Tuesday, December 02, 2008

The Dilemma Of Democratic India

At the time of the partition of India, in 1947, even though large numbers of people were uprooted from their homes, India and Pakistan each had about 15% minority populations of Hindus and Muslims, respectively. Both countries promised secular democracy. Both countries promised to respect the rights of minorities.

India at least still offers a secular democracy on paper. It still has a large Muslim minority, more than 150 million. The largest population of Muslims outside of Indonesia. Muslims in India may not get all the breaks. A lot of people in India don't get many breaks.

Pakistan has less than 2% Hindus in their population, at this point. Not that many of Pakistan's Hindus emigrated out. I wonder where they went? If you're not a Muslim in Pakistan, you don't really have any civil rights. You can't vote. If somebody kills you and rapes your wife and daughter, nobody will prosecute them. Hell, if you are Muslim and you kill your own wife and daughter, nobody will prosecute you. Pakistan has been in an undeclared border war with India for most of the last 60 years. Only India's restraint has kept it from becoming the World's first Thermo Nuclear War.

The United States has always been very friendly with Pakistan. We give them aide. We sell them weapons. We cosign international agreements.

We have never been friendly with India. We don't consider them friends at all. We would be very unhappy if India went to war with Pakistan.

Does not Pakistan pose exactly the type of Islamic terrorist threat to India that the cringing dog Bush claimed that Iraq and Afghanistan posed to us? In India's case, it's even true.

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