Monday 17 December 2012

India and Pakistan : The Case for Reunification

In a function held recently in Delhi I said that the only solution to the Kashmir issue was reunification of India and Pakistan under a strong, secular, modern minded government which does not tolerate religious fanaticism or bigotry and suppresses it with an iron hand.

In response 'The Pakistan Observer' said that I had gone mad and become a lunatic. Well, everyone is entitled to his opinions, but is my view really so bizarre ?

When I meet Pakistanis (and I have many Pakistani friends ) I feel no different from them. We talk in Hindustani and feel one. Recently I had a long meeting at my residence with Dr. Khalil Chishty and his wife and son soon after the Supreme Court judgment in his case.In foreign countries Indians and Pakistanis mix up as if Partition has not taken place. And what is the basis of Partition ? It is the bogus two nation theory, that Hindus and Muslims are two separate nations. I submit that this theory was only a product of the British policy of divide and rule to make Hindus and Muslims fight with each other. 

If this theory, that religion is the basis of a nation, is accepted then logically England should be partitioned into at least 6 states. The majority in England are Anglican Protestant Christians, but there are many Scottish Presbyterians, Catholics, Hindus, Muslims, Jews, etc. Similarly, France has a sizeable Muslim population (descendants of North African Arabs belonging to the former French colonies in North Africa). The French Muslims too should be given a separate state (if the two nation theory is accepted as valid ). 

Anyone can see that this will create chaos. Hardly any country can survive if this theory is accepted because in almost every country there are people of different religions. And in the Indian subcontinent secularism is all the more vital in view of the tremendous diversity here (because the Indian subcontinent is broadly a country of immigrants, as I have pointed out in my article 'What is India' on my blog justicekatju.blogspot.in and in the video on the website kgfindia.com ). 

We can see the result of creating a theocratic state (Pakistan) in which chaos and religious extremism is prevailing so that people cannot lead normal lives. Apart from the minorities (Hindus, Christians, Sikhs,etc), Ahmadis, Shias, etc are also persecuted, and intolerance and terrorism is the order of the day. So secularism is the only policy which is suitable to our subcontinent. 

Secularism does not mean that one cannot practice his religion. Secularism means that religion is a private affair unconnected with the state, which will have no religion. 

Some people asked me whether my idea of a united India and Pakistan is feasible. I replied that I know this unity will not be achieved in a short time. However, I am planting a seed. No doubt it will take 10 or 15 years for the seed to become a tree, but if the seed is not planted today there will be no fruit bearing tree in 10 or 15 years. I am confident that a united, secular, modern minded, India will come into existence one day, but whether I will live to see that day is doubtful (I am 67 years old, though mentally still young )

55 comments:

  1. This is exactly what Taliban wants. Although your intentions are (seem to be) pure, this is something that can never happen.. Shouldn't happen..

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    1. I can understand if someone says this can never happen. Because of prevailing atmosphere of distrust, it is bound to be that pessimistic. But why it "Shouldn't happen" ?? Also how is this is exactly Taliban wants?? Care to elaborate on these two points?

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    2. Yes elaborate narrow minded 90%%%%%% indian. What connection of taliban.. thanks for good news katju for making soup of people.we are 1

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    3. what Taliban wants... Which Taliban... Mullah Umar time and again has made it clear that their resistance is limited to the invaded Afghanistan.

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  2. I do agree this Point of View,as in long term this is only feasible solution, we can terrify the terrorist with this stand, if they dont dare to come on line, they will be prison of Tri-color flag.

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  3. "I am confident that a united, secular, modern minded, India will come into existence one day, but whether I will live to see that day is doubtful (I am 67 years old, though mentally still young )"हमारी ख़्वाहिश है कि आप भारत-पाक एकीकरण को मूर्त होते देखें व सबको मंगल आशीर्वाद दें।

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  4. I agree with you. I have had similar experience whenever I met someone from a different nationality. Till passports and Visas became necessary in last few decades, humanity did exist as a semi-structured conglomerate.
    I believe that border-less earth is what we need to aim for. India-Pakistan unification is a very good starting point for that.
    This may sound utopian but think of this that 200 years ago, people could not have imagined a world with 200 odd tightly defined countries!

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  5. Justice Katju,

    Your data and views on many things are skewed. France does not have a substantial muslim population. Very minimal. I have been there and I can say. Similarly some other data given.

