Since the world has been set alight and everyone has a theory, I will put out my pet theory and invite comments. In 1930 Allama Iqbal (supposed father of the idea of Pakistan) proposed a consolidated Muslim state in Northwest India as a solution to the problem of Muslim Nationalism in India. The part that is relevant to us today is his claim that such a state will defend India against the Barbarians to its West (his words were: “the North-West Indian Muslims will prove the best defenders of India against a foreign invasion, be that invasion one of ideas or of bayonets. “).
Iqbal, being a romantic Islamist in an age when the British Empire seemed a permanent fact of life had confused ideas about many things, and his vision of a Northwest Muslim state was as confused and romantic as any of his other dreams, but in this case he hit on something real.. Pakistan is the buffer that protects India from the Middle Eastern snakepit. Of course, it is also an example of the same snakepit extending into the Indian subcontinent, but it is worth remembering that India at one point was almost entirely colonized by Islalmicate invaders from the Northwest. Now that invasive colonial culture is concentrated in Pakistan; and with the war with Afghanistan, it is now directed against the very people it once idealized.
So my point is that Indians should thank Jinnah for his service. They now have a fighting chance of escaping the Middle eastern cannon fodder trap and becoming a successful Asian country.
Choose wisely. Let Pakistan be more in the Middle East. Be more Asian.
And for Pakistan the answer is also the same. Try to be more Indian, less Middle eastern. But our road home may be convoluted. Even Indonesia is not home free, our path is going to be rockier..
Here is the relevant quote from the Allahabad address (full text in link)
The Imambargah attack was officially claimed by ISKP, who are sworn enemies of Taliban. The Balochistan attacks were by the leftists at BLA, with no love for Taliban.
The recent round of attacks in Afghanistan by Pakistan are can be explained as a ruse to avoid getting involved in Iran-Saudi or Gaza deployment. Or it could be some messaging to Taliban. Or it could be finding an easier medium term enemy. India can destroy GHQ if poked, Afghanistan can’t.
Afghanistan has made the big mistake of being a land empire at war on two fronts. Tajikistan and Pakistan can rip that country into two. US no longer around for nation building. Their weapons and vehicles have no spares and with Iran in tatters there is no hope of resupply.
Good comment
>>But our road home may be convoluted.
Yes, But I think about 10 years from now or thereabouts, we are going to start seeing…..green shoots of cultural and economic … ghar waapsi π
I donβt think Muslims will ghar waapsi because they are βbrokenβ per se
oh I didn’t mean conversion or change in religion at all – just a … gradual shift away from the “India and hindus bad, bad, very bad” silliness. In Pak terms, a so-called “software update”
Yes, and it will not be a change in religion, they will just become more Indian Muslims and less Muslim Indians.. Green shoots in ten years, actual change to Indic Islam in the next 75..
As far as I know; Iran was attacked, how does that make them “barbarians”?
It does not.. barbarians is just code for Islamist in this case, there are no other ideologies in play on that front.. In the Asian century, all groups that fight for various sky gods will be an anachronism (and will be called barbarians by the Chinese too)
and will be called barbarians by the Chinese too
Chinese dont say stufff like that (may be in Mandarin)
What I like about the Chinese is they have their own economic and governance. (Which I am sure they think is the best). But they dont push their systems onto others.
They will trade do business with anyone. Their thinking seems to be do it in whatever way you seem fit. We wont preach to you. If you succeed we will continue to do business. Or if you like give us to run the it (typically resource extraction) and we will give you a reasonable share of profits.
To seems very core Buddhist thinking.
No wonder the West (and India) hate them
boy you really have no idea about what the chinese think of foreigners do you, especially those with melanin.
boy you really have no idea about what the chinese think of foreigners do you, especially those with melanin
I do first hand. Unlike you I was in Grad School in the US in the 1990’s. It was just after Tienanmen Square. The US decided to allow many Mainland Chinese as Graduate students. Many in the Marine Sciences Research Center (where I studied) and even more in the Main Uni.
I shared Grad housing too for two with them till my wife came
I got on well with them for 8 years. I never heard them use derogatory words to me or other colored students. (did they have low opinion, probably)
The Mainland Chinese were quite raw and not very polished/ The Taiwanese were quite polished
The Chinese wouldnβt have Epstein lurking & manipulating for decades..
why are you so fond of presuming that you are somehow the only one with ‘firsthand’ experiences.
why are you so fond of presuming that you are somehow the only one with βfirsthandβ experiences.
You are the one who said you mainly live among desis.
Anyway, why not write about you “firsthand” experience. Some photos too please to back your stories.
