In the comments on “Pakistanis=Indian Muslims With Sovereignty”, BB argued that India is a “Muslim Power”. This is a patently ridiculous argument but it merits a full rebuttal.
The simple fact is that India is NOT a Muslim country. India is 80% Hindu. Muslims are a minority (approximately 15%). India is a constitutionally secular state. So under no reasonable definition is India a “Muslim Power”.
Pakistan is the world’s second-largest Muslim-majority country. It is projected that within five years it will overtake Indonesia to become the world’s most populous Muslim country. Additionally, Pakistan is the only Muslim-majority nuclear power. Finally, Pakistan is an “Islamic Republic”.
This argument is so blatantly ridiculous and disingenuous that I can’t believe this clarification is even necessary. But here we are.
I’d also like to take this opportunity to clarify my exchange with El Khawaja. He argued that “Pakistanis are Pakistani and that’s it”. I disagree with this position. I am as patriotic as the next Pakistani but this quote expresses the belief of the State — a belief I argue is fundamentally wrong.
Post the loss of East Pakistan in 1971, the Pakistani State has doubled down on the belief that we are all “Pakistanis first”. The argument goes that if people are allowed to identify as “Punjabi”, “Sindhi” etc this may lead to secession. This is obviously a red line for the State. Thus, the introduction of “Pak Studies”, a course that all students must take from primary school through their undergraduate studies.
However, this indoctrination has not served to lessen people’s feelings of being “Punjabi”, “Sindhi” etc.
It would be much healthier if the Pakistani State accepted that Pakistan is a multi-ethnic–NOT multinational– country.
Seccession is not a realistic possibility since Pakistan is a nuclear power. So I think the State’s worries on this ground are overblown.
The efforts of BB (and to some extent RNJ) to undermine the Pakistani identity and classify us as “Indian” are patently obvious and not intellectually tenable.
However, I do believe that my compatriots also go too far and try to downplay the links that Pakistan has with the “Indian subcontinent”.
