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India and Pakistan together account for one fifth of the worlds population.

Their size and influence have made the continued conflict between them a long-standing cause of global concern. Their adversarial relationship has been marked by three major wars, rival allegiances with other powers (including China, the former Soviet Union, and the United States), many military skirmishes and violent incidents, and a nuclear arms buildup. Both nations trade accusations of meddling in each others internal affairs and of fomenting violence and civil unrest. To understand the persistent hostility between these two nations, it is necessary to go back to the circumstances of their modern creation. After centuries in which Hindu, Muslim, and Buddhist rulers had held sway over all or parts of the subcontinent, in the nineteenth century the region became British India, a colony of the British empire. In 1947 Great Britain, weakened by World War II and faced with growing political resistance to British rule, granted independence to its imperial possession. But independence resulted in the birth of not one sovereign nation, but two. The decision to divide India was made in part because of the insistence of some Muslim leaders within Indias movement for self-rule. They became convinced that Muslims could not thrive in a nation in which they would be a minority dominated by Hindus. The two-nation theory, espoused by Mohammad Ali Jinnah and other leaders of the Muslim League, held that Hindus, who constituted the majority in most of British India, and Muslims, who constituted the majority only in British Indias northeast and northwest corners, should not be forced to live together in one nation, but should each be granted their own country. To safeguard the rights of Muslims, Jinnah and others argued, they must be granted their own state. Pakistanan Urdu-language word meaning land of the purewas coined in the 1930s and became the name of the proposed Muslim nation. The two-nation theory espoused by the Muslim League was strongly criticized by the Indian National Congress, Indias preeminent independence organization (it later became the Congress Party). Its leadership, dominated by Hindus, argued that religion by itself could not constitute the basis for creating either an Islamic Pakistan or a Hindu India. Critics of the two-nation theory noted that Hindus and Muslims had lived side by side throughout the region for centuries before British rule and could not be readily separated. In addition, they asserted that the two-nation theory painted a too-simplistic picture of the divisions that existed within the realm. Not only was it home to millions of adherents of religions other than Hinduism and Islam, it was also the site of diverse ethnic and linguistic groupings that cut across religious lines. Thus, for example, a Muslim could have much more in common with a Hindu who shared a common language and ethnicity than with another Muslim hundreds of miles away with a different language and ethnicity. Indian National Congress leaders, including Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, envisioned a unified India under a secular state that would enable people of differing religions, languages, and ethnic groups to coexist. However, while Nehru and others were able to win independence from Great Britain in 1947 and eventually create a secular democratic government in India, they did so at the price of agreeing to the formation of Pakistan. Great Britain, after negotiating with the Indian National Congress and the Muslim League, eventually agreed to divide India. The parties agreed to establish borders making the northeast and northwest corners of India into a single country with two territories East Pakistan and

West Pakistan located one thousand miles apart. The process of division itself, called partition, was an extraordinarily disruptive and destructive event. Millions of people found themselves on the wrong side of hastily drawn borders between India and Pakistan. Ten million people moved from one new nation to another. Mob violence accompanying the refugee movement and resettlementcaused by religious conflict that was often stoked by politicians spreading stories of atrocitiescost an estimated one million lives. India and Pakistan immediately went to war in 1947 over the disputed territory of Kashmir, a thinly populated province between the two nations. The local Hindu maharaj (ruler) of Kashmir, given the choice to join either Pakistan or India, chose India despite the fact that its population was mostly Muslim. The war ended with a 1949 cease-fire that left the state of Kashmir split in two, with India ruling the eastern two-thirds of Kashmir while Pakistan gained control of the western third. Kashmir was also the cause of the 1965 war between India and Pakistan; the fighting ended in a military stalemate with the division of Kashmir unchanged. A third war was sparked not by Kashmir, but by civil conflict within Pakistan itself. East Pakistanis had long complained that Pakistans government and economy was domi- nated by West Pakistan. In 1971 India intervened in support of the Aswami League, a political party demanding independence for East Pakistan. The 1971 war resulted in an Indian victory and the secession of East Pakistan from Pakistan to create the new nation of Bangladesh. That result left three nations Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Indiaeach with roughly 150 million Muslims. Many in India viewed the creation of Bangladesh as a definitive repudiation of the two-nation theory, arguing that Islam, the supposed reason for Pakistans existence, had failed to hold the country together. But the concepts validity continued to be defended by leaders in Pakistan. Today, the hostility between India and Pakistan continues to revolve largely around Kashmir. The continuing conflict over which nation should possess Kashmir illustrates how past differences over the two-nation theory continue to underlie current disputes. For Pakistanis (especially its political and military leaders), Kashmir is the K in Pakistana Muslimpopulated territory that by the two-nation theory should be part of the Islamic homeland created in 1947. For many Indians, Kashmir demonstrates that a Muslimmajority state can exist in Indiamaking it a key example of how India brings together people of different faiths. Many Indians believe relinquishing Kashmir would endanger Indian unity. As Indian-born international relations professor Mohammed Ayoob puts it, Another partition on the basis of religion. . .would reopen the issue of the status of Muslims as Indian citizens and refresh the wounds of partition. Another legacy of partition and the resulting long-standing hostility between the two nations is the growth and influence of their respective military sectors. Both nations have built up large armies and have developed nuclear weapons primarily to defend themselves from each other. In Pakistan especially, the military has grown so powerful that it has ruled the nation for roughly half of its existence and wielded enormous influence even in times when civilian rulers are nominally in charge. The continued arms race between the two nations has had the unfortunate consequence of impeding the social and economic development of both nations. Many within both countries believe that since both spend great amounts on their military forces, they have

