The Vajpayee Era

• After the withdrawal of support by the Congress party, the Gujral government fell and was later replaced by the government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
• From 11th to 13th May 1998, the government carried out nuclear tests.
• These tests were significant because one of the tests conducted in Pokhran was a thermonuclear test which indicated hydrogen bomb capability.
• India reached the sub-critical level in the tests and generated enough data in these experiments where further improvements could be carried out through computer simulation.
• Thus, after the operation Shakti 1-V (the codename for the tests), India declared itself a Nuclear Weapon State.
• The most important achievement of Pokhran–II was the fact that India no longer required to undertake underground nuclear tests but could successfully use the data generated for computer simulations to improvise the yield of the bomb.
• India thus declared a voluntary moratorium on further nuclear testing and announced “No First Use Policy”.
• The tests done by India were immediately followed by nuclear tests by Pakistan. The Pakistani side also tested their atomic bombs.
• Vajpayee in a letter to Clinton asserted that India faced threats from China and Pakistan and that these were compelling reasons for India to undertake nuclear tests.
• The letter to Clinton was leaked to the New York Times and this aggravated tensions further between India and China.
• After the tests in India, there were international sanctions including sanctions by IMF and World Bank on further assistance to India.
• Japan, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands and Canada suspended their assistance to India.
• Russia, France and Germany continued their normal economic relations with India, whereas UK tried its best to get.

Reasons for Immediate Nuclear Tests

• Iniquitous world order on nuclear front, Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty and Unilateral pressure by west on India to sign Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty without any commitments from their side
• Nuclear Neighborhood: China with 400-500 warheads in armoury with ballistic missiles, USA setting up base in Diego Gracia (South Indian Ocean – Mauritius)
• Pakistan collaborating with china for a weapon Immediate Cause
• Bombshell by Nawaz Sherif in a political rally in PoK
• Authentic Intelligence reports suggested the weapon transfer along with Missiles

Bus to Lahore Declaration

• However, Vajpayee decided to break the logjam with Pakistan and inaugurated a bus service between Delhi and Lahore in 1999.
• Vajpayee also visited Lahore and concluded the Lahore Declaration.

Features of Lahore Declaration

• In its content, both governments asserted their commitment to the vision of peace, stability and mutual progress and their full commitment to the Shimla Agreement, the UN Charter and universally accepted principles of peaceful co-existence.
• Both governments recognised through the Lahore Declaration that the development of nuclear weapons brought added responsibility to both nations towards avoiding conflict and promoted the importance of Confidence-building measures, especially to avoid accidental and unauthorised use of nuclear weapons.
• India and Pakistan also decided to give each other advance notification of ballistic missile flight tests and accidental or unexplained use of nuclear weapons to avoid the outbreak of a nuclear conflict.
• Commits both countries to the objectives of universal nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation

Kargil War

(Only one road connectivity between Srinagar to Ladak. Pakistan attack and block the road. At the time US say Pakistan to stop attack and come back because of both having Nuclear weapon, So PM Navab sheriff say to withdraw of force. India Army & Air force recapture the region).

• Even as new enthusiasm between the two states to improve ties was being generated, the Pakistan army led by General Pervez Musharraf planned a new campaign in Kashmir.
• The manifestation of this planning was seen in May–June 1999 when the Pakistani side crossed the Line of Control and captured peaks on the Indian soil in Kargil.

(Use this situation Musharraf arrest Navab Sheriff. He Impose military rule in Pakistan)

Two Reason US President Bill Clinton support India, both have nuclear weapon & India open up economy, India is a biggest market, US capitalist need Indian Market. 

Objective of Pakistan

• To occupy strategic position on the peak.
• To block Srinagar-Leh highway and cut off rest of the Ladakh from India.
• Which will force India to withdraw from Siachen Glacier.
• Force India to negotiate a settlement in favour of Paksitan.
• As India began to drive out the intruders, Nawaz Sharif asked for help from the Clinton administration in US in case India increased the offensive.
• Clinton, on the other hand, advised Sharif to order his army to pull back from the occupied territories and not breach the LOC and international pressure mounted on Pakistan.
• The conflict ended after Indian forces captured all the peaks occupied by Pakistan.
• In Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif was deposed and after a dubious referendum, Musharraf took over as the President of Pakistan.

(Because of the war India realise that, need to develop Own Navigation system for India because GPS is belong to US, not help at war) & Israel give military support to India.

India develop Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System.

