India and its neighbours

Most conflicts in South Asia involve India. Why? India sits in the centre: it is the only country that borders all the others. And it is far bigger than any of them, so neighbours fear being dominated, while India fears instability spilling over its borders.

India and Pakistan:

• Kashmir: wars in 1947–48 and 1965, and a continuing dispute.
• The 1971 war over Bangladesh; the conflict over the Siachen glacier; a dispute over the Sir Creek boundary in the Rann of Kutch.
• An arms race: both tested nuclear weapons in 1998 (Pakistan in the Chagai Hills).
• Charges of supporting militants and terrorism.
• Yet the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960, signed with the help of the World Bank, has survived every war: a rare success.

India and Bangladesh: disagreements over sharing river waters (Ganga and Brahmaputra), migration, and transit. But they cooperate on disasters, trade and the Act East policy, and in 2015 they exchanged enclaves, settling a long border problem.

India and Nepal: a treaty lets citizens of both countries travel and work in each other's country without visas. There are some disputes, over trade and Nepal's ties with China, but the bond is close.

India and Sri Lanka: the Tamil issue and the IPKF strained ties, but they signed a free trade agreement, and India helped after the 2004 tsunami.

Bhutan and the Maldives have generally warm relations with India; India helped the Maldives stop a coup attempt in 1988.

Not every conflict is with India, though: Bangladesh and Myanmar, and Pakistan and Afghanistan, have their own disputes.