ABSTRACT
Two Indian politicians, turned statesmen, created the situation that resulted in an apparently permanent confrontation between two neighboring states; which, many years later, turned the confrontation from a conventional military one into a nuclear one. Their names were Jawaharlal Nehru and Mohammed Ali Jinnah. One of the main aggravating causes of the mutual antagonism between India and Pakistan is often overlooked: Jawaharlal Nehru, one of the two main leaders (with Gandhi) of Indian independence from British colonial rule, regarded himself as a Kashmiri, although born in the Indian province of Jallahabad. India-Pakistan relations changed dramatically in 1971, after guerrillas in Bangladesh (East Pakistan) launched a rebellion against Pakistani rule in August. It seems fair to say that with the Pakistani's comment, the India-Pakistan rivalry, often regarded by the outside world as extremely dangerous to its multiple interests, had reached a new low reminiscent of schoolboy rivalry.
