Addendum: On Labels, Nations, and Misunderstandings

One point that came through clearly in our back-and-forth is this: intellectual life doesn’t always align with party politics. In Pakistan, many left thinkers operate through small parties but their energy is still ideological, civic, and oppositional. In India, much of the intellectual left today is post-party, increasingly disconnected from Congress or AAP, and more fluid than aligned.

But the deeper misunderstanding is civilizational not just political. Many Indians struggle to see Pakistan beyond state narratives; many Pakistanis sever themselves from the cultural memory of pre-Partition India. Terms like Bharat, Hindustan, or even Akhand Bharat are felt differently across the border; often triggering assumptions that don’t land the same at home.

India sees itself as civilizational. Pakistan sees itself as ideological. Neither framing is inherently wrong — but the refusal to understand the other’s vocabulary with curiosity rather than suspicion creates endless friction.

And then there’s media: Bollywood reduces Muslims to fanatics; Pakistanis feel erased or vilified. But just as cinema isn’t scripture, neither is every slogan a threat. We need to separate language from paranoia, heritage from hegemony, and critique from caricature.

There is more room for empathy than we often admit. And the biggest failure may not be ideological; it’s a failure of imagination. Of seeing the other as they see themselves.

If Brown Pundits can do anything, it should be to host that complexity, not erase it.