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?
I doubt you talked to a Punjabi MUSLIM. Maybe you are confusing Sikhs with Muslims, because Sikhs also keep beards. The word "Pakistan" was coined by a Muslim Punjabi, Chaudhry Rahmat Ali. Punjabi Muslims are the most patriotic Pakistanis and many Punjabi Muslims were actively involved in the Pakistan movement.
I'm a Punjabi Muslim and let me tell you theres no way Muslims of North-west BRITISH India (now Pakistan) would've survived with such a large population of hindus, may of them who always hated Muslims. The people of North India (which is close to Pakistan) are mostly Sikhs and Brahmins (high caste hindus). Sikhs always had an obsession with ruling Punjab and parts of NWFP. We Muslims suffered a lot during the short period of Sikh rule. During the reign of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, the Sikh Ruler of the Punjab, they almost destroyed the historic Badshahi Mosque in Lahore. The four domes on top of its four minarets were used by the Sikhs for cannon practice and destroyed. The Mosque was converted into a stable for the horses of Ranjit Singh's army and also used as a gun powder magazine for military stores. Thankfully today all of NWFP is now under Muslim rule, and most of Punjab is under Muslim rule, also they never liked the Mughal emperors or Muslim Arab, Turkish, Afghan, Persian emperors while we Pakistanis consider those emperors as heros who brought Islam to our area and brought culture, art, and architecture. Brahmins always looked down on Muslims.
With Brahmins and Sikhs in our area, we Muslims (who were majority in our area) would've been treated like 3rd class citizens in our own land.
Punjab was the bloodiest during partition. The state had a majority Muslim population, and we Muslim Punjabis wanted all of Punjab to go to Pakistan. Then Sikhs and Hindus got mad because their worst nightmares would again come true, being under Muslim rule (Pakistan). So Punjab had to partitioned, more than a million people were killed in Punjab alone. Today theres less than 1% Muslim population in Indian Punjab and less than 1% Sikh and Hindu population combined in Pakistan's Punjab.
Muslims ruled India for a thousand years (we Muslims were safe then), then British ruled India (they treated all of us equally, so we were safe then). Now theres democracy, 900 million hindus they will always stay the majority in india. So now in 2010 theres no way Pakistanis will ever join India. Pakistan has 175 million population (97% Muslims), India has more than 1 billion population (80% Hindus, more than 900 million hindus). Theres no way any Pakistani in his/her right mind would want to share their country with 1 billion Indians (900 million hindus) who we fought 3 full wars against. Theres no way Pakistanis are going to call themselves indians, or salute the indian flag, or sing the indian national anthem. Unlike indian muslims, we wont be afraid to say we are Muslims first if a hindu asks are you muslim or indian first. India will then have to deal with 170 million additional Muslims who will never be loyal to india.
If we unite with any country, it will be with a friendly country we trust certainly not india.