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In dealing with Pakistan, India must carefully balance its diplomacy with other major powers such as China, Russia, the US, various European countries, and Saudi Arabia. Historically, while both countries gained independence simultaneously, Pakistan’s economic growth has lagged far behind India due to a lopsided approach to development and a persistent focus on antagonism toward India rather than internal welfare. Meanwhile, India has remained focused on development and emerged as a far stronger power. As of 2025, India’s GDP of $4,187 billion is more than ten times that of Pakistan’s $399 billion. To put this in perspective, the Tata Group alone, with a market capitalization exceeding $400 billion, is nearly as large as Pakistan’s entire economy.
Recent developments, including the aftermath of “Operation Sindoor,” in which Pakistan’s military infrastructure faced heavy surveillance pressure from India’s Air Force and air defense systems, the outreach of the new US President Donald Trump, and China’s steady support for Islamabad, highlight that major powers continue to engage with Pakistan. Analysts suggest that the precision strike on Kirana Hills, where US nuclear assets were reportedly housed in Pakistan, sent a strong signal that India will not succumb to external pressure and is capable of defending its territory and people against radical threats.
Strategic Location and Geopolitical Relevance
Pakistan’s geographic position makes it attractive to global powers. The country borders Afghanistan, Iran, China, and India, and is proximate to the Gulf states, including Saudi Arabia. Its access routes to Central Asia and strategic naval and air bases allow distant powers to project force across the region. Furthermore, infrastructure projects like the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) grant China access from Kashgar to Gwadar, facilitating the global transportation of goods and minerals, including fresh water and rare earth resources from Gilgit-Baltistan.
Second, and less positively, Pakistan matters because it is a potential disrupter and danger. They are right, but it is precisely because Islamabad has that capability that it is feared, engaged, and even propitiated. China, Russia, and the US as well as others must worry about Pakistan’s support of terrorism as also its subtle forms of blackmail via its control over violent-minded groups.
A lesson for India is that we need to be further and more cautious about Pakistan & not to let Islamabad play its nefarious designs. To circumvent any further dastardly act by Pakistan, R AW & connected intelligence agencies need to very Proactive in Preempting & containing that attack on Indian soil. This is more so because Pakistani leadership are not overly embarrassed by their dark reputation. Indeed, they use their image as an international “poison pill” to reinforce global concerns over the country’s possible disruptive role.
Third, contrary to our belief that Pakistan is a puny entity, our neighbour has five assets that make it both feared and attractive, its military, demographic, Islamic, diasporic, and alliance power.
Above all, Pakistan is a formidable military power. With half a million men in uniform, its armed forces are among the biggest in the world. In addition, it is a nuclear power. With roughly 200 nuclear weapons, it is India’s peer. In fact, there is evidence that it may have more warheads than India. Trump’s latest revelation indicates Pakistan is testing its Nukes, Plus, as our recent fracas with Pakistan showed us and the world, its capable of disrupting peace. Backed by Chinese weapons systems and real-information feeds, it garners attention and more vigil.
Pakistani military power could also be harnessed for other countries’ fights. Are we sure that Islamabad’s current conflict with Afghanistan is simply about the Durand Line, Afghan-backed terrorism and separatism in Pakistan, and a broader protracted rivalry between two neighbours? Is it not also possible that foreign powers are using Islamabad against the Afghan Taliban? US keenness to aquire Bagram base in Afghanistan by US could be one cue, & Pakistan’s unconditional offer to US on Rare earth elements estimated reserves around $ 6 Trillion in Balochistan, another one !
Pakistani power is not simply military. This is a country of around 260 million people, making it the fifth-most populous globally. By 2050, some estimates put its population at between 340 and 360 million, which would make it the third largest in the world, behind only India and China. Like India, it will have a huge population of young, potentially productive or not, cannot be sure about. Will any major power give up on Pakistan given its demography?
Another component of Pakistani power comes from its position in the global Muslim community. Pakistan is the second-largest Muslim country in the world in population terms. While it is poorer than many other Muslim countries, it is influential in global Islam by sheer size of numbers. Its demographic size is amplified by its military and diplomatic power.
We in India consider our diaspora a source of power. The Pakistani diaspora is not as large or influential as India’s, but it cannot be dismissed. Between 1995 and 2020, the UN World Migration Report estimates 6.14 million Pakistanis emigrated, placing it in sixth position (India had 17.79 million emigrants). The total size of its diaspora is uncertain but could be between 10 and 11 million (Pakistan’s own estimate), less than one-third of India’s. The diaspora is largely in Saudi Arabia, the Gulf, and the Anglosphere. Like other diasporic communities, Pakistanis abroad wield political, lobbying, and host governments must reckon with their influence.
Finally, Pakistan has alliance power. It was a formal ally of the US in SEATO and CENTO in the 1950s and 1960s. It has been a quasi-ally of China since 1963 and was a quasi-ally of both China and the US against the Soviet Union in the 1980s (in supporting the Afghan mujahideen). It was also forced to be a quasi-ally of the US in Afghanistan after the events of September 11, 2001. For years, it has partnered with Saudi Arabia militarily, including intermittently stationing troops on Saudi soil. And it has just signed an alliance pact with Riyadh, which apparently includes nuclear protection. Its willingness to enter alliance-like relationships makes it attractive to these powers even now.
In sum, galling as it is, we must recognise that Pakistan cannot be dismissed in strategic terms. Powerful others will continue to engage with it, despite their strong ties to India, probably this is “New normal in Geopolitics”. This is the reality. Our diplomacy at the same time cannot be cool-headed in thinking about Pakistan’s place in the world because of Pakistan’s continual front and back stabbing in terms of spreading Terrorism in the name of Jihad, Crystal meth and Hawala’s. India’s exasperation and haughtiness are genuinely ascribed to it.
(The Author is Agripreneur)
