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Don't discount that Pakistan and India have much more in common than is obvious to someone not from the subcontinent.
by kranner 16y ago
Don't discount that Pakistan and India have much more in common than is obvious to someone not from the subcontinent.
- gamble 16y agoTrue, I don't want to downplay the distinctiveness of Indian culture or its ties to Pakistan. But speaking from a western, utilitarian foreign policy perspective, the aspects that are desirable about India are the parts that are distinctive, or if they exist in Pakistan are undermined by the political realities there.
- nirajr 16y agoAs an Indian, I can tell you some fundamental differences between India and Pakistan: - India is usually very open to debate, on just about anything. - Radicalism, though exists in India in pockets and in different forms, is not a chronic national disease. - People understand the language of development now (to a large extent) - Knowledge and Education is very deeply valued. Its a part of how most Indians think. - Corruption is rampant, but media is becoming extremely vigilant. We have a Right to Information, which has been used to great effect recently to curb corruption and malpractices. - Lastly, we are a democracy in the true sense of the work. 80% of Indians are proud of it. We are chaotic and corrupt and crippled with hundreds of problems, but at the same time, we're enterprising, hard-working, mostly ambitious, and mostly open-minded.
- kranner 16y agoI'm Indian too (with ex-Pak immigrant parentage), and I can't say most of those things, except for the recent innovation of the Right to Information Act, are all that different here than in Pakistan. Perhaps we shouldn't argue over what we cannot quantify.
- nirajr 16y agoPrecisely why I'll not debate this any further :)
- RyanMcGreal 16y agoTl;dr: As an Indian, I can tell you that India is better than Pakistan. Not very helpful.
- known 16y agoThere are 17,000 cults in India. http://goo.gl/CvDz http://goo.gl/CvDz They're destroying India because they literally hate each other.
- FraaJad 16y agoPeople tend to think of India as one single entity, which is a mistake. As a South Indian, there are not many things common between me and a Pakistani.
- kranner 16y agoAgreed that India is not a single entity, and I'd add that Pakistan is not that integrated either. Those Pashtuns in the North-West Frontier Province do take great pains to distinguish themselves from the Punjabis in the East, and the Balochis and Sindhis in the South. I suppose I shouldn't leave out the Kashmiris. Now as to not having things in common, I have to disagree. There is a distinctive desi-ness to our affairs, which in my eyes still binds 'Maula Jatt' and 'Endhiran' as belonging to more or less the same culture. Just my opinion.