The real Two Nation Theory

Indians and Pakistanis often find themselves talking to each other at cross purposes. 

One reason is that their respective national conversations are very different from each other. Gen. Asim Munir said recently “..our forefathers thought we were different from Hindus in every possible aspect of life. Our religion is different, our customs are different, our traditions are different, our thoughts are different, our ambitions are different, that’s where the foundation of the two-nation theory was laid..”

The underlying assumptions of Pakistan’s conversations about itself and its place in the world are:

1. Pakistanis are the most highly civilized people in the region, being the inheritors of the Muslim dynasties that ruled large parts of India for several hundred years.

2. They are morally superior to all others, being Muslims. Islam is perfect and complete and as believers, their good fortune is certain, in this world and hereafter. Hindu religious feeling is false and oppressive. Any social evils in Muslim society are legacies of Hinduism that need to be eradicated.

3. They are militarily the strongest compared to all others and their borders deserve to expand.

4. As a people, Pakistanis don’t exist to slog, work hard, strive to produce with their own hands. Their ideal is to conquer, to rule, to get the slog work done by others, and to extract. If you aren’t trying to dominate other people, that means you are weak. God’s bounties fall on the brave and opportunistic.

5. A good economy would be desirable as a means to reach the above ideal, not as an end in itself. Foreign aid is an asset not a liability.

The Indians on the other hand

1. Are entangled in keeping their country together by trying to improve peoples’ lives, as there is no other way given India’s huge population and diversity

2. This involves trying to solve its almost intractable problems of poverty, inequality, illiteracy and lack of employment. This takes unrelenting slog in education, industry and commerce as there are no options for Indians other than generating wealth and resources for themselves. Foreign aid was a liability as it hindered decision making. 

3. Indians strive to keep up with the world in science and technology and other trappings of the modern economy since apart from fulfilling national aspirations, those are resource generators too. 

4. Given resource constraints, Indians are very reluctant to budget for war unless forced to do so.

5. The Indian ideal is to have a strong, self-sustaining and inclusive economy. 

Given these stark differences in national conversations, when Indians and Pakistanis talk to each other, there are no shared assumptions, only complete misunderstanding about the other.

When Pakistanis see Indians concentrating on economic advancement, they conclude Indians are meek and mean minded, namely, lacking in higher culture and ambition and lacking a will to fight. 

Indians see Pakistanis’ obsession with Islam, militarism, need for dominance and lack of appetite for slog as weaknesses that Pakistanis need to reform to progress. Pakistanis think those obsessions show they are more highly evolved than others and so harbor no thought of reform. Rather, Pakistanis harbor a grievance that they have been tricked out of overdue deserved territorial victories over the lowly undeserving Indians. 

Based on their interpretations, Pakistanis plan and hope for future territorial victories over India. Based on their own interpretations, Indians await weakening of Pakistan’s economy and consequently, Pakistanis ‘reforming’ their national conversations to be more focused on internal matters, rather than planning war. 

In this framing, there are no shared ideals or goals between Indians and Pakistanis that they can agree upon or discuss.  It is a manifestation of the real two nation theory- two very different theories of how to be a nation.