India's Foreign Policy and Regional Relations

Shimla agreement was signed by Indian PM Indira Gandhi and Pakistan President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto on 2nd July 1971. It was a comprehensive blue print for maintaining good neighborly relations. Moreover, it brought about the withdrawal of troops and the exchange of prisoners of war. Emphasis was on maintaining each other's territorial integrity, sovereignty, non-interference in internal affairs and renounce hostile propaganda. 

The Indo-Pakistani war of 1971 was fought with the backdrop of international politics of the United States. US Navy task force fleet of US 7th fleet was deployed in the Bay of Bengal by the President Nixon administration in December 1971. It was a show of force by the USA in support of Pakistan. As the Soviet Union was aligned with India, the Indo-Pakistani war threatened to spread beyond the borders of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. 

India has fought four wars with Pakistan which are as follows: 

India played a major role in the independence of Bangladesh in the war fought in 1971. India-Bangladesh shares a friendly relation and Bangladesh is surrounded by Indian territory and shares 54 rivers with India. The Ganga run through the North Indian States and at the end of the downstream it enters Bangladesh. The major area of dispute between India and Bangladesh is India's construction and operation at Farakka Bridge. The aim of construction of the Farakka Barrage was to increase the lean period flow of the Bhagirathi-Hooghly branch of Ganga to increase the water depth at the Kolkata port which was threatened by siltation to facilitate the navigators. The inadequacy of water during lean season to meet the demand is the major root cause of conflict. The Bangladesh government feels that the reduction in flow adversely impacted the agriculture, industry, and ecology in the basin areas.

Major population of Sri Lanka and Japan practice Buddhist religion. Major population of Nepal practice Hindu religion. Major population in Pakistan practice muslim religion.

The Bangladesh War of Independence or the Bangladesh Liberation War refers to an armed conflict between West Pakistan now Pakistan and East Pakistan now known as Bangladesh that lasted for roughly nine months in 1971. The war resulted in Bangladesh's independence from Pakistan.

Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had concluded that instead of taking in millions of refugees, it was economical to go to war against Pakistan. As early as 28 April 1971, the Indian Cabinet had asked General Manekshaw to go into East Pakistan. Hostile relations in the past between India and Pakistan added to India’s decision to intervene in Pakistan’s civil war. Resultantly, the Indian government decided to support the creation of a separate state for ethnic Bengalis by supporting the Mukti Bahini.

The Territorial disputes of India and Nepal include Kalapani and Susta.The Kali River borders the Nepalese zone of Mahakali and the Indian state of Uttarakhand. The Kali River runs through an area that includes a disputed area of about 400 km². Susta is an Indian Army controlled area. It lies between Tribenisusta, Nepal and Nichaul, Uttar Pradesh, India.

Mohammed Ayub Khan was a Pakistani politician and army general. He served as the second president of Pakistan. It was his idea to establish a joint defence of India and Pakistan.

Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant is the single largest nuclear power station in India, situated in Tirunelveli district of Tamilnadu. It was the outcome of an inter-governmental agreement between India and Russia.

MOUs for strengthening cooperation in the fields of rural development, education and standardisation between the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) and Afghan National Standardisation Authority were signed between Afghanistan and India during the visit of Hamid Karzai the president of Afghanistan. This took place during his visit to India in April 2006.

Three ''foundational'' defence Agreements of India with USA includes following:

• CISMOA stands for Communication and Information Security Memorandum Agreement: according to this agreement India and US gets access to the secret technologies and communications among each other
  
• LSA refers to Logistics Support Agreement: this agreement enables the mutual exchange of support, supplies, and services between the defence forces of both the countries.
  
• BECA refers to Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement: this is a geo-spatial cooperation agreement. This agreement would facilitate the exchange of geospatial information between India and USA.
  

The 17th Indo-Russian bilateral annual summit was held in Goa. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin met on October 15, 2016, and signed a total of 16 agreements at the 17th annual bilateral summit in Goa. This agreement involves various deals ranging from defense to energy and investment. 

McMahon Line is the border between India and China. It was an agreement between Britain and Tibet as part of the Shimla Accord, a treaty signed in 1914. The line is named after Sir Henry McMahon, foreign secretary of the British-run Government of India.

Barak Obama was the President of America who visited India twice while in his office. His first visit to India was in the year 2010, November 6–9 and the second visit was in 2015, January 25–27 to participate in Republic Day celebrations.

The McMahon Line is a line agreed to by Britain and Tibet as part of the Shimla Accord. It is the effective boundary between China and India, although its legal status is disputed by the Chinese government.

• Bill Clinton visited India in March 2000
  
• George W. Bush visited India in March 2006.
  
• Barak Obama was the president of America who visited India twice in his office. His first visit to India was in the year 2010, November 6–9 and the second visit was in 2015, January 25–27 to participate in the Republic Day celebrations.
  

The Tashkent Declaration was a peace agreement between India and Pakistan signed on 10 January 1966 that resolved the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965. Peace had been achieved on 23 September by the intervention of the great powers who pushed the two nations to cease fire, afraid the conflict could escalate and draw in other powers.