Kandahar to Agra

The Highjack

• Indo-Pak relations took another nose-dive with the Kandahar incident.
• An Indian Airlines plane on its way from Kathmandu to Delhi on Christmas Eve of 1999 was hijacked by terrorists who demanded the release of thirty-six captured militants and a ransom.
• Finally, to the shock and disbelief of the entire nation, the Minister for External Affairs Jaswant Singh, personally escorted Maulana Masood Azhar, a major leader of the terrorists {Lashkar-e-Taiba (Now Jaish-e-Mohammed)}, and two others, in a special plane to Kandahar.
• The hijackers as well as the released terrorists were all Pakistan based, and this did not help improve matters between the two countries.

Agra Summit

• In 2001, another initiative towards dialogue took place between Vajpayee and Musharraf at Agra.
• The Agra Summit failed to achieve any breakthrough as Pakistan wanted Kashmir to be added as the core issue in the joint statement while India wanted the addition of cross border terrorism. (India speak not only Kashmir issue & also state sponsor terrorism)
• Both sides rejected each other’s demand and therefore no joint statement came out after the Agra summit.
• Relations worsened after Parliamentary attacks 2001.

The Vajpayee Way India – USA - Pakistan

• The last year of Clinton administration tilted in favour of India during the Kargil conflict. This was followed, in 2000, by a visit of Clinton to India and Clinton became the fourth USA president after Eisenhower, Nixon and Carter to visit the country.
• Clinton’s visit saw a push towards bilateral economic diplomacy as deals worth three billion dollars were signed, ranging from broadband connectivity to energy dimensions.
• The emerging economic opportunities for USA in India and a presence of a vibrant Indian diaspora in USA that played a pivotal role in US politics proved instrumental factors in creating a new bridge in the bilateral relationship.
• The Clinton administration was replaced by the Bush administration.
• 9/11 attacks bolstered some major changes in the subcontinent. Immediately after the 9/11 attacks, India went ahead to put on record that it was willing to enter into military alliance with and work with USA on its war on terrorism.
  (4 plain highjacks – 2 attack twin tower, 1 attack pentagon & 1 Attack white house (Last one is crash landed in White house garden)
• Bush, on the other hand, while appreciative of the Indian offer, turned to strengthen its military alliance and partnership with Pakistan.
• Pakistan not only emerged as a non-NATO ally but also a new USA–Pakistan axis was born.
• The US entered the subcontinent by invading Afghanistan in 2001. The rule of Taliban in Afghanistan ended. (Now Joe Biden get back military, Afghanistan captured by Taliban).
• This was a big blow to Pakistan which favoured the Taliban in Afghanistan as it enabled it to maintain strategic depth against India.
• The cross-border terrorism from Pakistani side in 2001 increased and saw its first manifestation in the form of an attack on Kashmir assembly, culminating in the attack on Indian Parliament.
• India responded to this by launching a Mega-Military Mobilisation exercise on Indo–Pakistan border under the name of operation Parakaram. (Because of Mobilisation even after a week full army can’t mobilise Because of Many logistic issue, Indian made Kargil Reform Committee to Boost military logistic).
• The US faced a severe dilemma on how to respond to the situation as, on one hand, it was building up a grand coalition at the global level against terrorism. It could not afford to take the terrorist attacks on India lightly but could not be hard on Pakistan as it needed their support in the invasion of Afghanistan
• As the American war on Afghanistan was ongoing, USA launched another invasion, that of Iraq, in 2003. (Iraq threaded to NATO, so USA & UK later France attack Iraq defeat Saddam Hussein in Iraq).
• The Iraq war brought about a shift in the Indian policy as well.
• India welcomed the US invasion of Afghanistan as the intention of the invasion was to dismantle the Al-Qaeda and the Taliban.
• But the US invasion of Iraq did not go well with India. Though the Vajpayee government wanted to go ahead with its intention of providing military assistance to the USA for the Iraq war, public opinion in India was against any support to USA Hence, the Vajpayee regime dropped the idea.
• The US accepted India’s decision and still continued to strengthen ties with India. For the Bush administration, ties with India needed to be strengthened at the highest level.
• The sanctions imposed by the US on India post Pokhran were lifted.
• A new initiative called the ‘Next step in Strategic Partnership’ was launched and cooperation on Civilian Nuclear and Missile Defence dimensions began.
• As the relations with America progressed, in the 2004 SAARC summit, India and Pakistan not only resumed dialogue but issued a joint statement that laid down a framework to enhance bilateral commercial cooperation.