The Deadly Endgame

The failure of Pakistan reverberates throughout the Indian subcontinent and beyond, especially among the Muslims.

- Makarand R Paranjape

THE CREATION OF Pakistan was premised on two fundamental fallacies. The first one, openly stated, was famously known as the “two-nation theory”. It held that sub-continental Muslims were a separate nation. But Muslims are not a nation. They constitute a religious, social, and cultural community that does not take too kindly to national boundaries. The two-nation theory failed within 25 years of Pakistan’s creation with the birth of Bangladesh in 1971. 

The other unstated but perhaps even more flagrant fallacy was that the principle reason for Pakistan’s existence was its hatred of India and Hindus. This inveterate animosity, even contempt, was demonstrated soon after the Partition. The Pakistan army sent mercenaries and irregulars across the still fluid border to invade Kashmir, trying to wrest it from India. In the occupied towns, there was much looting and killing; many of the “captured” Hindu women were sold in the brothels of Rawalpindi.

Alarmed by the invasion, the last Maharaja of Kashmir, Hari Singh, asked for India’s help to save his state, signing the treaty of accession. This was a legal and binding act, of which the Pakistani state is in perpetual denial. Gandhi himself advised Nehru to airlift Indian troops to defend Kashmir. Though the Pakistani assault was foiled and pushed back to the present LoC, hating India and the Hindus has become a way of life for the Pakistani state. The latter itself, soon after, was hijacked by the army, which remains deeply invested in this false and pernicious doctrine.