Diplomatic Divide

by David Page

Diplomatic Divide is the first volume of a publishinginitiative entitled Cross-border Talks which attempts to provide a new forum todebate the issues that divide India and Pakistan. An overview of bilateralrelations by two senior retired diplomats who have served as ambassadors to eachother's countries, the canvas the book paints is vast, stretching from the early1980s to the present day. It covers the end of the Cold War, the liberalizationof world trade, the growth of fundamentalism and a revolution incommunications. The two accounts provide first-hand impressions of prime movers-Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, General Zia ul Haq, BenazirBhutto, Nawaz Sharif and General Musharraf - as well as descriptions ofsignificant episodes: hijacks by Kashmiri separatists, India's Punjab crisis,'Operation Brass Tacks', Vajpayee's bus Yatra to Lahore, the Kargilconfrontation and the Agra Summit. Thoughtful and insightful Diplomatic Divide attempts to bridge the divide.

138 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 2004

About the author

David Page was a British journalist, historian, media expert, academic, educator, author and policy researcher. He developed a firm interest in South Asia and he extensively engaged in researching South Asian related demographic aspects and political landscape. He was also responsible for handling majority of the radio broadcasts in South Asian languages. He was a keen observer of the major sequence of events which took place in South Asia. He was also a former editor and manager of the BBC South Asian Services. He spent over 20 years working closely with the BBC World Service as its correspondent.

Reviews

[Regina Bangun · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was OKAY. Let me explain.

We’ll be going through what seems like a diary from both India’s and Pakistan’s Representatives. They were G. Parthasarathy, a Former Indian High Commissioner to Australia and dr. Humayun Khan, a Pakistani Politician. Yes we’re told from each of their POV’s and it was very palpable to be honest. Their feelings, their tensions, and mostly their thoughts were written very blatant within the story and thus making it quite smh enjoyable for me. We’re also gonna look through lots and lots of TALKS that were unfortunately ineffective and inefficient because the countries relationship has never gotten any better hitherto so yea. And lastly, I love how sometimes the story just got very easy to read as both the ambassadors just mainly talked about their routine and little simple family gatherings they did even in the midst of their super preoccupying schedules so yea it was really easy to mingle with.

NOW THE PROBLEM. Some parts were so boring up until the point I felt like my eyes were gouged out and I felt VERY TIRED reading it. But I pulled through it and kinda forced myself at some parts because there was nothing and the conflict was simply stagnant. So ya, I was struggling A LOT for some parts. When the story picked up its tension then it just faltered again immediately and so I was like akxkakkxlazllzla WHYYYYY. But anyway, i got through it and now I’m feeling proud of myself for being able to get through it. So yea that’s my quick short review. I’m tired but happy and BYE. Happy reading y’all!!