It is not merely a history of centuries that India and Pakistan share. Culture, language and geography also links them, although both countries view this shared heritage differently. If religion defined the national identity of Pakistan during partition, the same has continued as a national philosophy over the decades.
What is known as Indian civilization is as much a legacy of Pakistan, but it is only Mughal history that it acknowledges as its own. And it is this difference in perception that has damaged the psyche of the two nations.
The partition of the two countries, one of the bloodiest in human history, marked the migration and death of millions across the subcontinent. It is also a story of one of the most contrasting developments of two neighboring nations, both of whom began with little political experience at governance, empty coffers, and wounded societies.
Pakistan today is the hub of terrorism, a "failed state", while India is considered an emerging economic superpower. Historically, India was never a cohesive whole, so the concept of a nation was more geographical at birth. India had to carry religious minorities along, whereas Pakistan was created and built around an Islamic identity.
A look at the socio-economic scenario of India and Pakistan in 1947 and the situation now, reveals a chasm that is as much economic as it is political/'
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