With the recent reflare of tensions between the governments of India and Pakistan, a dispute
that is steeped in history, which has lasted for well over 70 years - has been thrust back
into the global spotlight - and the frightening lack of productive dialogue has served to
highlight the million dollar question once again.
What are the underlying tensions that have brought both nations to the same historical
impasse?
What reservations of democracy have led to one of the most politically strained borders
on the planet?
And what cultural events have led these two countries to the point that they’re at today?
Well.
It’s complicated, to say the least - but let’s take a look.
Hello internet - and once again welcome back to the most inquisitive channel on YouTube
- Life’s Biggest Questions.
As per usual, I’ll be your disembodied floating voice Jack Finch - as today, we curiously
ask the question - Why Don’t India & Pakistan Get Along?
Roll the clip.
That clip - which is footage of the Wagah Attari Border Closing Ceremony, that occurs
every evening immediately before sunset - is perhaps a fitting encapsulation of India’s
and Pakistan’s relationship.
With the lowering of each nations flag, and an elaborate and oftentimes dancelike ceremony
- the Wagah Attari Border Ceremony serves as a symbol of the two countries rivalry - as
well as the brotherhood and tensely shared cooperation between them.
Thankfully for us though, in recent news - the Pakistan government have agreed to release
an Indian Military pilot as a peace gesture, after a call from both sides for a de-escalation
of the situation.
It is the first of many steps that has resulted from the sporadic reflare of tensions, following
an Indian led airstrike on a militant camp in the Pakistan-administered region of Azad
Kashmir in retaliation for a suicide bombing that killed at least 40 Indian troops.
In recent times, the strained relationship between India and Pakistan has been held on
a knife's edge - but let’s first take a look at the events that have led them there.
To understand that though, we first have to pick apart the History of the British Empire.
In 1931 - at the Westminster Conference, the British Empire was formally disbanded and
instead, the Commonwealth of Nations was formed under the Statute of Westminster.
By the end of the First World War, it was obvious to the international community that
the British Empire had made massive sacrifices on behalf of the home country - and the flaws
of its Empirical Mechanics were glaringly obvious, after more than one million casualties
were sustained by the nations of India, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa - and
many other of its colonies.
The need for reform was clear, and this was particularly highlighted with the nation of
India.
After the Great War, King George V and the post-war UK Government came under intense
public pressure to recognise the sacrifice of many future-commonwealth nations, and to
provide independence for any colony or dominion that requested it.
Before that though, back in India - this man, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi - had been passionately
advocating for Indian independence for well over 20 years - after taking leadership of
the Indian National Congress in 1920 - and escalating demands for the Independence of
India from the British Raj.
On the 26th January, 1930 - the Indian National Congress declared the independence of India
- but the British Government rescinded their previous intentions, and refused to formally
recognise this declaration.
For the next few years, the Indian Congress took a role in provincial self-government,
slowly taking back autonomy of their dominion under Gandhi’s non-violent movement.
In September of 1939 - following the lead up to the Second World War - this man, Victor
Hope, the then Viceroy of the British Raj in India - formally declared war on Germany
without consultation of the Indian National Congress.
Gandhi and the rest of his committee formally withdrew their support of the Raj - and tensions
escalated until Gandhi demanded independence.
In 1942 - the British responded by imprisoning him, along with tens of thousands of Congress
leaders.
Meanwhile, on the flipside of the coin - the dominion of India was undergoing a massive
cultural shift, after the dichotomy of two of its most prominent religions, Hinduism,
and Islam, had begun to peel apart the national landscape.
During the 1930s there were massive public tensions between followers of both faiths,
and the vast majority of the Hindu-led Indian National Congress had in part alienated the
All-India Muslim League - a group led by this man, Mohammad Ali Jinnah - who strove to safeguard
the political rights of Muslims in India.
By 1920, Jinnah had resigned from his position in the Indian Congress after the rise of Gandhi’s
philosophical movement of satyagraha - and by 1940 - he had come to the resolution that
all Muslims of the Indian subcontinent should have their own state.
In that same year, the Muslim League, led by Jinnah - passed the Lahore Resolution - for
the first time publicly demanding a separate nation.
During the Second World War - the Muslim League gradually gained political clout after many
leaders of the Hindu led Congress were imprisoned alongside Gandhi by the British Raj.
Shortly after the war though, no true resolution had been met - and a power-sharing formula
of the Indian subcontinent as a single, united state - could sadly not be reached.
It was clear that the nation of India was bitterly divided.
Both Jinnah and Gandhi engaged in extensive correspondence - where Gandhi insisted on
a united, religiously plural, independent India - including Muslims and non-Muslims.
Jinnah rejected this proposal though, and explained to Gandhi that the political climate
had shifted too far during his time in prison.
In his eyes, the only solution was the partition of the Indian subcontinent.
By February of 1947, Britain, under the leadership of Prime Minister Clement Attlee, agreed to
grant total independence of a predominantly Hindu India - and accepted Jinnah’s proposal
for partitioning the sub-continent, for the creation of a Muslim-majority state of Pakistan.
The 1947 Partition of India was a wildly controversial and violently disputed act, and more than
half a million Hindu and Muslim Indians were killed in religious riots, as between 10 and
12 million non-Muslims rapidly migrated from Pakistan into India before the borders were
set.
At midnight, between the 14th and 15th of August 1947 - the two self-governing countries
of Pakistan and India legally came into existence - and the cultural-tectonic plates of both
countries began to quake.
What followed would be over 40 years of cultural migration from both sides of India and Pakistan,
as families frantically began to find their feet in the geopolitical turmoil - a fallout
which is still felt to this day, particularly in the Northern and Eastern regions of the
subcontinent.
Simply put, there is no clearly defined and easy answer to this question.
History teaches us that the lines of conflict run deep.
Modern India and Pakistan are the result of two cultural ideals - two ideals that were
propagated and exacerbated by the Colonial Dominion of the British Empire and subsequent
British Raj.
For the vast majority of Indians and Pakistanis, their lives are similar - their language is
primarily the same - the only thing that seperates them is a line - drawn on a map.
Although both sides of this political stalemate are often at fault, the peaceful coexistence
of India and Pakistan is the prize that hangs in the balance.
(B: Roll - (2:15 - 2:25 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZ0ue-XGl9c))
But just like the Wagah Attari Border Closing Ceremony that occurs every day at the geographical
precipice of both nations - it begins and ends with one, simple gesture.
A handshake.
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