Prisoner's Dilemma: Arms Race Between Pakistan and India

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Prisoner’s Dilemma: Arms Race between Pakistan and India At the twilight of the British Raj in Indo-Subcontinent, the two nation theory was introduced in the region. Stating that Muslims and Hindus, being separate nations, should be given independence as two separate countries. Hence India and Pakistan were formed at the aftermath of the Second World War. Ever since the partition, there has always been a sense of deep mistrust between Pakistan and India. Along with other territorial disputes (Siachen glacier, Rann of Kuch etc.), Kashmir lies at the heart of content between the two countries. Besides thousands of skirmishes, there have been four major wars and one undeclared war over different disputes. After India conducted its first nuclear test in 1974, designating it as “Smiling Buddha”, calling it a peaceful nuclear explosion; while internationally criticized what kind of a nuclear explosion can you call peaceful?, Pakistan was soon to follow suit and started its very own nuclear program for deterrence and the equilibrium of power in the region. Along with other conventional arms both countries also spend huge chunks of their GDP on different delivery systems for their nuclear arsenal. As a result, both countries have spiraled down into the abyss of an arms race due to this very mistrust. As military spending gobbles up big chunks out of their GDP’s, and majority of the populations live below the poverty line, there have been talks of peace; compromise and cooperation between both countries, especially over the dispute of Kashmir. Only through brinkmanship and crisis stability have they been able to contain the last few wars from escalating into an all-out nuclear war. But both are locked into a Prisoner’s Dilemma (PD) on different fronts, on different levels. Although there have been brief periods of peace and cooperation, some incidents have led to a

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