Class XII – South Asia and the Contemporary World – PYQs

Ans. The various countries in South Asia have experienced mixed record of democracies. The people also shared aspirations for democracy to be flourished not only in rich or developed countries but in developing and underdeveloped countries also which can be drawn from the examples of Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Maldives because

• Every ordinary citizen, rich or poor belonging to different religions view the idea of democracy positively and support the institution of representative democracy.
• They prefer democracy over any other form of democracy and think that democracy is suitable for their country.

Ans. South Asia includes countries like India, Pakistan, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Maldives and Sri Lanka. The various natural areas such as Himalayas, Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal, Indian Ocean are part to this region.

The common problems among them are

• Poverty. All countries of South Asia suffered from large masses living in poverty. In India, nearly 22 percent people are living under poverty as per 2011-12 census.
• Violation of Human Rights. There exists a great threat to human rights from anti-social elements, communalists and from people with negative attitude, thinking and approach.
• Problem faced by Democracy. Several countries of South Asia aspire to be a democratic country, but face a problem of stable democracy.
• Women Empowerment. Women are generally seen at lower position in most of the South Asian nations. They are restricted and are not as free as their counterparts.

Ans. The agreements between India and Pakistan are as follows:

• The two countries have agreed to undertake confidence building measures to reduce the risk of war.
• A number of bus routes have been opened up between the two countries.
• A train service has started operating between two countries.
• Finalising of Kartarpur Corridor has shown a ray of hope for initiation of talks between India and Pakistan.

No doubt, efforts are being made to have a durable peace but there is little possibility of friendly relationship because Kashmir continues to be the main problem between the two countries. Pakistan is also responsible for terrorist activities in India such as Bombay blasts. Such actions on the parts of Pakistan are obstacles in the way of friendly relations between the two countries.

Therefore, the two countries are not well on their way to a friendly relationship.

Ans. Commonalities between Bangladesh and Pakistan are

• There is majority of Muslims population in both countries.
• There has been military takeover in both countries from time to time.
• There have been pro-democracy movements in both the countries.

Differences between Bangladesh and Pakistan are

• The U.S and Western countries have encouraged military’s despotic rule in Pakistan in the past for their own interest. It is not so in case of Bangladesh.
• Pakistan is a nuclear power state but Bangladesh is not.
• In Pakistan, military, clergy and land-owning aristocrats dominated socially to overthrow elected governments whereas in Bangladesh, the leaders and their party members dominated for the same.

Ans. Two areas of cooperation are as follows:

(i) Bangladesh is a part of India’s ‘Look East Policy’ that wants to link up with South-East Asia through Myanmar.

(ii) On disaster management and environmental issues, the two states have cooperated regularly.

Two areas of disagreement are as follow:

(i) Dispute over sharing of the Ganga and Brahmaputra river waters.

(ii) The Indian Government has been unhappy with Bangladesh’s denial of illegal immigration to India.

Ans. The principal players in the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka are the Sinhala community and Tamils who had migrated from India to Sri Lanka and settled there. The Sinhala nationalists are in majority and they do not want to give any concessions to Tamils who are in minority. This has led to militant Tamil nationalism and the LTTE has been fighting an armed struggle with Sri Lankan army since 1983. Their demand is of Tamil Eelam of a separate country for the Tamils of Sri Lanka.

However, the following crisis should be resolved with utmost diplomacy as possible. The government of Sri Lanka should provide the fundamental and basic rights to the Tamil population constitutionally and uphold the principle of democracy. It should also provide special status to the Tamil province for their rejuvenation and maintain peace and tranquillity in the province and the country.

Ans. Pakistan does not have a good experience with democracy. Several factors contributed to failure in building a stable democracy in Pakistan. They are as follows:

• There was always social dominance of military, clergy and landowning aristocracy which resulted in downfall of democratic government and existence of military government.
• Due to Pakistan’s conflict with India, pro-military groups in Pakistan got strengthened. According to these pro-military groups, political parties and democracy is defective and there is chance of harm to the security of Pakistan by narrow minded parties and disorganised democracy. And this way, justification for army’s stay in power is provided.
• Lack of international support has been there in Pakistan for democratic rule.
• US and some Western countries moved Pakistan towards authoritarian rule for their own benefits. Military rule in Pakistan is supposed to be the protector of Western interests in West Asia, South Asia as ‘Global Islamic Terrorism’ and nuclear arsenal can only be controlled by military.

Even though, democracy has not been fully successful in Pakistan, there has been a strong pro-democracy sentiment in the country. Pakistan has a courageous and relatively free press and a strong human rights movement.

Ans. The pro-democracy movements forced the king to allow new democratic constitution in 1990. But it had a short and troubled career. There was a huge influence of Maoists in many parts of Nepal who believed in armed insurrection against the monarch and the ruling elite.

Hence, a triangular conflict among the Monarchist forces, the democrats and the Maoist took place for some time. The Parliament was abolished and the government was dismissed by the king in 2002. Again in 2006, the king was forced to restore the House of representatives after a massive country wide pro-democracy protests.

The Constituent Assembly was formed to write the constitution for Nepal. The constitution has come into effect with some amendment process going on. In 2008 Nepal become a democratic republic after abolishing monarchy. In 2015 it adopted a new constitution.

Ans. The democratic setup of Sri Lanka was disturbed by the ethnic conflict among the Sinhalese and Tamil origin people.

The bone of contention was the region of Ceylon which was represented by the majority Sinhala group. They opposed the migration and settlements of Tamilians from India in their region. According to the group, Sri Lanka was only for Sinhala people and not for Tamils.

This attitude of Sinhala people led to the establishment of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a militant organisation, which desired for a separate country.

The consequences of ethnic conflict led to the following situations:

• There was a pressure on the Government of India by the Tamils of Indian origin to intervene in the matter. Hence, the Government of India tried to negotiate with the Government of Sri Lanka on Tamil’s question. But direct involvement was in the year 1987. India conceded to send troops to Sri Lanka for the preservation of relations between Tamils and Sri Lanka Government. Eventually, the Indian troops got into a fight with LTTE.
• The presence of Indian troops was not liked by many Sri Lankans and hence in 1989, the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) pulled out of Sri Lanka without attaining its objective.

Ans. No, this is not a correct impression. India never wanted to dominate or interfere in the domestic affairs of the smaller countries of the region. India believed that there are real economic benefits for all, if all the countries lift up trade barriers.

Various factors are responsible for the thinking of smaller countries of South Asia towards India which are as follows:

• Due to size of India smaller countries are bound to be suspicious about India’s intentions.
• Interference of India in internal affairs of Pakistan and helping in transformation of East Pakistan to Bangladesh into an independent country is another reason.
• These countries think that India wants to invade and dominate international markets with the help of SAFTA.

The thinking/perception of smaller countries could be cleared by the following facts

(i) India has always provided shelter to refugees those who came from different countries.

(ii) India has always cooperated with their neighbours like it has provided assistance to Bangladesh during floods, it has provided military help to Maldives during military attack on the Maldives.

(iii) India has given an open invitation to SAARC countries to sell their products without any trade tariffs.