Wars, Proxy-Wars and Terrorism-Post Independent India

The objective of writing this book is to highlight India’s relations with her neighbouring countries such as Pakistan, China and Bangladesh and to show how through different wars India survives as a strong nation and to demonstrate how competently the country’s leadership had been handling the various challenges in the last quarter of the twentieth century and continues to do so in the first decade of the twentyfirst century. India’s independence in 1947, unfortunately, did not mean the end of all the troubles. Since 1947 the Indian people have been forced to bear the brunt of Pakistan-piloted wars. The present problems like proxy-war, cross-border terrorism and Pakistan-inspired terrorist activities in Kashmir have been troubling the leadership and the people of India without end. China and Bangladesh, two other neighbours, have time and again troubled India. Events like the Kargil war and the terrorist attack on India’s Parliament had to be faced by the Indians with great valour and determination. Moreover, events like the terrorist attack in America on September 11, 2001 and the Afghan war too have had many repercussions resulting in additional complications for India. Apart from the confrontations with the neighbours the task of liberating areas like Goa, Daman and Diu, Pondicherry and similar territories from foreign occupation, even after India’s independence, had been arduous. All these issues have been dealt with in this book in a concise but penetrating manner. Of special value is the section on ‘Proxy-War and Cross-Border Terrorism’. The book is a must for any collection on modern Indian history and polity.

Peter Wilson Prabhakar (b. 1960), Professor and Head of the Department of History, Vivekananda College, Puttur, Karnataka, got his Ph.D. degree from Mangalore University, for his thesis on ‘Basel Mission in India’. For the last 20 years he has been in the teaching profession. He has published more than 400 articles in leading state and national-level dailies and journals. He is the recipient of ‘Best Youth Kannada Writer’s State Award’, from All Karnataka Christian Forum for the year 2002. He has also authored five books in the regional Kannada and Tulu languages.