75 Years of Pakistan

Abstract

The Diamond Jubilee of a country not expected to survive beyond 6 months is a time for retrospection. Pakistan came into existence because a minority was subject to religious discrimination accompanied by violence. As such its identity came to be defined by religion, quite contrary to a Westphalian state. The formulation of the demand for Pakistan was the Two Nation Theory, voiced by both Hindu and Muslim political leaders. Pakistan was disadvantaged at creation by the Radcliffe Award 1947 and the burden of a province separated from the mainland by a 1000 miles. It came into being in the Cold War Era, it passed from the bipolar to the unipolar to the now multipolar world. Pakistan survives as a nuclear, but poor nation. It has a sizeable population and strategic position, but caught now, in a pandemic, a deluge and debt trap in turn. The survival of Pakistan has become necessary for the stability of the emerging world order and its proverbial resilience is being put to its highest test.