Are There Limits to Islamic Violence?
In 1947 the British granted independence to South Asia. Originally, the British had no intention of partitioning the subcontinent, but the Muslim minority insisted so much on having a country of their own, that London finally agreed.
The huge territory was thus divided into Pakistan and India, being what is now Bangladesh a province of Pakistan.
Almost as soon as the British withdrew, war broke loose. In the six decades since independence, there have been a total of three wars and more than a dozen armed clashes. Although during the whole period Pakistan remained a far weaker nation than India, all the wars and all the clashes were caused by Pakistan.
That goes a long way to expose the true nature of the Muslim religion. Like all religions, Islam is uncompromising, for it believes that it is the holder of the ultimate truth. However, contrary to the others, it is the only creed born out of an act of violence and the only one that glorifies violence in its holy book.
However, what is even more revealing of its brutal nature is the way in which the relationship of military forces was structured in South Asia. From the start, it was clear to the Pakistanis that they were going to loose. India is exponentially larger in population and in resources, and on top of that New Delhi made a strategic alliance with the U.S. That gave India access to the best military technology in the world.
As all experts predicted, Pakistan was crushed on the three occasions. It was not just crushed, but it was also humiliated because the defeat came quickly due to the overwhelming superiority of Indian forces. Such a situation begs a question.
Who picks up a fight with someone who is many times stronger? More still is: who picks up a fight after having been repeatedly defeated?
On the third war in 1971, Pakistan not only lost the war, but also the province of East Bengal, which declared its independence and became Bangladesh. However, not even such a massive and ignominious loss convinced the Pakistanis to stop provoking its neighbor.
They went on harassing India, claiming that the disputed state of Kashmir belonged to them. In the following decades, they repeatedly financed and armed groups which they encouraged to pierce into India to plant bombs. This of course, led to a military response from New Delhi, which led to numerous border clashes that almost ended in war.
The situation in South Asia over the last six decades, leads to the conclusion that such bravado from the part of Pakistan, can only be the result of the country's belief in Islam. Only someone who believes in violence per se could be systemically picking up a fight with somebody who is much stronger.
The fact that Pakistan's claim over Kashmir is not solidly anchored points further in this direction.
Related Tags: violence, war, india, religion, pakistan, islam, britain, south asia, bangladesh, new delhi, kashmir, east bengal
Charles Sabillon did High School in Texas and has undergraduate degrees in Philosophy, Economics and Law as well as a masters and a doctorate in International Relations. After the PhD, he undertook post-doctoral research in the fields of History, Economics, and Ecology. He has taught Economic History at a university in Switzerland and speaks fluently English, Spanish, French and German.
For more information go to:
http://www.authorsden.com/charlesasabillon
http://www.geocities.com/sabilloncarlos/
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