Problem was solved because you did not see the alternative which would have actually been worse. I have written at length earlier and elsewhere that formation of Pakistan ensured that rest of India could develop with lesser internal fissures.
You can not argue against facts. Pakistan is a fact.
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nair , @
Ravi Nair , @
Contrarian , I have read your posts on the first page.
Contrarian is right in that India is a bit better off than Pakistan. There is no denying it. However, I must point out since I am old enough to remember very well, that Pakistan was far better off than India until the mid-90s. During the 80s Pakistanis were convinced of the superiority of their position. Though we lagged in education, we were better off in every other department. Only those sectors that had some sort of relevance to the absolute size of economy, consumers, and land area, was India ahead of Pakistan. A pertinent example would be Heavy Industry, or pharmaceutical Industry.
In any case, Pakistanis enjoyed better living standards, higher per capita income, number of privately owned vehicles, etc... Airlines, Railways, public transport were all doing very well. All this while we had USSR at our door-step.
Our fundamental weakness was the lack of systematic approach in institutions which keep a country stable. We had a dictatorship, our experienced politicians were a dying breed. The mirage of growth had yet to confront a phase of political immaturity and the second round of PPP's socialist policies.
Jinnah was right in so many ways. Pakistan was to be a leading country for Muslims. It was supposed to lead in certain ways. But the challenges that were heaped upon Pakistan were too much.
The treasury was empty. There was an acute shortage of resources. Also that of relevant experts. No industry to speak of. A largely illiterate population and very poor infrastructure. The two sections of the country were far apart and had totally different cultural, ethnic, linguistic, economic, and aspirational differences.
Somebody earlier (in the first 2 or 3 posts) has remarked about difficulties faced by India. In comparison to India, Pakistan had a lot more. Way more in problems and challenges.
But the biggest challenge is what bothers us in Pakistan even now. We made fast progress in establishing functioning institutions, industry, technical knowledge base, administrative expertise etc... But we failed in establishing democratic norms, institutions, and distribution of powers. This is where India had the definitive edge over Pakistan.
In some ways Pakistan as a country is a work-in-progress unlike India. Muslims in general are reactionary, given to obsessing about conspiracy theories, ever awaiting a messiah, and confused about establishing legitimate governance structures. Any madman can give us a vision of a mirage and we fall like suckers. It is so very challenging to get rid of this mentality. This is our unique marker; our bane; our distasteful inheritance.
Had our Quaid lived longer, we would have been spared a lot of these problems. But tribulations are from Allah. What happens does so, because it is decreed. One can not argue against Kismet. One can only try. And we have been trying. And we shall continue trying until by God with get it right. No dictator has ever been comfortable in power in Pakistan. This country does not accept illegitimacy. We have always clung to our rights.
As we traverse a road to democracy, Pakistan might emerge as the only country with over-whelming majority of Muslims that successfully decodes the problem of maintaining an Islamic identity with democratic norms. In this way we may be of some value to the wider Islamic world. This, I think, is our destiny.
