Within this context one sees India managing the extreme elements; not perfectly, but very well. India can act decisively in defeating elements that rip pieces from the nation. That’s because the people and the government have a shared working experience on how democracies solve people /community problems; imperfectly, but well intentioned peaceful processes that seem to take forever!

Mr.Jinnah hoped for the same process to work in the development of Pakistan. That, never got off the ground.

The elite Pakistanis that were supposed to make his vision a reality strayed from his vision. Partition eliminated competition from their Hindu counterparts! They devoted their time to get entrenched in wealth and power. The millions of illiterate were denied secular education. They were exploited by the Muslim theme. They left the young minds of a new country in the hands of functionally illiterate clerics, for their education. That gave rise to a pre-occupation with every thing Islamic; Kashmir, Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, Chechnya etc. and nothing much else mattered, including their lives. Makes sense. It is a natural outcome. The Taliban are the extreme end, but are the creation of Pakistani government education policy. These policies continue at the moment you read this. Thousands of young minds cultivated in madressahs that yearn for religious/cultural norms of circa 800 AD. The good old days! It was a time when ordinary folks and specially women had no rights and there were no national boundries. Muslims were the world power. Religion, martydom and sectarianism based conflicts abounded.

In todays world, diversity, through immigration of labour, is the only thing growing faster than anything else. Democracy is a tool to manage the peace and prosperity in such an environment. Religion can only be an individualy protected right in this diverse setting. Why is this not good enough for peoply of faith or no faith? What is the need to insist that your neighbours have the same religion as you? This is not natural; it is something inculcated.

India’s development will be slow but steady and the entire world will learn that a nation state will become less and less important as people learn not to needlessly live in fear of people different from them, but to celebrate the difference and prosper from it.

Unlike most nations, India’s unity is strengthened not despite the diversity but because of it! India’s vision is not based on one version of any vision, but multiple vantage points of what may be one vision.

When there are a few forces reaching out for their share in a nation’s pie, there is a real chance of disintegration. But when there are too many forces – inter-religious, intra-religious, linguistic, skin color, facial features…you have a melting pot which does not allow any crab to crawl out the bucket to take charge. While this can make a lot of things suboptimal, it is also self regulating in a sense there is this continual shift in representation that is ever occurring.

And given all this jostling, vision cannot be driven or usurped by one quarter or another for too long – if its time has come it will run its course.

Shifting vision: Socialist leaning and central planning was the idea whose time had come at the time of independence ran its course for some 40 to 50 years. Now it is growth though private sector and regulatory reforms.

At best a party or a coalition of parties may temporarily hasten this multi-decade process. At worst they may slow it down some. But given the size and inequity in the country the participation in this vision will be incremental and take time.

Parties with national level ambition understand this by and large – weather their identify is tied to representation or vision in general.

I myself am a Sarmastani. Though now Baloch people are accepting us as a low caste Baloch but I dont agree with them. Luri people are actually the inhabitants of Luristan(Iran) who migrated to Balochistan with Baloch tribes but they are not at all baloch. Here in Balochistan, politic is just a dirty game that rotates around the Sardars and strong personalities. Sarmatani can never think that these ruling personalities can give them a chance to get involed into politics unless our people do something themselves.

Gulzar is a Sikh name as well. There are lots of them in Punjab and abroad.

In 1991, the Congress gave authority to Bush I to use any force necessary to eject Saddam out of Kuwait, hence the war was called off before the US troops had a chance to be in Baghdad. In 2001, the Congress gave a similar authority to Bush II to deal with Saddam.