nity enjoyed by extremist
groups that terrorise their own
fellow citizens. And Pakistan’s
politicians need a more solid
base of popular consent. One
way to achieve that would be to
divide provinces into more effi-
cient and representative units.
Karachi, a huge, polyglot trading
city built up from waves of refu-
gees, is an uncomfortable ap-
pendage to the rural, backward
Sindhi-speaking province of
Sindh. Punjab is too dominant.
India, too, could do with
splitting giant states such as Ut-
tar Pradesh into more manage-
able units. That would mean
more frequent but less distract-
ing elections, allowing the rul-
ing party at the centre to get on
with running the country. Divid-
ing Jammu and Kashmir would
end the pretence that lowland
Hindus and highland Muslims
form a cohesive whole, and give
the distinct people of the Vale a
clearer voice in their future. In
private, many of them say they
would be happiest inside a
democratic, secular India that
acknowledges that they are dif-
ferent and treats them with dignity.
If India and Pakistan were more confident in themselves,
they would be less worried by the normal human exchanges be-
tween countries that underpin peaceful relations. Instead, when
tensions have heightened in recent months Pakistan has banned
Indian films, while India has abruptly sent home Pakistani
schoolchildren on a goodwill tourand denied visas to Pakistanis
seeking medical care. Such pettiness is destructive.
Sadly, reconciliation may become
even harder as time goes by. For young In-
dians in Kolkata or Bangalore, Pakistan is
no longer viewed as a lost cousin but sim-
ply as a particularly bothersome distant
neighbour. Younger Pakistanis follow the
news from India more closely, but are in-
creasinglyalienated by their neighbour’s
rightward, Muslim-bashing drift.
The ruling establishments in both
countries find that mutual enmity serves
their interests better than friendship
would. Shifting geopolitics has not
helped. India had hoped that its growing
economy and stronger ties with America
would make a more isolated Pakistan
keener for reconciliation, but China has
moved nimbly into the breach, and so far
looks set to entrench the differences be-
tween India and Pakistan further.
Seventy years ago the Pakistani poet
Faiz Ahmed Faiz lamented the suffering
and unfulfilled promise of partition thus:
“This is not the dawn we longed for.”
Alas, that dawn has yet to arrive. 712 The EconomistJuly 22nd 2017
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economist.com/specialreportsFranceSeptember 30th
The world economyOctober 7 th
E-commerceOctober 28 th2 there is less space for free expression.
Communal aggression in India has left Muslims and other
minorities feeling increasingly vulnerable, but it seems to help
win votes. The shifting electoral tide suggests a gradual transfor-
mation of India’s underlying sense of national destiny, from be-
ing a pluralist country enriched by diversity to becoming a more
narrowly defined Hindurasht ra, or state, in much the same way
that secular Pakistan became an “Islamic” state. This is very
much the vision of the Hindu nationalist groups whose zeal un-
derpins the BJP’s success; not coincidentally, their intellectual
evolution shows striking parallels with Islamist groups such as
the Muslim Brotherhood.
In some ways, the two countries seem to be goading each
other to become more aggressive. “We used to think partition
was a terrible mistake,” admits a liberal-minded historian in La-
hore. “But with Modi in power it looks more and more like Jin-
nah had it right all along.” In the same way, ever more Indians
have begun to conflate their enemies: Pakistanis, Kashmiris and
Muslims in general, they feel, do not belong in their country.
India and Pakistan are unlikely to resolve their differences
in the foreseeable future. On the contrary, impending elections,
in Pakistan next year and in India in 2019, will make things
worse: there are votes in taking a tough approach to the enemy.
This does not mean that reconciliation is impossible, but that it
will need to come through building up trust in a slow, plodding
way rather than through some sudden diplomatic breakthrough.
And the most obvious way to foster mutual trustis for both sides
to start solving their own problems at home.Peace begins at home
That means, first of all, creating stronger, more confident de-
mocracies. Both countries urgently need to attend to their crum-
bling institutions, most importantly their underfunded, unre-
formed systems of justice and education. They also need bold
electoral reforms. Political funding in both countries is opaque,
and the first-past-the-post system can produce conspicuously
unfair results.
In Pakistan, elected leaders need to gain fuller control of the
levers of power, and ultimately to putthe soldiers back in their
barracks. It would help, too, if the generals were to end the impu-When
India’s and
Pakistan’s
national
cricket
teams
clashed at
London’s
Oval,
passions on
both sides
ran equally
high