I was discussing this topic with a Punjabi Muslim from India. He said that Britain carved Pakistan and Bangladesh away from India to remove the chances of Muslims ever being able to control India. He said the Brits knew that in the future, India will rise and become powerful and they were scared that a large proportion of the population would be Muslims.
If you think about it, he is right. If Pakistan and Bangladesh joined India, India would have ~40% Muslims. There would be a lot of Muslims in the Government and there could even be a Muslim President.
What are your views on this?
Abi,
I don't think it is possible. It is not just about RELIGION, it is also about ethnic ties, cultural ties etc.... Even if all India becomes Muslim, I don't think anyone in Pakistan will want to join India and Bangladesh... I will explain this in a second...
1. I am a Punjabi girl from Northern Punjab (Potohar area) living in USA. Where I work... lots of South Indians work there... and believe me (whether Hindu or Muslim), I dont feel any connection with them... culturally, ethnically, linguistically, they are very very different from us.. Same applies to Eastern parts of India (Manipur, Bengal, Assam etc)... Those people are so different from us, that I don't feel any connection with them.That is one of the main reasons Bangladesh got separated from Pakistan, because other then religion we share very little in common with them. The only people with whom I feel certain connection is North West Indians.
2. Another problem with Pakistan is that UNLIKE India and Bangladesh, it doesn't comprises entirely of INDIC people. You can blame this on British again... Afghanistan lost a big chunk of its territory and was made part of British India and later those lands became part of Pakistan in 1947... hence the problem between Afghanistan and Pakistan on Durand line Issue...
Millions of Pashtons, Balochis, Tajiks and other Iranic people of Pakistan (comprising 30-35% of Pakistani population) don't feel any connection with India... They have more affinity with Afghans and Iranians as compared to Indians...
3. I will ask the same question to you.. Do you think that All Iranic people (Kurds, Persians, Balochis, Pashtuns, Lurs, Tajiks etc) should unite together and create GREATER IRAN (see the map below)? I don't think it is possible atleast for now... with all the difference between Iranians, Afghans and Tajiks...
http://img84.imageshack.us/i/greateriranjo0.gif/