ABSTRACT
The foremost goal of Indian foreign policy is the security of the South Asian subcontinent. Foreign policy is seldom an issue in Indian election campaigns. The prime minister has always dominated Indian foreign policy and policy is formulated and implemented by a small elite. The relationship between India and Pakistan has been the central feature of South Asian international relations since the two nations became independent in 1947. India has seen Pakistan as the chief obstacle to its regional security, while Pakistan has seen India's regional ambitions as threatening its very existence. The difficulties between India and the island nation on India's southeast coast resulted from the spillover of Sri Lanka's ethnic strife between Tamils and Sinhalese and its effect on Indian domestic politics. India's relations with its other two principal South Asian neighbors—Bangladesh and Nepal—were less stormy during 1986 than its relations with Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
