♤ The foundational apprehensions of Pakistan against India and its quest for defining itself as the opposite has led to its intransigence on many issues.

♤ The structure of this relation has been conflict prone and marked by asymmetry.

♤ The pattern in the decades since independence has shown a cycle of Disruption-Dialogue- Disruption. This means cooperation and peace have often taken place parallel to the threats of war or have been disrupted by violent episodes of terrorism.

♤ Though there had been sporadic agreements and treaties signed between India and Pakistan such as the Indus Water Treaty of 1960, the Tashkent Agreement of 1966, and the

Shimla Agreement of 1972, a systematic peace-process between the two adversarial neighbours had never taken off till the Composite Dialogue Process (CDP) in the late 1990s’