Genesis of Indo Pak Discord

Abstract

The history of Indian Subcontinent is the history of friendship and hatred, trust and suspicion and conflict and cooperation between the two communities Hindus and Muslims. The two nation states (and later three), that were carved out of this subcontinent formed the part of the single nation which was the undivided India. The two countries India and Pakistan despite being the parts of one single civilization are generally seen as the arch rivals of one another.

In many ways there are no two countries in the world which have so much in common as India and Pakistan. Parts of the same state, India and Pakistan have more common heritage and interests than probably any other two countries in the world. Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa in Pakistan are as much part of India’s history as Delhi, Agra, Ajmer and Lucknow are of Pakistan; at least four languages are spoken commonly in both the countries and the two national languages of Pakistan are two national languages of India as well; the same literary figures are held in the highest esteem – Tagore and Iqbal, Nazrul Islam and Waris Shah, Ghalib and Sarat Chandra Chatterjee; dresses are common in large parts of India and Pakistan, food habits, manners, customs and even the humor are common. Music and dancing, art and painting draw common inspirations and observe common forms¹. For centuries, people of both the countries have lived on the same land mass, have faced the heat and dust, the cold and snow together have gone through the national calamities such as famine and drought and floods together. And then together they saw the rulers come from the far away land and they tasted the dust of common humiliation. And in the initial stages, they even started fighting the foreign ruler together. The bondage of history, geography and culture is too strong to be overlooked.