SOUTHASIA Online

So many accounts live on our bookshelves about the partition of India that there really is no space left for more. This ‘Partition' while separating left deep imprints on our sensibilities and on the memory templates of several generations, which is why it has become such a defining event.  When language, cultural similarities, common social observances conjoined us; ‘faith', it was asserted, divided, and so it had to be. The tectonic plates of our existence, our collective identities and our geo-political unities then got fractured; this break even the plaster of time has not been able to repair.

Pakistan and India both achieved independence in 1947. At that time there was a great deal of skepticism about Pakistan's economic future. India was much advanced on all indicators of economic sustenance, resource endowment, potential output and growth. LIFE magazine of January 5, 1948 had predicted almost an economic collapse of Pakistan.

From such a shaky start Pakistan today is 34th largest economy in the world with per capita income in U.S. $ 1050. India is 10th largest economy in the world with per capita income of about U.S. dollars 1100. How have the two countries fared economically between 1947 and 2007?

Stanley Wolpert is an American historian. Currently he is the Professor Emeritus of History at the University of California, Los Angeles. He specializes in the modern political history of India and Pakistan. His well-known books include Morley and India, A New History of India, Roots of Confrontation in South Asia, Jinnah of Pakistan, Nehru:A Tryst with Destiny, etc. In an exclusive interview with SouthAsia, Stanley Wolpert talks about Indo-Pak relations and how he sees their future.

The Mumbai terrorist attack in November 2008 once again brought to the fore the fragility of India-Pakistan relations and shattered prospects of peace in the region. In fact the terrorist could claim a strategic victory as India blamed Pakistan for the incident, suspended dialogue and put the peace process in a freeze. No doubt, the last two years of the peace process had already lost momentum as India remained deeply pre-occupied embracing U.S. in a strategic partnership and Pakistan was in a state of anarchy as Musharraf's military rule kept unraveling.