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    1. " In 2003, the French Ministry of the Interior estimated the total number of Muslims to be between five and six million (8–10%)" (Refer Wikipedia)I don't know about your conception of 'minimal' but 60 lakhs to me is not 'very minimal'. 8% population of any country is not an insignificant number. By your yardstick, Sikhs in India are also 'minimal' (around 2% acc. to last census). Besides having been to France doesn't make you a qualified person to comment upon muslim population in France. These kind of claims can only be made on the basis of census data, not by visiting that country. So it turns out your view was 'skewed' not Mr. Katju's

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    2. Justice
      Your thoughts are skewed and you live a wishful unprractical life bad try to fool others posing to be an intellectual

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    3. Justice
      Your thoughts are skewed and you live a wishful unprractical life bad try to fool others posing to be an intellectual

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  6. Dear Sir,
    This is exactly the agenda of Taleban and Al Quaeda and some organisation in Karach very much want.Pakistan would very much like to take India when it goes down; this is very much a possibility. They feel if there is a unified sub- continent they could soon get a majority position, impose Sharia Law and take over the country. Religions have done more harm than good in this world. Religions make people hypocrites, feed false morals. Please read Manusmriti, The Koran, Leviticus, and deuteronomy and the whole Bible. People get their morals from these archaic books. Most people have outsourced thinking to books written in those days when human beings were more violent and extremely backward.

    Pakistan is has been programmed with a very violent software derived from Wahabism imported from Saudi Arabia . They have 30,000 Madrasas doing this. Do you want to take on this challenge when you already have Khap Panchayats, poverty, illiteracy, caste system, Shiv Senas, Bajrang Dals, SIMI, and thousands of undedicated criminals who get elected to Parliament and state legislators?

    Dear sir, please think again.

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  7. You have good points , sir . Violent religious forces must also be crushed by iron hand of law .

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  8. Lori G (Nashville,TN)17 December 2012 at 13:30

    Indians practice a religion like Hindooism which has always divided individuals . It is only a matter of time before India disintegrates into a number of countries based on caste & community.

    Ergo, India's future is no different from that of Pakistan.

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    1. Your views are hilarious!. I shouldn't even take the pain of refuting your claims because in all probability you won't be able to comprehend it. Making such uneducated comments about Hinduism and India only shows your level of ignorance. Even a cursory glance at world religions will show you that every religion has divided people.

      Ergo, please do some reading about India and its history before you embarrass yourself again by making such unqualified comments

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    2. To Narender Kumar ,
      Above point made by LORI G.... we cant say is completely incorrect.... the breed of politicians today who are leading this country have the utmost potential to lead to above mentioned situation... what are we asking for by raising the issue of reservation, telangana and many other contentious issues..... Though he is completely incorrect in making such a straight comment on HINDUISM... but we may look for the positive side of it and fill the loopholes existing in our great religion

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    3. I agree with you Ashwini but problems that you have mentioned have always been there. Infact, odds in favour of India disintegrating were much higher just after independence, but still we managed to defy all the odds and I see no reason why we shouldn't be able to manage it in future as well. Obviously we have work relentlessly to sort out emerging problems but my point was that we don't need to take crap from others who don't even know the basics of India. I highly recommend 'India After Gandhi' by Ramchandra Guha to anyone who wants to know about India. I would like to quote some lines from it:

      "That India could sustain democratic institutions seems, on the face of it, highly improbable. It lacks all the favourable conditions." - Robert Dahl

      ...it has also been an anomaly for academic political science, according to whose axioms cultural heterogenity and poverty do not make a nation, still less a democratic one.

      "And yet there is a resilience about India which seems an assurance of survival. There is something which can only be described as an Indian spirit." - Don Taylor

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    4. Lori G (Nashville,TN)17 December 2012 at 20:14

      There is no such thing as an INDIAN . Hindoos are a tribe that are affiliated to different castes. It's no wonder that a divided country called India has made no progress and remains a Third World . Along the caste & community fault lines India will very soon fall apart .

      Superpowers like the US are homogenous entity coz Evangelical Christianity preaches unity & not division that retarded religions like Hindooism preaches.

      Pakistan will disintegrate too on Shia & Sunni lines.

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    5. Lol..you are not worth my time..i didn't know you were such a hopeless case(and in all probability a kid, at least your IQ level suggests so)..sorry my bad..bye :)

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    6. lori g.... why are you being so much judgmental.... no religion is perfect.... every coin has the second side (or may be the sloppy side) so i would recommend you not to be so decisive in may be a world of your own hypothetical situations....

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  9. I agree with Unknown's post from 17th December. I have no hate towards Pakistan, but they have a lot of challenges ahead of them. We also need to clean up our own country first.

