Cooperative Monitoring Center Occasional Paper/17: Preventing Another India-Pakistan War: Enhancing Stability Along the Border

This occasional paper assesses the role of cooperative monitoring technology for enhanced border stability, the absence of which has been a leading cause for war in the subcontinent. An assessment of the role of confidence building measures (CBMs) in India-Pakistan relations is undertaken in order to demonstrate that these have been adopted even during past periods of poor relations between the two countries. The authors examine specific parts of the common border and offer an analysis of the types of monitoring technology useful in limiting problems. By using technical monitoring and inspections, each side can begin to replace suspicion and doubt with knowledge and information useful in making informed political, military, and economic decisions while at the same time building confidence through common interactions. This paper makes the case for future engagement between India and Pakistan as encouraged in the course of President Clinton’s visit to India and Pakistan in March 2000.