Pak emerged to be biggest foreign policy challenge for India & crucial actor in the SA region.
Location
Border sharing
- Pak shares border w/
- 3 indian states - Guj, Raj, Punjab
- 2 UT - J&K, Ladakh
Security concerns
Due to border sharing, there are security threats from Pak
- External threats: War, aggression. 4 times (1948, 1965, 1971, 1999)
- Internal threats: cross border terrorism, drug trafficking, proxy warfare, human trafficking, militancy, islamic radicalization, fake currency, illegal weapon smuggling
Gateway to Central Asia
- Pak lies in region where SA converges w/ CA & WA
- Pak also considered zipper state
- situated at doorway to energy surplus WA & resource rich CA
- proximity w/ India, China, Iran
- strategically imp for india