack Israel. But the Arab states were T not very enthusiastic. Hence, a faction of PLO lead by Arafat carried out terrorist attacks like plane hijackings, holding the Israeli Olympic Squad at the Munich ER Olympics as hostages in September 1972 and killing many of the sportspersons etc. Israel used such attacks by the Palestinians to mount further attacks on them and refused to implement the What were the reasons for the conflict promises it had made. SC between Arabs and Jews? The region has been constantly in Why did Egypt support the Palestinians a state of war and terrorist attacks as during the conflict? a result of retaliation and counter Why do you think did some Palestinians retaliation. The PLO too broke into adopt the path of terrorism? What was its many mutually warring factions. outcome? Eventually, Arafat gave up terrorism Find out about the condition of Palestinians and agreed to find a peaceful solution who are living in refugee camps and by recognising the formation of Israel. constantly facing warfare and poverty. He held negotiations with Israel to 280 Social Studies Post - War World and India  end the long war and came to many agreements regarding self rule for Palestinians. Israel agreed to withdraw its forces from West Bank in addition to giving voting rights to the Arab residents of Palestine. However, this was not successful as Israel failed to implement its promises and continued to attack the Palestinians under one pretext or the other. Many countries agreed to recognise the PLO as the legitimate representative of the Palestinians state and Arafat as its President. Arafat died in 2004 due to flu fever. The Palestinians are still fighting for their homeland and peace under very difficult conditions of exile and warfare. A The Growth of Nationalism in the Middle East AN The continued support of the US to Israel and the plight of Palestinians created a widespread feeling against the US in the region. The US also became unpopular because it supported undemocratic regimes in this area so that the oil resources were available to the US and its allies. People, on the other hand, wanted the revenues G from oil resources to be used for the welfare of common people who did not have any other resources in the desert area. In 1968, a coup took place in Iraq in which N Saddam Husain came to power with the twin slogan of Arab Nationalism and Socialism. By socialism, they meant nationalisation of oil resources and the use LA of oil revenues by the state to fund welfare measures for the citizens. Similar developments took place in Libya in 1969 (you have read about this in class IX, chapter 18). These regimes combined welfare policies with autocratic and dictatorial rule of a ruler or a small group. They did not allow any opposition or TE democratic protest against themselves. In many cases, the opposition to the US and US backed regimes took religious colours. Nationalist forces, instead of supporting the idea of equitable distribution of wealth and opportunities, fostered the idea of establishing religious orthodoxy T in those countries. A revolution took place in Iran in 1979 in which the old King of Iran (who was supported by the US) was removed and a new government jointly ER controlled by Shia Islamic clerics and democratically elected leaders was established. The Taliban, which took over Afghanistan after the withdrawal of Soviet troops, SC similarly established an extremist Islamic state. These states tried to force all the people to strictly follow the rules laid down in religious texts. In many cases, this meant the denial of basic freedom and equality of opportunity to women and religious minorities. The beginning of the twenty first century witnessed growing discontent among the Arabs which resulted in the growth of religious terrorism. Some Arab terrorists hijacked two aircrafts in the US and crashed them into the World Trade Centre in New York killing thousands of people. This led to a war against Taliban and eventually to a war against Iraq. Find out more about these recent events from the newspapers and magazines. Free distribution by T.S. Government 2020-21 281 Peace Movements, Collapse of the USSR and the end of the Cold War As time passed, USSR and USA came under tremendous public pressure to roll back the arms race and destroy their nuclear arsenal. You will read more about this later on in this book. This forced them to hold talks to mutually reduce the stockpile and weapons race and eventually to ban nuclear tests between 1985 to 1991. This was largely made possible by the coming to power of Mikhail Gorbachev in the USSR. He tried to transform the politics of USSR by making it more open and bringing about radical changes. He was a A liberal who introduced certain reforms for the revival of their economy and promoted AN healthy relations with the West. The reforms introduced by the open regime are often described as ‘Glasnost’ and ‘Perestroika’. G Around the same time, the countries of Eastern Europe faced serious economic N