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Why Pakistan Can’t Befriend India –

OpEd
 April 12, 2023  Nilesh Kunwar  1 Comment

By Nilesh Kunwar
Price Drop Alert
That Hindus and Muslims have co-existed in India for centuries is an Temu

indisputable historical fact, but Pakistan’s founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah

didn’t think so. In 1940, while delivering the All India Muslim League’s
presidential address in Lahore, he argued that Hindus and Muslims
“belong to two different civilizations which are based mainly on
conflicting ideas and conceptions” [Emphasis added]. He went on to add
that “it is a dream that the Hindus and Muslims can ever evolve a
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4/13/23, 11:58 AM Why Pakistan Can’t Befriend India – OpEd – Eurasia Review

common nationality, and this misconception of one Indian nation has

troubles and will lead India to destruction…” [Emphasis added].
Turkey Earthquake
2023: Reducing
Hindus and Muslims had Risks In The Indian
not only lived together, but Context – Analysis
even fought side-by-side to  April 13, 2023  Manohar

throw off the yoke of Parrikar Institute for Defence

Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA)
British rule in 1857, and
 0
continued to do so
subsequently. Yet, Jinnah By Col Ravinder Singh*
saw things quite differently, Earthquakes are one of the
These Must-See Weird most devastating natural
and he intentionally sowed
Photos Only Exists In Dubai disasters that can strike
seeds of communalism by anytime with little or
Home Knowledge
maintaining that “Hindus
and Musalmaans [Muslims]
derive their inspiration from different sources of history.” He even went to UAE:
the extent of fuelling communal passion by remarking that, “They have Detainees
Held
different epics, different heroes, and different episodes. Very often the
Beyond
hero of one is a foe of the other and, likewise, their victories and defeats Sentences,
overlap.” [Emphasis added].  Says HRW
 April 13, 2023  0
Eight decades and three years after Jinnah propounded his questionable
Hindu-Muslim incompatibility theory, by being able to “evolve a common Trump’s Al
nationality,” both these communities in India have proved him wrong. Capone
Furthermore, Hindus and Muslims living together did not “lead India to Moment –
OpEd
destruction” but instead, made the country an impressive success story. At  April 13,
the same time, Jinnah’s vision that an exclusive sovereign nation for 2023  0
Muslims would ensure that his community thrives in Pakistan ran into
rough weather just within a few years of its creation, and the reason for Problems
the same isn’t hard to find. And
Solutions:
By taking refuge in religion to garner support of his community members What To
Do About
for a separate Muslim nation, Jinnah did great harm to the very country he
Social Security And Medicare
forced the British to create as Pakistan was founded on the completely For Older Americans – OpEd
unsubstantiated notion that an inherent and irreconcilable animosity  April 13, 2023  0
existed between Hindus and Muslims that made their cohabitation
impossible.  So, it was but natural that anti-India sentiments became the
building block and the core determinant of patriotism in Pakistan.  Recent Comments
While friendly relations, economic cooperation and healthy competition
raj on Why Pakistan Can’t Befriend
with India would have spurred progress, but by making it a Hindu versus
India – OpEd
Muslim issue and indoctrinating the people of Pakistan into believing that
Miriam on Black People Used To
India was an existential ‘enemy’, Islamabad consciously embarked on a
Attack Revolutionary Governments
self-destructive course. Grossly over playing a non-existent threat of
unprovoked aggression from India, Pakistan army was able to apportion a
– OpEd 
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4/13/23, 11:58 AM Why Pakistan Can’t Befriend India – OpEd – Eurasia Review

lion’s share of the national budget and Rawalpindi’s obsession to match Tigist Wodaje on A Looming
India militarily. This stymied infrastructure development and retarded Geopolitical Disaster In The Horn
commercial progression.   Of Africa – OpEd
David J Mueller on 5 Reasons Why
To say that everything in Pakistan is pathetic while all is rosy in India would Much Of Global South Isn’t
be incorrect. However, there’s a discernible difference. While New Delhi Automatically Supporting The
has its own set of problems, it possesses requisite political stability as well West In Ukraine – OpEd
as the diplomatic, economic and military capability to effectively manage
thorny issues, both at international level and on the domestic front. 
Search
On the other hand, Pakistan
is plagued with a host of
issues that continue to defy
resolution-be it political
instability due an
overbearing military, a host
of separatist movements
with armed groups
Lindsey Stirling challenging the state’s writ
with brazen impunity, rising
After Hours Concerts
fundamentalism and
sectarianism, excesses
against religious minority communities, and most importantly, a rapidly
failing economy. So, while India is well on its way to progress, it’s Jinnah’s
Pakistan that seems to be staring at ‘destruction’!