underinvested in their people and have committed limited resources to address serious problems such as poverty and pollution. More than a half century after India and Pakistan gained independence, the ramifications of partition continue to be felt in South Asia. Whether the wounds caused by partition can ever be fully healed is one of many questions facing both nations. India and Pakistan: Opposing Viewpoints presents various opinions and analyses from Indian, Pakistani, and foreign scholars and observers in the following chapters: Is Nuclear War Likely Between India and Pakistan? What Is the Status of Human Rights in India and Pakistan? How Should the World Community Treat India and Pakistan? What Lies in the Future for India and Pakistan? The diverse views included in this volume illustrate the multiple challenges faced by these two historically linked yet adversarial nations.

Social relations
Cultural links
India and Pakistan, to some degree have similar cultures, cuisines and languages which underpin the historical ties between the two. Pakistani singers, musicians, comedians and entertainers have enjoyed widespread popularity in India, with many achieving overnight fame in the Indian filming industry Bollywood. Likewise, Indian music and films are very popular in Pakistan. Being located in the northernmost region of the South Asia, Pakistan's culture is somewhat similar to that of North India. The Punjab region was split into Punjab, Pakistan and Punjab, India following the independence and partition of the two countries in 1947. The Punjabi people are today the largest ethnic group in Pakistan and also an important ethnic group of northern India. The founder of the Sikhism religion was born in the modern-day Pakistani Punjab province, in the city of Nankana Sahib. Each year, millions of Indian Sikh pilgrims cross over to visit holy Sikh sites in Nankana Sahib. The Sindhi people are the native ethnic group of the Pakistani province of Sindh. Many Hindu Sindhis migrated to India in 1947, making the country home to a sizable Sindhi community. In addition, the millions of Muslims who migrated from India to the newly-created Pakistan during independence came to be known as the Muhajir people; they are settled predominantly in Karachi and still maintain family links in India. Relations between Pakistan and India have also resumed through platforms such as media and communications. Aman ki Asha is a joint venture and campaign between The Times of India and the Jang Group calling for mutual peace and development of diplomatic and cultural relations.

Geographic links
Main article: Indo-Pakistani border

The evening flag lowering ceremony at the India-Pakistan International Border near Wagah. The Indo-Pakistani border is the official international boundary that demarcates the Indian states of Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat from the Pakistani provinces of Punjab and Sindh. The Wagah border is the only road crossing between India and Pakistan and lies on the famous Grand Trunk Road, connecting Lahore, Pakistan with Amritsar, India. Each evening, the Wagah border ceremony takes place at the Wagah border in which the flags are lowered and guards on both sides make a pompous military display and exchange handshakes.

Country comparison
India Population Area Population density Capital Largest city 1,210,193,422 3,287,240 km (1,269,210 sq mi) 382/km (922/sq mi)
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Pakistan 170,600,000 796,095 km (307,374 sq mi) 214.3/km (555/sq mi) Islamabad Karachi Islamic Parliamentary Republic Urdu, English 95-98% Islam (80-95% Sunni, 520% Shi'a), 1.6% Christianity, 1.6% Hinduism, others $174.866 billion ($1,049 per capita) $464 billion ($2400 per capita) $5.1 billion (2.8% of GDP)

New Delhi Mumbai Federal republic, Parliamentary Government democracy Hindi, English and 20 other official Official languages languages 80.5% Hinduism, 13.4% Islam, 2.3% Main religions Christianity, 1.9% Sikhism, 0.8% Buddhism, 0.4% Jainism[70] GDP (nominal) $1.537 trillion ($1,265 per capita) $4.06 trillion ($3,339 per capita) GDP (PPP) Military $36.03 billion (1.83% of GDP) expenditures

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