Kartarpur Corridor: Re-defining Security in South Asian Region

Abstract

Relations between India and Pakistan have been a securitizing factor in South Asian Region, witnessing several breakdowns, a history of mistrust, broken promises, and unending conflicts. These conflicts de-securities the whole region. This paper seeks to analyze Indo-Pak relations in the context of security and conflict in the South Asian Region in an attempt to understand the national security paradigm and view the Kartarpur corridor as a ‘Corridor of hope’. This paper is a qualitative theoretical study that uses the methodology of discourse analysis and implies the theoretical framework of Regional Security Complex Theory (RSCT) to re-examine the security concept. The Kartarpur corridor provides an opportunity to transform Indo-Pak relations from a military aspect to new concerns of security such as political, economic, social, and environmental changes, paving the way towards better diplomatic relations, greater economic ties, regional peace, and securitizing the region. The international security paradigm explicitly reveals that the Kartarpur corridor is a gesture of goodwill from Pakistan. In this paper, the RSCT model broadens the security definition, redefines the security dilemma among historical rivals -India and Pakistan- and highlights Kartarpur Corridor’s prospects that enhance cooperation and peace in the region.