crises and the USSR was not in a position to help them. As a result, popular movements LA demanding freedom, democracy and economic reforms swept across Eastern Europe. Soon, the governments were unable TE to manage the country and collapsed. This is best symbolised by the breaking down of the infamous Berlin Wall that separated Eastern and Western Germany and symbolized the T unpopular control of the USSR over Germany. Fig 19.7 : Demolition of Berlin Wall that ER In the USSR itself, Communist hardliners divided East and West Germany encouraged a coup in 1991 to remove Gorbachev from power. This backfired and Explain the terms bipolarity Boris Yelstin resisted the coup on behalf of and unipolarity. SC the Russian parliament. He eventually won the Presidential elections and announced the disbanding of the USSR in 1991. The components of the former USSR became independent countries and many of them formed an alliance with Russia later on. What are the similarities and differences With the collapse of the USSR, a new between Arab Socialist Nationalism and era began in world politics: the era of Religious Nationalism? unipolar world and the era of Globalisation. Find out more about the developments You studied about this in a separate chapter in Iran and Afghanistan under the Taliban in this book. to understand how religious states work. 282 Social Studies Post - War World and India  India and its Neighbours We saw that India was the founder of the NAM which sought to keep an independent position between the two superpowers. India tried to base its foreign policy on the Gandhian principles of peace and non-violence. To emphasise its determination for peace, Jawaharlal Nehru formulated his renowned Panchsheel principles: 1. Respect for each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. 2. Non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries. 3. Non-aggression and settlement of disputes with mutual understanding. 4. Endeavour to achieve cooperation and mutual respect in international A relationships. AN 5. Promoting peaceful coexistence. These were to determine India’s relations with other countries, especially its neighbours – China, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and subsequently, Bangladesh. Read the following account of India’s relation with its neighbours and understand G the extent to which it has been based on these principles. India’s Relationship with China N After a long struggle and a violent revolution, China became a Communist LA republic in 1949. India was one of the first countries to recognise China’s Communist government. India also supported a permanent seat in UN Security Council for China, the seat that was earlier occupied by the Chiang Kai Shek TE Government. India helped China take part in Bandung conference in spite of their ideological differences. Both the countries signed the Panchsheel pact on 29 April 1954. The leaders of both the countries visited each other’s country and they were greeted by large friendly crowds. T During the colonial rule Mc Mahon line was drawn as the border between the countries. Nehru accepted it. Tibet which lay between China and India was to be an ER independent buffer zone. But China annexed Tibet in 1950 on the plea that it was a dependent state of the old Chinese Empire. This removed the buffer between the two countries. There was a revolt in Tibet which was crushed by the Chinese. Thousands of Tibetans escaped along with Dalai Lama and took refuge in India. SC India gave asylum to Dalai Lama and this caused a conflict. Chinese started considering India as an adversary. Prior to this, a border dispute had surfaced between India and China. China laid claim to Aksai-chin area in Ladakh region and much of Arunachal Pradesh. Despite many efforts and long discussions, the conflicts have not been resolved till today. China tried to invade Indian territories in October 1962, violating the peace treaties it had signed with India. India was not prepared for this surprise attack and suffered great losses in the war. Eventually, China declared unilateral ceasefire and withdrew its troops to its pre-war position. It took more than a decade to resume Free distribution by T.S. Government 2020-21 283 normal relations. Full diplomatic relations Do you think it was correct for India to were restored only in 1976. give refuge to the Dalai Lama and his Now, both the countries have strategic Tibetan followers? as well as economic advantage as they are Do you think China was justified in recognised as rising powers of Asia. The wanting to control Tibet? two countries today have the ambition of To what extent do you think can both emerging as major world economic and the countries forget about their past political powers. Thus, they also see each conflicts over the boundaries and other as economic and political develop meaningful cooperation and A competitors. At the borders, both the friendship? governments have taken measures to AN maintain peace and tranquility despite occasional actions to