India-Pakistan: A link sustained only through violence

In the spirit of all the Indo-Pak back and forth that happens on BP, here is one more perspective. This is strictly my view. Naturally there are several layers to the Indo-Pak relationship that cannot be captured in one article and I am certainly no expert on this subject. With these caveats, here goes.

1. Religion

The first, obvious dynamic that plays out between India and Pakistan is religion. The Muslims case for the creation of Pakistan was based on two points:

(a) Some Muslims wanted a ethnically homogeneous state because they believed Muslims themselves constitute a separate nation and desired to have their national home

(b) Because some Muslims claimed experience showed that Hindus want to use their majority to treat Muslims as second class citizens in an alien state.

(Ref: Pakistan or the partition of India by B.R.Ambedkar – Both Jinnah and Gandhi considered this book to be the authority on the subject)

Those who chose India completely rejected these notions then, and do so even today. That DOES NOT mean Indians reject the reality of the Pakistani state. If anything, its the exact opposite. Only fools would want partition to ever be undone.

Why is this relevant today? Well, listen to Asim Munir:

He repeats verbatim the same two foundational principles of partition.

How do these principles manifest on the ground? During the Pahalgam terrorist attack. Tourists were asked to state their religion, Muslims were let off and Hindus were asked to recite the kalma. those who could were spared and those who couldn’t were shot dead. These tourists had come from regions of India that had nothing to do with India-Pak dynamics.

Naturally, Indians saw this as a challenge to the very idea of India and the military response reflected that. Incidents like Pahalgam serve to only strengthen the prevailing view today in India that Pakistan is a failed Islamic state that is stuck in the past, with nothing to offer but violence.

Well, what about Muslims, Kashmiris, and their “struggles” ? It’s best to see this video by Shah Faesal (2010 Indian Administrative Service examination topper and first Kashmiri topper).

In this video, the segment on ‘terrorists not misguided youth’ is particularly powerful. He talks about his father’s murder by militants and his father’s views on India. The entire podcast is a great watch. Anyone dismissing Shah’s views is denying the obvious. There are some hard truths here to ponder on.

The first –  The Pakistani belief that the Indian Muslim is a second class citizen, is fiction. The indian state does not discriminate. There is hard public domain data that anyone serious about wanting to know, can verify.

Second – The Kashmir door has closed for Pakistan. Keep on harping about disputed territory but that game is over.

2. Pakistani elites are dangerously ignorant

The Pakistani establishment elites have zero understanding of modern India. They don’t make any serious effort to understand it. Sahir Shamshad Mirza’s keynote address at NUST on 16th october is a typical example of this ignorance. He says Pakistan has come to certain conclusions about India and its armed forces, after deep study. The conclusion according to him was that the Indian system has a “politicised military and militarised polity”, calling it a “dangerous combination”. Such conclusions are laughable but the Pakistani brass loves it’s own kool aid.

Another evidence of how ignorant Pakistani elites are about India can be found in an interview Najam Sethi once took of the Indian chief election commissioner M S Gill.

(I had seen the video on youtube but it is no longer available. A discussion on that interview can be found here).

Sethi expressed surprise that Gill, a Sikh, was made India’s chief election commissioner. He asked Gill whether India followed some sort of a quota system to provide representation to individuals from non-Hindu religious denominations. Gill firmly responded that whether it was him or his successor S. Y. Quraishi, they were all appointed on merit and the Indian system doesn’t consider religious beliefs when appointing individuals to positions in Government. Sethi’s body language showed he didn’t believe it.

Pakistani elites are in complete denial about India’s success, despite hiccups, as a modern, secular democracy. It’s understandable because acknowledging that would bring into question the raison d’être for Pakistan itself.

On the economic front, read this article by Mosharraf Zaidi ().

Regarding Pakistan’s economy and human indices, here is Hussain Haqqani from 12 years ago.

Highest population growth in south asia, half the population below the age of 21, 1/3rd below poverty line, 1/3rd just above poverty line, very poor school enrollment. Furqan too has written about this.

To state the obvious, India and Pakistan have drifted far apart and there is no comparison now. So why is there still an India-Pak discussion at all?  Because India does have a dumpster truck problem (Thank you for the analogy, Asim Munir). Ask any Indian on the street and he/she will tell you that another terror attack is around the corner. The Pakistanis, notwithstanding the bluster, were hammered during Op-Sindoor. They are now smarting and hurt. Sahir Mirza’s lecture at NUST and Asim Munir’s lecture at the Pakistan Military Academy all hint at a restless Pakistani establishment itching for retribution.

All that Indians will do now is look for ways to prevent a future attack from Pakistan. In short, Pakistan survives in Indian consciousness only because of the cycles of violence. There is nothing else left to sustain the link. A few years more and this too will end.