by: Siddhant Agarwal,16
From a superficial perspective the political “enmity” ( an apt description for the relationship if based on the four conventional wars that have been fought between these nations or the first thought that comes into the mind of 70 percent of Indians when asked about their feelings for Pakistan and vice-versa) between India and Pakistan can be believed to have originated on ideological and territorial grounds, however on deliberation one would find that the feelings have a much deeper psychological origin.
Many believe that the enmity began with the partition of the country in 1947 however in actuality the partition was merely a culmination of the distrust and animosity between Hindus and Muslims. The question then arises why was their animosity between the Hindus and Muslims ? Was it merely because of their differing ideologies? If it was then how did they coexist for so long as people of one country?
The rupture between the two can be traced to what happened within India’s predominantly Hindu Congress party, which represented both communities against the British Raj in the years before the partition. The Muslims felt that during the negotiations with the British, their reservations were improperly considered and their demands were thus not met. As a result their emerged the feeling of neglect amongst them. They felt that they were undervalued and as a result they became rebellious and competitive. Furthermore after the partition, the Pakistanis were dissatisfied with the newly created demographic and hence felt wronged. In the Hindus on the other hand the feelings are mainly derived from pride fuelled by patriotic fever. The Hindus felt that the partition was fair and even borderline generous. So when the Muslims made the first move, they retaliated with rampant aggression.
As the years after the partition flew by, the hatred between the nations sustained(sometimes even fanned by events such as wars or cricket matches) and was passed on to successive generations.
Family and lineage are the most influential institutions in a persons life and inherently people tend to transpose the psychological moral structure of their familial relationships into every other institution in their life. In other words what one portrays and how one is perceived by the outside world is usually a result of their upbringing.For example even while writing this article I find myself constantly deliberating upon and checking what I have written to make sure it is as unbiased as possible.
Such is the psychological nature of this ancient enmity and from what we have witnessed in the recent past, it is not going away any time soon.