the contrary. India’s relation with Pakistan As we saw in an earlier lesson, India and Pakistan became independent nations G by bifurcating the erstwhile British India. After partition, the conflicts between India and Pakistan became perpetual, the main bone of contention between the two countries being Kashmir. N The first war between the two countries took place in 1947-1948 for Kashmir. LA But it did not settle the problem. The war divided Kashmir into two parts: Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) and the Indian province that were divided by a line of control. TE In 1965, when Lal Bahadur Shastri was the Prime Minister, Pakistan was under the military dictatorship of General Ayub Khan. Ayub Khan hoped to provoke a revolt in Kashmir by invading India in the name of liberating Kashmir. However, the people of Kashmir did not respond to this and backed the Indian state in its war efforts. India responded T by opening a front in Graph 2 India’s and Pakistan’s Military Expenditures ER Punjab targeting Lahore and this forced Pakistan to retreat from Kashmir front. UN secretary SC general U Thant persuaded both the countries to agree to a ceasefire. After the ceasefire, an agreement was signed between the two countries at Tashkent in 1966 by the two Prime Ministers. In the beginning of 1970, Pakistan faced the 284 Social Studies Post - War World and India  biggest internal crisis. The military Religion and War dictator of Pakistan, General Yahya Lal Bahadur Shastri, in a rally in Delhi after the Khan, promised a democratic end of the war, decried the attempt of Pakistan to use government and ordered elections. religious symbolism in the war claiming it to be a war The election produced a split of Muslims against Hindus. He proudly stated that verdict-West Pakistan was won by India was a secular country. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto while Awami “The unique thing about our country is that we have Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Parsis and league led by Sheik Mujib-ur- people of all other religions. We have temples and Rahman swept the polls in East A mosques, gurudwaras and churches. But we do not Pakistan. But the government of bring this all into politics… This is the difference be- Pakistan refused to accept the AN tween India and Pakistan. Whereas Pakistan pro- verdict as well as the demand of claims herself to be an Islamic State and uses reli- Awami League for a greater gion as a political factor, we Indians have freedom autonomy for East Pakistan. to follow whatever religion we may choose [and] Instead, they arrested Mujib-ur- G worship in any way we please. So far as politics is Rahman and unleashed a reign of concerned, each of us is as much as Indian as the terror. India was faced with an influx other.” N of refugees from East Pakistan. Supporters of Mujibur Rahman organised a liberation struggle in the form of ‘Mukti LA Bahini’. India under its Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, began to provide support to it and tried to win international support for its cause. India also signed a treaty of friendship with the USSR which promised support to India. A full-scale war broke out with Pakistan in December 1971. The war ended only TE after the liberation of East Pakistan leading to the creation of Bangladesh and declaration of ceasefire by India. Later, the Shimla agreement was signed between the countries under the leadership of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Since the 1971 war, there has been no open war, but innumerable border T skirmishes and battles over respective positions across the border. You may have ER heard of the ‘Kargil War’ in which anti-Indian militants had occupied portions of Indian territory with the backing of Pakistani army and had to be repelled through a major military operation in 1999. Pakistan has, over the years, encouraged separatist movements in the border SC states of India like Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir. India has often accused Pakistan of not only supporting such movements but actively training and sending religious extremists to foment trouble in India. Pakistan, in turn, has been accusing India of trying to destabilise it and constantly threatening it with military action and stockpiling of nuclear arms and missiles. This has also led to the two countries spending inordinate amounts of scarce funds on arming themselves against each other. Both the countries have nuclear weapons and believe that this would act as a deterrent. At the same time, given the long history of shared culture and civilisation, the people of India and Pakistan have often tried to overcome the hatred nurtured by Free distribution by T.S. Government 2020-21 285 vested interests and build bridges of What steps do you think should India friendship through trade, sports, films, and Pakistan take to build lasting peace tourism and cultural exchanges. Many Indians between the two countries? and Pakistanis feel that secularism, Why