Understanding Pakistan

POSTED BY: kpo
UPDATED: Tuesday, September 1, 2026 17:13
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KPO

Friday, August 6, 2010 1:41 AM

I personally find Pakistan a very frustrating country, but it's worth understanding them, and this is a good blog post: http://blogs.the-american-interest.com/wrm/2010/08/02/the-roots-of-pak
istans-rage/

It's not personal. It's just war.

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NIKI2

Friday, August 6, 2010 6:55 PM

Thanx KPO! I found that fascinating, and learned a lot. I’ve condensed it to cover salient points for those that don’t want to read the whole thing. I think it’s important. He points to four major issues that affect Pakistanis’ attitudes:

Quote:

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India

The struggle between Hindus and Muslims across India is a thousand years old. Muslim conquerors stormed down from today’s Iran and Afghanistan to build some of the world’s richest and most powerful empires. A tolerant and complex civilization grew up across the subcontinent; Hindus and Muslims sometimes fought but often they lived together reasonably well and, as Muslims remember it, this was a happy and prosperous time.

British conquest of India destroyed the Islamic empires. Muslims (roughly 25% of the total population) lost the protection of powerful princes; the British sought to divide and rule the two communities, favoring now one and then then other. Muslims came to feel that the subcontinent sheltered two nations: one Hindu, one Muslim and that the differences between the two were so great that the Muslims needed their own state. Muslims insisted on and obtained the partition of British India into Hindu and Muslim states. Pakistan was the state for the Muslims.

The British left India in a hurry as the subcontinent descended into chaos. Millions of Hindus and Muslims on the wrong side of the dividing line fled or were driven from their homes. Something like 14.5 million refugees were created initially with ultimately about 25 million people moving from one country to the other; somewhere between 200,000 and 1,000,000 people were killed in vicious communal riots whose memory still poisons the region today.

British also allowed the rulers of the “princely states” to choose whether to join India or Pakistan; Kashmir’s ruler opted for India.. India won the war, and continues to hold most of the old princely state.

In subsequent years, life in both countries, but especially in Pakistan, was dominated by the consequences of Partition. Settling refugees, periodic wars, the running sore of Kashmir: all keep the memories alive. Almost everything in Pakistan’s history revolves around the unequal struggle with India.. Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program is seen here as a triumph against the odds, and the nuclear arsenal is seen as the country’s last-ditch ace in the hole. Most Pakistanis are completely convinced that India is ceaselessly plotting Pakistan’s destruction and everything in Pakistani foreign policy boils down to a simple calculation about who is winning the zero-sum contest between these two states.

Since 1989 American foreign policy has been shiftinh slowly towards a strategic partnership with India. From an American perspective, the rise of India towards superpower status is one of the best things happening in the world today. The rise of India means China’s rise is likely to be peaceful; sharing Asia with India and Japan means that China is less likely to try to dominate Asia. A peaceful China balanced by powerful neighbors is exactly what the United States hopes to see.

The burgeoning US-India relationship frightens and horrifies Pakistan. The US takes India’s side in major controversies — blaming Pakistan for terrorism in Kashmir and India while doing nothing about India’s actions in Kashmir. Worst of all, the US is helping India gain access to nuclear materials and nuclear technologies while continuing to block Pakistan’s attempts in the field.

India is the first major issue driving the US and Pakistan apart; Americans should not underestimate its importance. India is an all consuming obsession for many people here, and the presence of a larger, rapidly growing and richer neighbor just 18 miles from Lahore is something many Pakistanis can never forget. The perception that America is betraying its old and faithful Pakistani ally to benefit from India’s rise unites the military and those in the religious community who hate and fear Hinduism even as it alienates many pat

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