To Add
Mainland Chinese Graduate students were even given Green Cards within a year. No waiting, no needing to graduate and get a job
I was not just students who were brought in from Mainland China, Professors with PhD’s from China, One became Dean of the Center after about 6 years. He was on my PhD committee
Amen
Already happened in some places.
Pakistan falls under CENTCOM along with all of the war torn Middle Eastern countries, India falls under INDOPACOM along with all of the Asian tigers – both developed and soon to be developed by mid-century.
World Bank classifies Pakistan as part of MENAP while India is in “South Asia”.
Indonesia will make it cause they live in a good neighbourhood (economically) and are racially different.
Like Turkey and Albania, these things matter.
Too little, too late.
Indian sympathies lie more with Afghan people than Pakistan. And I mean beyond proxy war.
All in all, both nations and their way of fighting are quite pathetic. High casualties, cheap value of life, terrorist proxy warfare. Itβs high time both nations realised that the likes of Ghaznavi, Ghori, Khilji, Babur were turkics, had Turkic fathers with a Turkic military system. Origin lies in Central Asia so their first target for conquest was Af-Pak region. It is modern day India which resisted them and led re-conquests. Again, I do believe βIndiaβ is one civilisation but just saying in the light of rising βIndusβ nationalism.
PS: No barbarian has ever faced an empire/nation/polity the size of Republic of India and succeeded.
XTM I suggest you read this article as you justify murdering the Ali Khaneni
For the first time since the killing of Muammar Gaddafi, the leader of a sovereign state has been eliminated by a targeted strike. Whatβs more, this has been publicly presented as a positive achievement, even a contribution to peace.
Ali Khamenei was the legitimate leader of a UN member, recognized by virtually the entire international community and fully engaged in international relations. This included negotiations with the very actors who organized the attack, negotiations that continued until the moment force was used.
The assassination of a state leader by another stateβs military, carried out deliberately and following the same model used against terrorist or drug cartel leaders, represents a new stage in world politics. The contrast with previous cases of regime change is instructive.
Gaddafi was killed by Libyans amid internal collapse.
Saddam Hussein was executed after a trial conducted by an Iraqi court, however questionable its fairness.
Iranβs case is different. It replicates the method Israel employed against Hezbollah and Hamas leaders, a method fully endorsed by Washington.
What is being dismantled are the last remaining restraints inherited from earlier eras. State legitimacy is no longer grounded in formal recognition or legal status, but in circumstance and personal preference.
First, negotiating with Washington is pointless. The only alternatives are capitulation or preparation for a force-based outcome.
Second, it is increasingly plausible that there is nowhere left to retreat and nothing left to lose. In this scenario, any βfinalβ argument becomes legitimate, including the red button, be it literal or figurative.
https://www.rt.com/news/633545-what-war-on-iran-changes/
Where did I justify?
Where did I justify?
Indirectly justifying via quoting Reza Pahlavi and a whoe lot of mythology
Reza Pahlavi is the most visible alternative, currently in Paris,
The Shahnameh framing was not ornamental. For years, Pahlavi has used the Zahhak figure, the serpent-shouldered tyrant who fed on the brains of Iranβs youth, as his shorthand for the Islamic Republic.
Zahak versus Husayni
https://www.brownpundits.com/2026/03/01/the-spillover-to-indian-subcontinent/#more-23314
that is an incorrect inference; I simply laid out the frame of reference that RP uses.
I am not a Monarchist, I stopped being one in June 2025.
I qualified my support of this encounter if regime change could be effective without any injury to civilian life.
I hold firmly to the absolute sanctity of life in all its forms, as something entrusted to us by the Divine.
I (XTM) qualified my support of this encounter if regime change could be effective without any injury to civilian life.
Really, you think US and Israel will do Regime change without loss of Civilian life
I (XTM) hold firmly to the absolute sanctity of life in all its forms, as something entrusted to us by the Divine
So Regime Change by US and Israel without without any injury to civilian life. With the help of the Divine
Any examples of this kind of regime change by US and Israel
alas feels like an impossibility
China can still get Oil from Iran. Obviously less than by ship
The China-Iran railway is a key 10,400+ km overland trade corridor under the Belt and Road Initiative, connecting eastern China to Tehran via Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan in roughly 15 days. It bypasses maritime bottlenecks, reduces transit times from 30β40 days by sea to roughly 15 days, and boosts regional economic integration.
Nice visuals
https://multimedia.scmp.com/news/china/article/One-Belt-One-Road/iran.html?
China can still get Oil from Iran. Obviously less than by ship
The China-Iran railway is a key 10,400+ km overland trade corridor under the Belt and Road Initiative, connecting eastern China to Tehran via Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan in roughly 15 days. It bypasses maritime bottlenecks, reduces transit times from 30β40 days by sea to roughly 15 days, and boosts regional economic integration.
