Thursday, May 7, 2009

Few analysts or pundits have addressed factor of ethnic divisions in Pakistan


DRAFT

Analysts have not addressed the ethnic-social division in modern Pakistan.

(Actually, increasing number of leaders have been from non-Sindh, non-Punjab gorups.)

The overwhelming majority of industry, agriculture and commerce lies in the two eastern provinces adjacent to India, Punjab and Sindh.
The Indus River and the river valley forms a western border for these two provinces.
Here is a link to a 2004 online academic paper on Pakistan's political shakiness and social division, Hussain Haqqani, "The Role of Islam in Pakistan's future," "The Washington Quarterly," 28:1, Winter 2004-2005, 85-96: http://www.twq.com/05winter/docs/05winter_haqqani.pdf

In a larger context, Pakistan suffers from low development in social infrastructure, in contrast to its neighbor to the east. Namely, in the period from 1947 and [2000?] India tackled literacy. Literacy is 35% in Pakistan and 67% in India.

In a historical context, the rootedness of the cultures in the regions west of Punjab and Sindh to Pakistan is not as strong. Numerous maps from the 1600s to the 1800s indicate that the western regions were under the control of Afghanistan, Iran (nee Persia), an independent Baluchistan, or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qalat_(princely_state) in Baluchistan.
Reference to ethnic maps.

Terrible fate from British acquisition of western territories. Most of the alienated provinces came after Britain's earlier 1850s acquisitions:
Balouchistan, acquired 1876; Northwest tribal provinces (capture finalized in Durand line, 1893. (Durand Line of 1893.) These areas remained for centuries OUTSIDE of the Indian/ South Asian politaical tradition. The Kasmir princely state sidd withBrits in 1857 rebellion theres after went w Brit rule. (see keay maps.)


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