    I do not see why India and Pakistan can continue existing as 2 separate countries, but live in peace with each other. What steps can we take to make Kashmir a demilitarized zone?

    Nepal has more in common with India than Pakistan, but going by Justice Katju's logic why are we not trying to re-unify with (actually annex) Nepal?

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  10. I do not call the idea mad, bizarre or outlandish.But perhaps more Utopian in reality.
    Though the circumstances and the vile and cunning that brought about a two nation theory is well understood, what are the portents that future will hold for a unified India-Pakistan should the unification ever happen?

    The lawless territories that are still in the barbaric age( the SWAT and Western Pakistan)- what do they have in common even with a greater Pakistan culturally , apart from the bigoted and fanatic religious beliefs?And how will a unified India _ Pakistan deal with those areas politically and socially.

    It will take a few generations to take out the bush from those bushmen.
    And besides, even the remaining areas of Pakistan are sloughed under by hate and religious fanaticism . In such a scenario what can assist unification and let it flourish?

    The theocracy that is the corner stone of that country as it is everywhere has only one eye, the eyes of hate .

    I think the idea , Sir, you put forth is sane but Utopian. Perhaps like as with the Berlin Wall and the iron curtain there will dawn a day.Not in our life time for sure. But something tells me that wishes are not horses that can fly.

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  11. Integrating India & Pakistan seems to be a very far call....though its only a seed, a thought! Like the fall of Berlin wall, but I believe we are beyond that.... a little too late and different circumstances.
    Though I do not foresee/accept this one nation theory, it is very important that we integrate at some level for mutual benefits and growth. I see the EU Zone like a solution to be more practical and in that kind on an environment, why only India and Pakistan? we start with our two nations and integrate more countries into this economic zone. Hence this will result into being the strongest economic zone that will influence trade/market globally - outrunning the US & EU!! Also, this will result in a more friendly & cordial relationship with our neighbors... free borders... no reason for terrorists to exist... no waste of money on defense spending... wow! hope some day this dream becomes reality!

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  12. Agreed sir, I always respect your opinion in this issue. India needs leaders like you.

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  13. do you know the history of islam or kashmir. Do you know anything about islamic civilization. never expected this kind of sutpid suggestion form you.

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  14. Though I agree with you that partition of India and pakistan on the basis of religion was wrong. But I dont agree with you that it can be reunited now. It is not a practical suggestion. Whatever has happened can not be rectified. We should now accept the existence of Pakistan and move foeward

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  15. Though I agree with you that partition of India and pakistan on the basis of religion was wrong. But I dont agree with you that it can be reunited now. It is not a practical suggestion. Whatever has happened can not be rectified. We should now accept the existence of Pakistan and move foeward

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  16. I agreed with you Sir and but as per my knowledge this partition evolved due to Mr Jinnah. He asked to British what you gave to Muslim ?
    Why we always blame to Britishers only, We should introspect as well. If they divided us why don't we united in last 65 years, if we were that much smart and have brotherhood.

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  17. Sir,
    This appears to be a preposterous proposition astonishing as it comes from an eminent and experienced justice like your kindself.Pakistan has chosen to be a theocratic state by deliberation and ours is a secular state.The two cultures of the Hindus and the Muslims are disparate and poles apart with zero tolerance for each other.There seems to be no permanent solution yet to the
    communal riots in India.Politicians anywhere anytime will be only interested in stoking the differences between the two communities and the two nations in order to feather their own nests.Your proposition runs against the grains of basic human nature and as such it is likely to end up as a wish for an utopia on earth.

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  18. I cannot see how this unification is possible. Has it ever occured that 2 nations have become one out of necessity ? I do not know. In any case , any average pakistani muslim would be terrified to live under a Hindu Majority . The government may be secular but they wont ever see it that way . And any average indian would rather not have the added troubles of having pakistan added . We have troubles of our own and this solution you offer will make more trouble for India.

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  19. Sir.. Please dont impose that only GB is responsible for it. We still know the history and the drama played while the partition happened.

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  20. Very happy to see someone of your calibre raise this possibility Sir.

    There are two kinds of reunification that need to happen - political and social. I'm a bit skeptical that the power circles in either country will want and encourage political reunification, but social reunification is certainly possible and we can actively move on that front. In fact, on the artistic front, India and Pakistan do not have borders. The late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan enjoyed rock star status in India, as does the great Ghulam Ali today. May this sense of oneness and mutual respect spread between the two countries on all fronts. That would be my prayer.

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  21. It is good on paper, but could tell us why the country was divided in the first place...

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  22. The nation was divided on the two nations theory... and it is impossible to unite again...