Most of Pakistan’s problems are on account of its distinctive anti-India

stance. In a recent article published in Dawn, Islamabad based nuclear
physicist, author and activist Pervez Hoodbhoy accurately points out that
“From Pakistan’s birth onward, patriotism and nationalism was
conflated with anti-Indianism. This became a substitute for nation-
building or working towards high positive goals. Hence, loving Pakistan
means hating India;liberating Kashmir is the topmost priority; nuclear
weapons are our most precious national assets; andan oversized army
must be provided with every resource else we shall be swallowed up by
India.” [Emphasis added].

Hoodbhoy isn’t the first or sole Pakistani to have brought out the issue of
how ‘anti-Indianism’ is perceived as a non-negotiable patriotic and
nationalistic imperative in Pakistan. In an interview given to The Wire in
2016, Pakistani journalist, academic, political activist, and former
ambassador of Pakistan to Sri Lanka and the United States, Husain
Haqqani mentioned that “Pakistan’s nationalism currently is defined by
militarism” and that “The army has been the dominant reality” in
Pakistan.”
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4/13/23, 11:58 AM Why Pakistan Can’t Befriend India – OpEd – Eurasia Review

He also mentioned how army officers “act as if they are the guardians of
Pakistan’s identity,” stressing that “they have defined Pakistan’s identity in
a certain way in which ‘anti-Indianism’ is more important.” During an
interaction related to his book ‘India vs Pakistan-Why Can’t We Just Be
Friends’, Haqqani said, “My argument as a Pakistani is why do we even
want to be [militarily] equal [with India]? Why do not we want to be
happier and prosperous and successful.” 

He went on to add, “What is this obsession about being ‘equal’ and trying
to equalise the field with crazies like Hafiz Saeed [Lashkar-e- Taiba co-
founder] because he will only create hatred, which will only bite us back.”
Haqqani rightly maintains that “Pakistan always had this presumption that
India has a tremendous conventional military advantage and Indian army
will be much more bigger than Pakistan’s. So, Pakistan needs irregular
methods to be able to be equal.” [Emphasis added].

Haqqani’s revelation about Pakistan army’s proxy war in Kashmir has been
corroborated by none other than Pakistan’s former President and ex-army
chief Late Gen Pervez Musharraf himself. In a 2015 interview, he admitted
that “In the 1990s, the freedom struggle began in Kashmir. At that time,
Lashkar-e-Taiba and 11 or 12 other organisations were formed. We
supported them and trained them as they were fighting in Kashmir…”

Let’s return to the question of why can’t Pakistan befriend India? The
answer is that for the highly propagandised masses in Pakistan, any
attempted rapprochement with New Delhi is the ultimate perfidy. Hence
even though cordial Indo-Pak relations and unfettered commercial
activities between the two neighbours will definitely benefit Pakistan much
more than India, no one in the seat of power and authority in Pakistan
would dare to try and mend fences with India, as any such attempt would
be tantamount to political hara-kiri! 

So, despite the crying need for Islamabad to consider normalisation of

relations with India, the harsh reality is that there can be no business as
usual in the foreseeable future, at least. And despite a Pakistani armed
forces delegation attending the recent SCO working group meeting in New
Delhi, the hope that this development would raise the possibility of
Pakistan’s defence minister attending the SCO meet later this month, may
well turn out to be a case of great expectations.

Postscript: How damaging any attempt to normalise Indo-Pak relations

can be for any Pakistani can be gauged from the fact that former Pakistan
Prime Minister Imran Khan chose this very emotionally sensitive issue to
target his arch-enemy ex-army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa. 
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4/13/23, 11:58 AM Why Pakistan Can’t Befriend India – OpEd – Eurasia Review

By alleging that “Gen Bajwa wanted me to develop friendly ties with India
[and] he put pressure on me for this,” the wily Khan has tried to portray
the retired army chief as a person willing to compromise national honour
by developing friendly ties with India and hence a downright ‘traitor’. 

And by going on to say that “it was one of the reasons our relationship
deteriorated,” he has tried tohighlight his own unmitigated Indophobic
credentials and thereby project himself as a consummate Pakistani
‘patriot’!  

Nilesh Kunwar
Nilesh Kunwar is a retired Indian Army Officer who has
served in Jammu & Kashmir, Assam, Nagaland and Manipur.
He is a ‘Kashmir-Watcher,’ and now after retirement is
pursuing his favorite hobby of writing for newspapers,
journals and think tanks.

One thought on “Why Pakistan Can’t Befriend India –

OpEd”
 raj
 April 13, 2023 at 10:09 am
 Permalink

Jinnah, driven by his lust for power and self-glory, caused the partition of
India, ignoring geographic, economic, cultural and other important factors
and created “Pakistan” – an unviable entity ab initio. His successors found
it easier to play the religion card than to grapple with the reality.

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