Crisis Communications: Indian and Pakistani Perspectives on Responsible Practices

Through the analytical lens of nuclear responsibilities, the papers offer a fresh perspective on the implications of the distrust-driving dynamics6 in the India-Pakistan relationship for the functioning of communication mechanisms and Confidence Building Measures (CBMs) in crisis situations. [...] ‘Because of all the distortions, pathologies, and biases in the communication process that are detailed in this compendium, the key challenge remains how to reduce the mutual distrust that produces and reproduces these failures of signalling.’ Previous BASIC-ICCS Nuclear Responsibilities dialogues have identified the use of nuclear jingoism in social media and the mass media in both countries as a. [...] All the essays in this collection highlight the pernicious operation of a Holsti’s ‘bad faith model’ in India-Pakistan interactions and the urgent need to find ways of presenting the adversary in a better and more positive light that challenges the mutual identity blaming driving the conflict. [...] ‘A war-like atmosphere is created, growing the conviction in the public mind that further escalation and aggression is the only resolution to any crisis, and that the best leaders are those who promise this.’ Government-Media Cooperation and the Media's India-Pakistan Coverage From the get go, the governments of India and Pakistan both knew that the press in each country could play a role in India. [...] However, the learning early on about the perils and complexities of the stability-instability paradox – a concept whereby the presence of nuclear weapons can paradoxically create incentives for low-level conflicts and provoke instability 77 Peace Agreements Digital Collection, United States Institute for Peace, ‘Agreement Between the Government of India and the Government of the Islamic Republic o.