War has never successfully resolved any international dispute.

According to Stanford encyclopedia “War is a phenomenon which occurs only between political communities, defined as those entities which either are states or intend to become states” (Stanford). War can be a conflict between states which is commonly called as classical war or it can be a civil war which arises between government and certain political pressure groups, like terrorist organizations, might also be considered “political communities”. Now one must think that why a war is fought? What is the reason for the war? The main reason of the war is to settle down a dispute which can not be resolved peacefully. That is the answer one would hear. But here the question arises, does war resolve dispute successfully?

History is thought to be a great teacher. We should search the history before making any decision. Let us take the example of Kashmir dispute? The conflict started at the time of partition of the sub continent in 1947. Why the dispute is not resolved in sixty years? About sixty year had past and the issue remained unresolved. Three wars had been fought between Pakistan and India on the dispute of Kashmir. First war started in 1947 when Pakistan army and the pashtun tribal’s from the N.W.F.P attacked Kashmir and invades 73% of the Kashmir. Indian forces entered Kashmir and oppose the attack. The war continued for a bout a year. The second war was fought in 1965. On August 15, 1965, Indian forces crossed the border and launched an attack on the territory of Kashmir administered by Pakistan. Pakistan defended and launched a counterattack and the war spread to the southern parts of Pakistan. The war ended with hardly achieving any goal. Third war was fought between the countries at Kargil district of Kashmir. This war also failed to resolve the Kashmir dispute. One can say that dialogues and negotiations also failed to solve the problem. Yes it is the fact that this issue was not resolved in sixty years because of the wars that couldn’t help in building up strong relations between the countries. So they didn’t come to terms and could solve the dispute peacefully.

War has not helped in settling down an international dispute rather it has provoked the issue. We can notice it from the Secession of East Pakistan. The civil war in East Pakistan started in 1971 when the leader of Awami League, Shiekh Mujib ur Rehman launched a gorilla war against the government of West Pakistan. pakistan tried to settle the dispute by force and sent a large number of paramilitary forces to East Pakistan. Pakistan started search and destroy operation against Mukti Bahini, Bengali rebels. The dispute spread and the war between Pakistan and India started. It is said that India had been providing direct financial and military support for the Mukti Bahini. The result of the war is in front of us. It is thought to be the worst loss Pakistan ever had faced. Pakistan lost half of its territory and about ninety six thousands West Pakistanis were taken as prisoners of war by India.

War helps in spreading the dispute to a large scale instead of resolving it. The war of Afghanistan is the best evidence of the war raising the dispute from lower level to higher level. Afghanistan conflict started in 2001 between U.S and the stated aim of the invasion was to find Osama bin Laden and other high-ranking Al-Qaeda members and put them on trial, to destroy the whole organization of Al-Qaeda, and to remove the Taliban regime which supported and gave safe harbor to Al-Qaeda. And eight years passed and issue remains unsolved. Not only this issue was not resolved but many other difficulties and hurdles came up with time. The war which was fought in Afghanistan spread to Pakistan and now the whole sub-continent is at the peak of terrorism and there seems no end to the war. As a result of this a new war has begun with in Pakistan. The terrorists which were first in Afghanistan only now had spread in the entire world. So how can we be sure that the solution to an international dispute is the war?

Iraq was also attacked by U.S as they claimed Iraq having weapons of mass destruction (WMD) which is threat to the world. At the time, the Iraqi president Saddam Husain was accused to have relations with al-Qaida and supporting them. Saddam Husain has been killed and most of his government officials have been arrested by U.S yet the dispute remains unsolved and the situation of Iraq is going worst day by day. Every day dozen of people die. The numerical value of killings of Iraqis has reached about 100,000-150,000. The issue is not solved but it has been spread. The war has not settled the dispute.

The war against terrorism, the most important issue nowadays, what had happened after about four to five years of struggle against them? Why is the terrorism increasing day by day? The war seems to be failed in finishing the terrorism. What is happening in Waziristan? These are the evidences for the war not solving the issue but creating more and more. The Pakistan’s military starts operation against al-Qaida in 2004. the conflict begun at Waziristan and spread in the whole FATA as many other agencies came under the influence of Taliban like Bajur, Orakzai, and Momand. Then the war took the whole NWFP under it. The war spread to Swat and a severe operation was started against Taliban. Yes it is true that the very severe operation against Taliban in Swat named as Operation Rah-e-Haq rout out the terrorist from Taliban but who can guarantee peace as the main cause behind the operation was to prevail peace in the territory. Terrorist attacks are frequent nowadays not only in Swat but in the whole country. Now the whole Pakistan is the over the flames of this conflict. Even in the capital of Pakistan, Islamabad, military started operation in search of terrorists in I-9 sector about a week ago.

The scrooge of terrorism is now touching everyone’s life. The war which earlier seemed far away in the rugged mountains of FATA and Swat is now knocking strongly at the doors of people in Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi. The successive suicide attacks in the multiple cities in this short time have thrown the country into the pool of despair and misery. (Zaman)

The main concern of the government was to bring peace and stability in the country which is not achieved yet. Now the stability of the country is at high peak than ever had been. Suicide bombing every day, killing own people…. Does this mean the settling of dispute?

So how can we say that war is the only solution for the conflict?

Most of the people think that the World War Two has settled the most dangerous dispute between many countries. As the Japan and Germany, with many allies were at the time threats to most of the countries in the world. Yes, I agree to that but did it really resolve the issue or just hide it from the eyes of the world. I mean to say that the war ended but yet there is cold war between most of the countries. It did not resolve the issue but spread it to the third world countries like Pakistan and Afghanistan. Their secret agencies are doing the most of their desires from third world country’s people. They are using the third world people as puppets. One can now foresee that the war has not resolved any dispute rather it make the situation worst.

War brings damages and destructions not only to the place and living things but also to the issue which can be solved peacefully. From the discussion I conclude that there is no winner or looser in the war but the one who perished and the one who survives. When there is no wining in the war then there is no achieving of goals in the war. Thus by war one can not achieve the very goal for which the war is being fought.