Indo-Pak Attitudes:
60 Years after Partition
By Adnan Gill
Los Angeles, CA
On August 14 and August 15,
in an unprecedented collaborative effort of Pakistan’s
GeoTV and India’s NDTV, a political talk
show ‘Hamaray Mutabiq’ was broadcasted.
The show hosted some of the most respected cultural
and political icons from both Indian and Pakistani
sides. It presented an excellent opportunity to
reflect on what had been changed in the last 60
years: physically, economically, ideologically,
and more importantly philosophically. It also
provided an interesting sample of attitudes and
moods of the citizens of the two countries.
In the decades following the partition both countries
were at each other's throats, at least four times.
By any standard, these conflicts physically changed
the maps, i.e. out of the British India now we
have Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and the disputed
Kashmir.
Materially, in the last decade or so, India improved
quite a bit technologically and economically whereas
Pakistan showed intermittent spurts of improvement,
but that was hardly enough. Overall, both countries
lag far behind the developed nations in the social
uplift of their citizens. The majority of Indians
and Pakistanis are still barely surviving on less
than $2 per day. According to UNDP’s 2006
Human Development Index (HDI), out of 177 countries,
India ranked at a shameful 126th place and Pakistan
took an even worse 134th place. Even the so-called
banana-republics like Honduras and Guatemala were
ranked higher than India and Pakistan.
On philosophical and ideological levels, while
much has changed on the Pakistani side, unfortunately,
hardly anything changed on the Indian side of
the divide.
Pakistani side has repeatedly gone through political
evolutions and devolutions which has over time
softened the attitudes of its citizens towards
their neighbors in the East. Pakistanis have matured
philosophically, and are mentally exhausted from
decades of political instability, ultra-conservatism,
and the fruitless struggle of fighting for the
rights of the Kashmiris. They have realized that
decades of political instability and leading Jihads,
one after another, for the liberty of others has
only left them socially exhausted, diplomatically
isolated, and financially drained. With umpteen
political talk shows of new and independent TV
channels focusing on topical issues, this exhaustion
was filled by the heightened social and political
awareness, and to some extent, by the religious
extremists who played the role of catalyst for
even newer mini-Jihads.
As highlighted in the Hamaray Mutabiq show, the
attitudes of majority of Pakistanis from all walks
of life have transformed from individualist to
righteous, to compromising and conciliatory. Yes,
even in the case of disputed Kashmir. Ironically,
at the same time, the attitudes on the Indian
side have become even more self-righteous, arrogant,
and condescending as demonstrated by the Indian
Gen. (Retd) Shanker Roy Choudhary.
In last six decades, the attitudes of the general
populace on the Indian side have regrettably only
hardened. Just like 60 years ago when most of
the Hindu extremists were pursuing the creed of
Hindutva, today a growing number of even mainstream
Indians are pursuing this intolerant theological
dream, only with a hardened resolve. Hindutva
is an intolerant and fascist ideology that negates
the teachings and ideals of Mahatma Gandhi and
is closer to the teachings of Bal Thackeray.
Throughout his life, Mahatma Gandhi remained committed
to non-violence and truth even in the face of
the most extreme circumstances. But on January
30, 1948, his messages of nonviolence and truth
were deemed unpatriotic and unbecoming of a Hindu,
so he was shot and killed in New Delhi by a Hindu
extremist. In their mad pursuits, the forces of
Hindutva didn't spare even the most cherished
and beloved Indian leader. Gandhi’s assassin,
Nathuram Godse, was a Hindu radical with links
to the Hindu Mahasabha (a Hindu extremist organization).
If you think, Gandhi’s assassination gave
a backlash to the Hindu extremists, think again!
Even a higher percentage of Indians elect and
support the Hindu extremist parties now.
Ironically, even though Pakistan is viewed as
the country in the clutches of religious extremists,
but in reality, to this day, its citizens have
never elected any religious party in the center.
While in stark contrast, India has twice sent
a Hindu nationalist party to the center, the BJP,
which twice formed a coalition government with
the other Hindu extremist parties. In fact, it
was the BJP Chief Minister Narendra Modi who sat
over the massacre of 2,000 Muslims.
Sadly, today there are more followers of Mahatma
Gandhi’s nemeses, Bal Thackeray. Thackeray
is an admirer of Adolf Hitler and Nazism. He is
a Hindu fundamentalist and a poster boy of the
Hindutva believers. He formed the Shiv Sena (widely
known to be a fascist party), an ally of the BJP.
He holds the most extreme views against non-Hindus
(especially Muslims), and the Pakistanis.
Unfortunately, the Indian news media and entertainment
industry are also hammering the ultra-conservative
pro-Hindutva beliefs into the impressionable minds
of young Indians, already high on the ‘Shining
India’ mantra. With increasing frequency,
Bollywood is churning out movies in which villains
are either Muslims or Pakistanis. Not to be beaten
by Bollywood, the Indian news media bolsters its
rating by hyping the government’s favorite
bogyman, the infamous Pakistani ISI. Every time
a violent act takes place in India, immediately,
without even any circumstantial evidence, the
media joins the government’s favorite chorus
of Muslim or Pakistan bashing.
In last 60 years, barring notable exceptions,
while Pakistani attitudes have transformed into
humbleness and conciliation; regrettably, the
same cannot be said about the Indian attitudes
which have only hardened in their yearning for
the extremist philosophy of Hindutva whose cardinal
objective is to establish ‘Akhand Bharat’.
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