Book ‘Shaking Hands with Clenched Fists' launched

Islamabad : India and Pakistan are the two antagonists’ nuclear powers in South Asia that decidedly embroils the social, economic and political dynamics of the entire region.

The book ‘Shaking Hands with Clenched Fists’ by Dr Asma Shakir Khawaja is the first academic account which is anticipated to represent Pakistan’s narrative on the India-Pakistan relations. The content of the book encompasses the CBMs and bilateral relations between both India and Pakistan, therefore, this book would definitely provide a great deal of pertinent insight to the peace builders, policymakers, government officials, students, researchers, social scientists, historians and scholars of international relations. The book launched recently also carries a unique attraction since no one has written on this topic before and particularly from the perspective of Pakistan.

‘Shaking Hands with Clenched Fists’ is vital as it is expected to holistically shed light on the bilateral relations between India and Pakistan. Categorically explaining the nature of social, economic and political affairs, from past till present, by identifying the loopholes, disagreements and differences of interest, reasons behind lack of political will for sustainable peace, intentions with Kashmir (a disputed territory), failure of Confidence Building Measures (CBMs), Pakistan’s cooperation vs India’s expansionist approach, role of perception building in derailing peace processes, conflict over natural resources, impact of treaty violations, and affected masses in sub-continent due to socio-political tensions between long-standing rivalries. Thus, in totality, not a single domain is left untouched in this book that defines the genesis of complex bilateral relations going on between India and Pakistan for centuries.

The bone of contention and hostile relations between India and Pakistan are predominantly credited to the Kashmir Conflict also due to which both countries have fought three wars; war of 1947, war of 1965 and the Kargil war 1999, other than wars the dispute of Kashmir has kept India and Pakistan engaged in numerous military confrontations as well. The worst part of having hostile relations is it keeps both countries busy in exhausting huge amount of resources over arms race and the uncertainty of relationship has also resulted in the nuclearisation of the South Asian region. Since India and Pakistan are power asymmetric in conventional weaponry, therefore, the only improvement that nuclearisation of the India and Pakistan has brought in the region is it had successfully maintained negative peace between both countries since 1999.

India’s foreign policy and media policy has always been aggressive towards Pakistan apart from their national hatred which is continuously making peacekeeping efforts like Cricket Diplomacy, Cultural Diplomacy and various peace initiatives unsuccessful, often due to indigenous pressure and inflexibility at state level India has banned Pakistani actors/actresses and entertainment medium even over the slightest dispute at regional level. On contrary, Pakistan’s policies towards India are much diplomatic and subtle, besides experiencing frequent offensive attacks, breaches of truce and treaties from Indian side either its violation of Indus Water Treaty or Line of Control, Pakistan remain on defensive mode.

In addition to adverse and antagonist media role, there are several books, articles and research papers written by Indian authors with the biased subject and anti-Pakistan sentiments vastly propagating India’s narrative, which are playing the predominant role in developing hatred and perception building among the Indian nation.

Amidst of all this, a dynamic effort by Dr Asma Shakir Khawaja on academic fronts is much-needed work, especially to counter the strong anti-Pakistan narrative. And it is expected to prove prolific at various altitudes, as ‘Shaking Hands with Clenched Fists’ is focused to represent Pakistan’s perspective and Pakistan’s continuous efforts to flourish peaceful bilateral relations between the two. The book is anticipated to make a huge difference as it would not only encourage researchers, scholars, and academicians to write on Pakistan’s perspective to bridge the literature and academic gap but would also provide means to an ends to improve relations in the entire South Asian region. If both countries are genuinely seeking perpetual peace and sustainable relations than this book would definitely provide an enlightened approach for dispute management and means of preserving healthy bilateral relations, particularly because the author of the book is expert in conflict resolution, peace building, geopolitics and India-Pakistan relations. Both countries have made mistakes in the past, blaming each other and remaining in the state of denial only stagnates the peace/developmental processes, therefore, to mitigate security dilemma and for regional development, it is imperative that India and Pakistan move towards solidarity and mutual collaboration.