Nice visuals
https://multimedia.scmp.com/news/china/article/One-Belt-One-Road/iran.html?
China can still get Oil from Iran. Obviously less than by ship
The China-Iran railway is a key 10,400+ km overland trade corridor under the Belt and Road Initiative, connecting eastern China to Tehran via Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan in roughly 15 days. It bypasses maritime bottlenecks, reduces transit times from 30β40 days by sea to roughly 15 days, and boosts regional economic integration.
Nice visuals
https://multimedia.scmp.com/news/china/article/One-Belt-One-Road/iran.html?
China can still get Oil from Iran. Obviously less than by ship
The China-Iran railway is a key 10,400+ km overland trade corridor under the Belt and Road Initiative, connecting eastern China to Tehran via Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan in roughly 15 days. It bypasses maritime bottlenecks, reduces transit times from 30β40 days by sea to roughly 15 days, and boosts regional economic integration.
Nice visuals
https://multimedia.scmp.com/news/china/article/One-Belt-One-Road/iran.html?
China can still get Oil from Iran. Obviously less than by ship
The China-Iran railway is a key 10,400+ km overland trade corridor under the Belt and Road Initiative, connecting eastern China to Tehran via Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan in roughly 15 days. It bypasses maritime bottlenecks, reduces transit times from 30β40 days by sea to roughly 15 days, and boosts regional economic integration.
Nice visuals
https://multimedia.scmp.com/news/china/article/One-Belt-One-Road/iran.html?
China can still get Oil from Iran. Obviously less than by ship
The China-Iran railway is a key 10,400+ km overland trade corridor under the Belt and Road Initiative, connecting eastern China to Tehran via Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan in roughly 15 days. It bypasses maritime bottlenecks, reduces transit times from 30β40 days by sea to roughly 15 days, and boosts regional economic integration.
Nice visuals
https://multimedia.scmp.com/news/china/article/One-Belt-One-Road/iran.html?
China can still get Oil from Iran. Obviously less than by ship
The China-Iran railway is a key 10,400+ km overland trade corridor under the Belt and Road Initiative, connecting eastern China to Tehran via Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan in roughly 15 days. It bypasses maritime bottlenecks, reduces transit times from 30β40 days by sea to roughly 15 days, and boosts regional economic integration.
Nice visuals
https://multimedia.scmp.com/news/china/article/One-Belt-One-Road/iran.html?
China can still get Oil from Iran. Obviously less than by ship
The China-Iran railway is a key 10,400+ km overland trade corridor under the Belt and Road Initiative, connecting eastern China to Tehran via Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan in roughly 15 days. It bypasses maritime bottlenecks, reduces transit times from 30β40 days by sea to roughly 15 days, and boosts regional economic integration.
Nice visuals
https://multimedia.scmp.com/news/china/article/One-Belt-One-Road/iran.html?
China can still get Oil from Iran. Obviously less than by ship
The China-Iran railway is a key 10,400+ km overland trade corridor under the Belt and Road Initiative, connecting eastern China to Tehran via Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan in roughly 15 days. It bypasses maritime bottlenecks, reduces transit times from 30β40 days by sea to roughly 15 days, and boosts regional economic integration.
Nice visuals
https://multimedia.scmp.com/news/china/article/One-Belt-One-Road/iran.html?
China can still get Oil from Iran. Obviously less than by ship
The China-Iran railway is a key 10,400+ km overland trade corridor under the Belt and Road Initiative, connecting eastern China to Tehran via Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan in roughly 15 days. It bypasses maritime bottlenecks, reduces transit times from 30β40 days by sea to roughly 15 days, and boosts regional economic integration.
Nice visuals
https://multimedia.scmp.com/news/china/article/One-Belt-One-Road/iran.html?
ur comments went to spam for some reason. please delete the extra ones, since if I delete them somehow it trips up the spam filters
u just need to notify that something is not posting and I’ll accept it.
ur comments went to spam for some reason. please delete the extra ones
I cant delete, I am not an admin or author
you are Author again, even if you haven’t taken the pledge.
I trust you will be High-Signal and don’t make inferences of people’s views.
[…] Allama Iqbal’s Dream Fulfilled; West Pakistan Defends India Against the Barbarians.. March 2, 2026 […]
The piece makes a bold claim that Iqbalβs vision was fulfilled by Pakistan acting as a buffer for India. But it leans on dramatic language and reads modern geopolitics back into a historical figure in a pretty simplistic way. The whole thing flattens a very complex region into a neat civilisational story.
Is this ur tl;dr?