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  23. The word impossible is in dictionary of fools. If countries like germany can re-unite after hating each other, what's so hard for asians? What politicans did at time of partitions was more like blinding people for years prior to day of partition and making them believe that what was going to happen was best for them. Now more than a generation after, people have finally realized how they were fooled and they want it back. It might be long battle to win over these politicians, but not a impossible task.

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  24. to have a basic knowledge your blogs provides us the desired information.thanks for providing such a knowledgeable blog.

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  25. it will b better to make India a secular state before thinking abt United IndoPak . I hope u realises d practicality of secularity in India especially when it comes to politics (the first pillar of secular state)

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  26. they and weare of same blood ,born from womb of same mother but idea of reunification is very utopian .but THEY wont let it happen...

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  27. "Impossible" is a word in the dictionary of fools. If countries such as Germany can reunion in hate each other, what is the difficulty? Asian
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  28. its a mad one.when india and pakistan united again taliban terrorists attack indias each and every city . i dont want unification.india is a great hindu contry and want to continue in this stand.

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  29. its a mad one.when india and pakistan united again taliban terrorists attack indias each and every city . i dont want unification.india is a great hindu contry and want to continue in this stand.

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  30. its a mad one.when india and pakistan united again taliban terrorists attack indias each and every city . i dont want unification.india is a great hindu contry and want to continue in this stand.

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  31. its a mad one.when india and pakistan united again taliban terrorists attack indias each and every city . i dont want unification.india is a great hindu contry and want to continue in this stand.

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  32. its a mad one.when india and pakistan united again taliban terrorists attack indias each and every city . i dont want unification.india is a great hindu contry and want to continue in this stand.

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  33. Dear Justice Katju,

    Reunification is a romantic idea to solve the Kashmir issue that is undoubtedly close to your heart. However, Partition was not a parting gift from the British - the rift is older and deeper than that. The British merely exploited communal tensions when it suited them.

    I will highly recommend - MJ Akbar's book - The Tinderbox to you. If you have read it please let me know your thoughts.

    Regards,

    PM

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  34. Nice,

    Thanks for your greatful informations, working in, ASIAN AFFAIRS MAGAZINE.

    Try to post best informations like this always

    Indo-Pak relations : Can Sharif keep his word?

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  35. actually it makes a lot sense. even after 60 years of partition the new generations seem to carry forward the hurt and the hatred towards each other. The only way for this hurt and hatred to end will be for the countries to unify. That would certain be a closure.

    maybe the unification may not come in political boundaries but can come about in currency like the european union (then we would have no problem of fake currency), defence (then we would not need to waste money on nuclearization and keep wasting bullets on each other), trade (then we will have one of the biggest markets, sports (best cricket, hockey, squash teams) and culture (music, classical, folk, theater)

    if coke n pepsi as global competitors can collaborate on issues when their markets are threatened why can't india-pakistan.

    i want to see lahore, islamabad, karachi and quetta

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  36. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  37. This is very interesting. As much as I like it I don't want it and it shouldn't happen.

    It is now 65 yrs since the partition. This generation of Pakistani has a lot of antagonisms towards India.

    If there is unification then we will inherent a huge problems which outweigh the benefit.

    Pakistani military cannot live under civilian rule.
    We will inherit the terrorists and the religious extremists which is growing in Pakistan.

    The Muslim population in India will increase in proportion it will be harder to deal with them. Indian Muslims are more moderate than the Pakistani Muslims.


    This is not like the 2 Germanis or the two Koreas or the case of Chinese and Taiwan. Here there is a huge ideological mismatch and is not viable.

    We are better off as it is. We don't want Pakistan

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  38. our state Pakistan has become a secular state,and it suits it also.

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  39. Actually what we need is the breaking up of Pakistan, make Baluchistan an Independent nation state, make an alliance with the Taliban & handover the pashtun areas of Pakistan to Afghanistan while the the regions of POK Punjab & Sindh should be reunited with India. Thus the terror infected areas will be away from India & the problem of Pakistan will be solved once & for all. Similarly Nepal, Bhutan & Bangladesh should be reunited with India. After that India should form a EU style alliance with ASEAN countries.

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  40. Farouq Omaro says: Nice idea Samir Khan, but I pity the progressive-minded, liberal and non-Muslim persons living in Pakhtunkwa and Balochistan. They would be at the mercy of lunatics.

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  41. HI
    Those who wanted to contact a man who worked for re-unification of India since 2000 AD,pls send mail to sonofsatanandsataness@yahoo.com.
    Commander Podi(!!!!!)

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