Kashmir the northern most state of India is the reason for conflict between the two countries India and Pakistan. It is known for its majestic landscape. The territory under dispute lies in India's Kashmir Valley, separated from Pakistan by the 450-mile Line of Control. 

U Thant was a Burmese diplomat and the third secretary-general of the United Nations from 1961 to 1971. He was the first European to hold this position. The India- Pakistan War of 1965 and Conflict of 1971 between India and Pakistan broke out in Kashmir in early August of 1965 soon spread along the entire length of the International border from the Lahore area to the sea.

Sino-Indian relations refer to the relation between India and China. Sino means Chinese people. China is the largest trading partner of India and is also one of the neighbouring countries of India.

US President George W. Bush visited India and Pakistan in March 2006 on a five-day trip. During this period Dr. Manmohan Singh was the Prime Minister of India. The main goal of the visit was to strengthen American relations with two Asian countries India and Pakistan.

On October 20, 1962, China's People's Liberation Army invaded India in Ladakh, and across the McMahon Line in the then North-East Frontier Agency.

The United States is India’s second largest trading partner of India first being China. The total trade worth 72,347.42 million US Dollars took place between these countries for the financial year 2014–15.

Rajiv Gandhi, late prime minister of India was assassinated, in Tamilnadu, on 21 May 1991. The attack was carried by Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a militant organization from Sri Lanka. 

India and Bangladesh share 54 rivers between them. India has had differences with Bangladesh over sharing of water of Brahmaputra river,  Teesta river, Meghna river, Ganga river, Jamuna river etc. The reason for the conflict was to how to share the water resources effectively between both the countries.

The Bangladesh Liberation War also known as the Bangladesh War of Independence, or simply the Liberation War in Bangladesh, was a revolution and armed conflict sparked by the rise of the Bengali nationalist and self-determination movement in East Pakistan and the 1971 Bangladesh genocide. It resulted in the independence of the People's Republic of Bangladesh. The war began after the Pakistani military junta based in West Pakistan launched Operation Searchlight against the people of East Pakistan on the night of 25 March 1971. It pursued the systematic elimination of nationalist Bengali civilians, students, intelligentsia, religious minorities and armed personnel. The junta annulled the results of the 1970 elections and arrested Prime Minister-elect Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

Srilanka is an Island country located in the Indian Ocean to the south of India.  Sri Lanka has maritime borders with India to the northwest and the Maldives to the southwest. Sri Lanka was known from the beginning of British colonial rule until 1972 as Ceylon which is now known as Srilanka. 

The India-Bangladesh Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Peace was a 25-year treaty that was signed on 19 March 1972. The treaty was also known as the Indira-Mujib Treaty. The signatories of the treaty were Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi and the Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

The Simla Agreement was signed by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto of Pakistan on 2nd July 1972. It was much more than a peace treaty seeking to reverse the consequences of the 1971 war i.e. to bring about withdrawals of troops.

From times, Tibet has served as buffer zone between India and China. But it’s not so in present times. In 1959, China occupied Tibet and since then the border has become a contentious issue between India and China.

On October 7^th, 1950 the units of the Chinese People's Liberation Army crossed the River Yangtze into Kham, the eastern province of Tibet in the foothills of the Himalayas.

It is not a reason at all.

Sir Cyril Radcliffe was the chairman of the Boundary Commissions appointed to demarcate the borders between India and Pakistan in 1947.

On October 20 1962, China's People's Liberation Army invaded India across McMohan line on the northeast frontier and Ladakh. A disputed Himalayan region was the main reason for the war along with other issues. Unable to reach a political solution on the disputed 3,225 km Himalayan border, China launched attack. Chinese troops had captured Rezang La in Chushul and Tawang region.  

The India - Pakistan war of 1971 started on December 3 and it lasted 13 days, which led to the surrender of Pakistan to India and liberation of East Pakistan which is today known as Bangladesh. It started with Pakistani Air Force launching a pre-emptive strike on 11 airfields in northwestern India. The war ended when the chief of Pakistani forces General Amir Abdullah Khan Niazi and his 93,000 troops surrendered to the joint forces of Indian Army and Mukti Bahini. 

Indian Army conducted surgical strikes on terror launch pads across the Line of Control. DGMO Lieutenant General Ranbir Singh said the motive of the operation was to hit out at terrorists planning to infiltrate into  the Indian territory.

The five principles of peace known as the Panchsheel Treaty Non-interference in others internal affairs and respect for each other's territorial unity, integrity, and sovereignty. Panchsheel is a set of principles to govern relations between states. The principles were emphasized by the Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru at Ministers conference in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

India is a country with unbounded faith in peace. India played a great role in setting many world disputes and thereby maintained peace and security. India has time and again declared her determination to pursue the path of peace and take effective action for the promotion of international peace, security, and cooperation.

Panchsheel, or the Five Principles of Peaceful Co-existence, were first formally enunciated in the Agreement on Trade and Intercourse between the Tibet region of China and India signed on April 29, 1954.