PAKISTAN-SOVIET UNION RELATIONS (1947-60): DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS, SECURITY INTERESTS AND ALLIANCE POLITICS

Abstract

This study is an investigation of the relations between Pakistan and the Soviet Union during the period 1947-1960, focusing on the aspects of diplomatic relations, security interests, ideological differences, and alliance politics. The period was very important in shaping the future course of bilateral relations, as it was a time of the emergence of Pakistan as a new state and the consolidation of the Cold War. The Soviet Union was not originally in favour of the ideology of the establishment of Pakistan but did not take an openly hostile attitude and did establish diplomatic relations with Pakistan. But mutual suspicion, ideological differences, divergent perceptions of national interests, and competing foreign-policy priorities hampered the development of close relations. Ideological differences between Pakistan's Islamic identity and the Soviet Union's Marxist-Leninist orientation and Moscow's concerns about Pakistan's strategic location in South Asia led to tensions. Security and economic demands of Pakistan, especially its apprehensions about India and Kashmir, gradually led to increased ties with the United States. Pakistan's involvement in Western-sponsored security arrangements thus became a major cause of Soviet concern in the 1950's. The study suggests that ideological differences are not the only factors that can account for Pakistan-Soviet relations. Instead, security needs, economic considerations, regional tensions and Cold War alliance politics were all factors in determining the nature of the relationship. The study explores these factors and thus illuminates the impact of foreign-policy decisions of a newly independent and strategically vulnerable state on its ties with a major Cold War power. The study concludes that the years 1947-1960 laid the basic foundations of cooperation, suspicion and strategic competition that later defined the relations between Pakistan and the USSR.

Keywords: Pakistan, Soviet Union, Cold War, Alliance Politics, Security, Diplomacy, Great Powers, Ideology and Economic Dependency.