CONSIDER THIS: A full-scale nuclear exchange between India and Pakistan could kill up to twelve million people immediately and cause up to seven million non-fatal casualties…….

Nuclear capability: According to an assessment by the Pentagon (New York Times, 28 May 2003), even a limited war, with only a small number of warheads being detonated, would have a cataclysmic effect. Individual nuclear warheads are thought to be capable of producing a 20 kiloton blast, the equivalent of 20,000 tons of TNT. This is comparable to the bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945.

Poverty: South Asia has the highest number of people in the world living below the poverty line. One-third of the 1.4 billion population lives in poverty, one-quarter is hungry, one-fifth of children are out of school, and one-tenth of children die before they reach age five.

Conflict: Kashmir is 'the longest living unresolved conflict in the world.' Since 1947, Pakistan and India have fought three wars, two of them over the disputed region of Kashmir. Since 1989, approximately 60, 000 casualties have died as a result of the dispute in Kashmir.

Population:
India has the world's second largest population, at a current population of about 1.1 billion people. By the year 2050, India will surpass China as the world's most populous nation with a population of over 1.5 billion. It also the world's biggest democracy, with more than 1 billion people representing a myriad religions and ethnicities. It is home to a burgeoning middle-class estimated at 250 million, nearly equal to the entire population of the United States.

Pakistan will rise to be the 4th most populous country in 2015 at 204.3 million. The population will reach 250 million in 2025, 350 million in 2050, in a country that is barely twice th

AND DID YOU KNOW?

• Pakistan and India make up most of the population of South Asia: Both came into being in 1947, after a bloody partition in which 1 million were killed and 12-24 million dislocated.
• HIV prevalence in India is estimated at 3.97 million, ranking second only to South Africa.
• India's software exports have grown over $5 billion in 10 years, and further growth in the IT sector will make India one of the largest generators and exporters of software in the world by 2010.
• India is expected to have 25 million Internet users by 2005, up from 5.5 million at the beginning of 2001.
• India has the greatest number of circulated newspapers

WANT TO LEARN MORE?

Suggested Reading:
Teresita C. Schaffer, Rising India and U.S. Policy Options in Asia, CSIS Report, January 2002

Ramesh Chandra Thakur (Editor), Oddny Wiggen (Editor), South Asia in the World: Problem-Solving Perspectives on Security, Sustainable Development, and Good Governance United Nations Publications; (March 2004)

Stephen Philip Cohen, India: Emerging Power, The Brookings Institution; (October 1, 2002)

Owen Bennett Jones, Pakistan: The Eye of the Storm, Yale University Press; 2nd edition (August 22, 2002)

Sumantra Bose Kashmir : Roots of Conflict, Paths to Peace, Harvard University Press; (September 2003)

Devin T. Hagerty, The Consequences of Nuclear Proliferation: Lessons from South Asia (BCSIA Studies in International Security) MIT Press; (August 14, 1998)

Ashley J. Tellis, Ready Arsenal, India's Emerging Nuclear Posture: Between Recessed Deterrent, RAND; 1st edition (September 15, 2001)

George Perkovich, India's Nuclear Bomb: The Impact on Global Proliferation, University of California Press; Updated edition (November 5, 2001)

Websites:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/south_asia/

http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/SSEAL/SouthAsia/

http://www.sacw.net/

http://www.saneinetwork.org/index.asp

http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/pk.html

http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/in.html