India and Pakistan are neighboring countries in Southeast Asia and part of the Indian subcontinent. Pakistan is a recent creation, as the territory called Pakistan today was a part of Hindustan where there was a Muslim majority, and this reason became the basis of division when the British decided to leave India. The reason why the world is interested in knowing the differences between India and Pakistan is because of the continuous animosity between the two countries that have seen three wars and many skirmishes. Kashmir, the Indian state partly occupied by Pakistan, has been described as a nuclear flashpoint by western analysts. Kashmir has never really allowed the relations between the two neighbors to normalize. This article attempts to find out the differences between India and Pakistan to enable readers have a balanced view of the two Asian countries.
Pakistan
While the Indian freedom movement had contributions from both Hindus and Muslims, it was never the idea of freedom fighters to get independence with bifurcation of the motherland in the name of religion. Partition took place in 1947, and the state of Pakistan was created taking away areas of Muslim majority in the northwestern and eastern parts of India. Later in 1971, East Pakistan got seceded and the nation of Bangladesh was born. The founding fathers of Pakistan, including Mohammad Ali Jinnah, chose to make it an Islamic nation and today it has the 2nd highest population of Muslims in the world after Indonesia.
Pakistan is the place where there have been different ancient empires in the past. It is the seat of the old Indus Valley Civilization. Pakistan has four districts and four federal territories. It has a population of 170 million people and has the 6th largest economy of the world. It has the 7th largest military in the world and is the only Muslim country in the world to have nuclear power status. Pakistan has a 1000km long coastline in the Arabian Sea and is strategically located in a territory between South Asia, Central Asia, and the Middle East.
After Independence from India, Pakistan has mostly been ruled by the military and dictators and has suffered from political instability. It has had troubled relations with India and has gone into wars and conflicts with India, mainly because of the disputed territory of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistan has been a major ally of the US and has been instrumental in its fight against terrorism.
India
At the time of independence, India chose to be a republic with a parliamentary democracy in place. It added the word secular to the preamble of the constitution through an amendment and is a secular country. The 7th largest in terms of area, India is the 2nd most populous country after China in the world. India is so big that it classifies as a subcontinent. It is the seat of the Indus Valley Civilization and has been the birthplace of four major religions of the world namely Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism, and Buddhism. Himalayas make up the borders of the country in the north and the northeast, separating it from China. To the south of the country lies the Indian Ocean and it is surrounded by the Arabian Sea in the west and Bay of Bengal in the East.
India has the 3rd largest army in the world, and it is a nuclear power in South Asia. It plays an important role in the comity of nations and is not just a regional superpower but has enough of economic and military clout in the world.
What is the difference between India and Pakistan?
• India is a secular country while Pakistan is an Islamic country
• India is much bigger in area and population than Pakistan
• Pakistan has had military rule and political instability while India has all along been a role model in parliamentary democracy
• India and Pakistan share the rich cultural heritage of the past but have had serious differences like Kashmir and have gone into several wars with each other
• India has an ethnically diverse population while Muslims are dominant in Pakistan over other religions.