History: India and Pakistan after 60 Years of Independence

                                                                                         

India and Pakistan both celebrated their 60th year of independence from the British Raj in August 2008. The progress of these two nations over this period of history has been very different.

Though the relinquishing of the Indian jewel in the empire`s crown was part of the ongoing British realpolitik in granting independence when subject countries clamored for it, the route for the peoples of India was to be painful and bloody. The main problem lay in tensions and conflicts between the two very different main religions of the subcontinent-the majority Hindus and the Muslims. The applied solution was to divide India into two nations but three pieces-a divided Pakistan on the eastern and western flanks of India.

A HISTORY OF CONFLICT

Mutual suspicion and loathing often flared into violence in the months leading up to independence: it is estimated that more than one million people were killed in sectarian riots; while millions more were displaced and untold numbers suffered rape and other atrocities. Once the borders had been settled, over seven million people migrated in each direction-Indian Muslims to Pakistan and Pakistani Hindus to India. More violence and death occurred as these groups passed one another-estimates of those killed range from 200,000 to one million.

The conflicts continued after the two states were established and, in the first quarter century of independence, three wars were fought between the two nations. In one of them, India supported East Pakistan in its secession to become Bangladesh in 1971. In addition to wars, there have been numerous stand-offs between the two nations, often about disputed borders. More hopefully, on the 60th anniversary, August 14, around half-a-million people from both countries marched for peace on the Punjab border (though India celebrates independence a day later than Pakistan, on the 15th day of the month).

Yet the differences between India and Pakistan are growing. India is the majority nation with a predominantly Hindu population of more than 1.1 billion, while Pakistan`s population is 160 million.

INDIA OUTSTRIPPING HER NEIGHBORS

Pakistan's present preoccupation is ideological rather than economic, as her military government, headed by General Pervez Musharraf, battles extremism. Pakistan's president is fighting for the hearts of his people, urging resistance and opposition to Taliban and al-Qaeda presence along the northwestern border with Afghanistan.

Financially and technologically, India is outstripping its neighbors to become one of the emerging economic giants of the 21st century. Politically, India has had fair elections for decades while Pakistan is under military rule. However, India is still a land of great contrasts, with over 800 million of her population still chronically poor and a third of her people illiterate (compared to China`s 5 percent). Poverty in Pakistan is even more endemic than in India, with Pakistan ranked as one of the 10 most backward countries in the world, and getting poorer. Industry and agriculture are inefficient and more than 60 percent of the nation`s revenues went toward debt repayment in 2000 (United Nations Development Programme, 2003 report).

Thus, the two nations are likely to become even further apart in terms of development and economic opportunity. While India`s society and culture is still a long way from experiencing the economic transformation that the comparative few are enjoying, in Pakistan there is no hope in sight of even aspiring to such transformation.

About the author:
Author, David F. Lloyd, contributes articles on history, society and culture for Vision Media. More information about these and other topics can be found at http://www.vision.org.

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