Chapter 3   The Bangladesh war   Prelude to the 1971 war   Sometime in the early 60's, Ayub Khan's son, Gauhar Ayub, led a procession through the streets of Karachi, a city where Ayub Khan had lost in the elections. The procession turned violent and the resulting killings sowed the seeds of ethnic polarization. It completely alienated Pakistan's largest city from Ayub Khan, and accelerated his downfall in 1969. The revolt was especially strong in East Pakistan since it had been seriously neglected during Ayub's period. The gap in per capita income between the two wings had doubled in percentage terms, so that in 1969/70 the per capita income in the West wa

Chapter 7   The return of Jinnah to Indian politics   A very important event that took place in 1928 was the return of Jinnah from England. When he rejoined Indian politics he was a totally different man and this time he pursued a radically new policy with regard to the Muslims of India. It was at that time that the Indian leaders decided to formulate an Indian Constitution acceptable to all political parties. This idea was taken up at the Congress session of 1927 in Madras. As a result, a committee headed by Pundit Motilal Nehru was set up. An All Parties Conference met at Lucknow in August 1928 where a constitution was framed and was accepted by the Congress party. Howev

Chapter 7   The present situation of Pakistan   All these have put Pakistan in a most unenviable situation. Pakistan is being talked all over the world as a failed State.   Here is an extract from Brahma Chellaney:   "Economically, Pakistan has become a basket case under military rule, which has scared away investors with its bellicose rhetoric and cosy ties with fundamentalists. It is doubtful whether the present military can keep Pakistan together. Pakistanis are more disillusioned than ever, realising that the Musharraf regime is no better than the   Page-108 politicians it replaced The military, however, can flourish only as lo

India's spiritual heritage   An article written by Glen P. Kezwer, Ph.D. Glen Kezwer has been practising and studying meditation for the past twenty years at a meditation institute in northern India. He writes:   Spirituality is an intrinsic part of Indian culture and life. Every Indian home is adorned with a poojaa shrine containing a picture of Lord Krishna, Shri Ganesh, Lord Shiv, the Goddess Lakshmi, Saraswati, or some other deity surrounded by candles and incense and garlanded with a maalaa. It is here that people stop for a praanaam to the devi or devtaa, or to ring a bell and sit with eyes closed and hands folded for a few minutes every day. For the wors

Chapter 6   The Intelligence Agencies   Besides the army's institutional role in the government and in the structure of national political life, in the past two decades the intelligence services have become a major actor on the national political scene. Military Intelligence - (MI), and the Inter-Services Intelligence --(ISI), the two major services, are widely believed to have had a major hand in shaping the candidates and choices available to the voters in elections at least since General Zia's parliamentary elections in 1985. They are reliably reported to be active in today's political scene, notably by encouraging politicians to join the party that appears to be prefer

Chapter 2   Pakistan a political unit   In the following pages we will show that Pakistan is not a nation in the true sense of the word; it is a political unit manufactured and carved out by the accident of circumstances and deliberate planning by a section of the Muslim leadership, the British government and the shortsightedness of the Congress leaders.   It is well known to all students of political science that the mere creation of a political unit is not enough to ensure its permanency and durability. A political unit, in order to be viable must be a real unit - that is to say, it must be a unit bound by a deep psychological, cultural, spiritual unity

An extract from Justice M. C. Chagla, in his autobiography:   "As far as I am concerned there are three things to which I have always adhered. They have represented my working faith and my abiding belief. These principles are unity, secularism and democracy. I know all the divisive factors but to my mind they are superficial. I have always thought that it was India's destiny to remain one country and one nation. One has only to look at a map of Asia to be convinced of this fact. With the Himalayas in the north and the sea in the west, south and east, India stands out as something distinct and apart from other countries that separate it. The Gods in their wisdom wante

Foreword   An unbiased study of History of any nation, race, continent or subcontinent has tremendous lessons for the subsequent generations. The book, 'A Vision of United India, Problems and Solutions' by Prof Kittu Reddy of Sri Aurobindo Ashram could not have come at a more appropriate time. Today when the country is passing through a period of turmoil, there can be no better place to look than our own heritage and history.   The author needs to be complimented on bringing out this book, which provides information on all aspects of India as a whole. He has covered Indian History from the ancient period to the current days bringing out that in spite of India having b

Chapter 2   More problems with Pakistan The problem in East Pakistan   Some time in the year 1950, Hindus were being butchered in East Pakistan. Faced with this difficult situation, the Government of India was contemplating taking some strong steps to protect the Hindus. Sardar Patel was then Home Minister and he faced the biggest test of his statesmanship when thousands of Hindus were driven into East Bengal by Pakistan - a development, which took everyone by surprise and angered the whole nation. Till then, the eastern front had been, by and large, peaceful and free from any communal backlash. The Sardar was much perturbed by the unhelpful attitude of the Government of P

Chapter 7   The present situation in the subcontinent   Let us see the role of the Pakistan Army after the September 11 attacks.   Here are a few extracts from some journals:   The September 11 attacks on New York and Washington and the ensuing U.S.-led war on terrorism have given Pakistan's military dictator, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, an opportunity to improve relations between Washington and Islamabad. That relationship had experienced a steep decline in the 1990s, as the end of both the Cold War and the common struggle against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan eroded the perception of shared strategic interests. Moreover, while it was losing i