is peace between India and democracy and freedom in both countries will enable a greater understanding and Pakistan necessary for the cooperation between the two people. These development of both the countries? ideals are under threat by forces which seek to promote conflict between the two countries. A India’s relation with Bangladesh Bangladesh was liberated from Pakistan with the help of Indian troops in 1971. AN It signed a 25 years peace treaty with India immediately after its independence. However, they have had differences over several issues like sharing of river waters of the Ganga and the Brahmaputra. India also opposed the large-scale illegal migration of people of Bangladesh into India. The Bangladesh government objected G to fencing of borders by India to prevent illegal entry. It feels that India behaves like a big brother in this region. N In spite of these differences, both the countries have cooperated on many fronts, especially on the economic front. Bangladesh is an integral part of the Indian ‘look LA East policy’ to link up south Asia via Myanmar. Both have cooperation on disaster management. Bangladesh has rewarded many Indians who rendered their services and sacrificed their lives for the liberation of Bangladesh. TE India’s relation with Sri Lanka Sri Lanka is an island country situated in the Indian Ocean towards the south of India. It got its freedom in 1948. Since times immemorial, India and Sri Lanka T ER SC Fig 19.8 : (Left) People Protesting against China in 1958 the banner says China Hands Off Tibet, (Right) East Pakistan Refugees arriving in India, 1971 Many small countries feel that their larger neighbours act like ‘big brothers’. What do you think is meant by this? Look at the map of India and Bangladesh and see why cooperation between the two countries is of vital importance to both. 286 Social Studies Post - War World and India  have cultural, ethnic and economic relations. Both were decolonised almost at the same time and remain democratic till to day. A major irritant in the relation between the two countries has been the treatment of Tamil speaking minorities by the Sri Lankan government. You have read about this in class IX – recall the discussion. The large scale influx of Sri Lankan Tamil refugees into India posed a special problem. This led to a more active intervention by India which entered into an agreement with Sri Lanka and the Tamil militants to maintain peace on the island. You have also read earlier about India sending its armies to keep peace in Sri Lanka and the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi by Tamil militants. Eventually India decided not to interfere when the Sri Lankan government began an A all out war against the Tamil militants which caused immense bloodshed and violation of human rights. This enabled Sri Lanka to finally bring a cessation of AN military conflict on the island. Improve your learning Compare the support of India to Bangladesh and its role in Sri Lanka. Do you think the situation was similar or different? G Keywords Military alliances Proxy war Arms race Unipolar Bipolar Decolonisation Improve your learning Veto N Ethnic conflict Panchsheel LA 1. Choose the correct answer: Which among the following statement about the Cold War is wrong? a) Rivalry between US and USSR. b) USA and USSR engaged in direct war. TE c) Triggering off an arms race. d) An ideological war between the two super powers. 2. Who amongst the following is not involved in the West Asian crisis? a) Egypt b) Indonesia c) Britain d) Israel 3. What was the nature of shift in power in the world after the second world war? 4. What are the different roles played by United Nations in order to build peace in the world? T 5. Given the idea of democracy, do you think a few countries should have special powers in making the decisions? ER 6. How were the super powers benefited by military alliances? 7. How did Cold War produce arms race as well as arms control? 8. Why did West Asia become a center of tensions in the world? 9. By the end of the 20th century, there is only one single power that dominates the world. In this context, what do you think would be the role of NAM? SC 10. “Formation of NAM was not merely in the context of military alliances but also in the context of economic policies”. Justify the statement. 11. Draw a table to show the relations between India and its neighbouring countries with regard to the following items: issues of conflict; events of war; events of help and co- operation. 12. “The ethnic conflicts affected India’s relations with Sri Lanka”. Justify. 13. Locate the following on the map of the world. i) Poland ii) USSR iii) Vietnam iv) Spain v) Latin America vi) Afghanisthan 14. Observe the graph-2 of page 284 and answer the following. i) Which country’s Military expenditure is high ii) What do you observe in the military expenditures of the two countries as percent of GDP? 15. Read the last para of page 281 and comment on it. Free distribution by T.S. Government 2020-21 287