Monday, December 26, 2011

Discuss how the Muslim League foreshadowed the future course of relations between India and Pakistan.

The establishment of the Muslim League represented the
first clear instance where Muslim interests and the interests of India were seen as two
opposite entities.  Prior to this, the interests of Hindustan encompassed both Muslims
and Hindus.  Yet, as the tension surrounding the call for England to leave India
intensified, Muslim leaders felt persuaded to establish the issue of independence as one
that called for a separate state for Muslims.  Consider the most basic definition of the
political party:


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[The Muslim League was a] Political party founded
in 1905 to represent the separate interests of the Indian Muslims, who felt threatened
by the prospects of a Hindu majority in any future democratic
system.



There is much there
that foreshadows the relationship between both nations today.  Consider the idea of
"feeling threatened."  Certainly, this tension exists in the relationship between India
and Pakistan, with both sides claiming that the other seeks to subvert both their nation
and their way of life.  Another example of how the Muslim League foreshadows the current
state of diplomatic relations between both nations is that the League made the
assumption that Muslim interests were vastly different than Hindu interests, a belief
that underscores both countries' foreign policies today.  I would finally suggest that
another element of foreshadowing was that the Muslim League helped to initiate the new
nation under Partition, but failed to gain any traction in assuming political leadership
in guiding the future of the new nation.  This reflects the current state of affairs
between both nations, whereby the desire for separation was demanded, but little focus
in way of how the future would exist for both nations was seen.  Today, India and
Pakistan still cannot agree on a common vision that will guide both nations in the 21st
Century.  Essentially, both nations are "on the move, but going in nowhere" in terms of
how each will work with one another in the future.  Negotiations between both nations
are thus always challenged because there is little idea as to how to proceed with the
future as both nations refuse to acknowledge the others' future as one they wish to
share.

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