Difference between India and Pakistan
Pronouncing the two words together produces only one kind of thought in the minds of Indians and Pakistanis – the thought of war, terror, encroachment, intrusion and negotiations breaking down. The two words India and Pakistan did not have any simultaneous existence before the year 1947. It was only in the year 1947 when the South Asian subcontinent attained freedom from the British rule and when ‘Hindustan’ or ’British India’ was partitioned into two countries – India and Pakistan. Who knew that these two countries would emerge as the most ardent enemies ever! The two developing nations share a lot in common due to the same roots but they differ in many respects from one another.
Geographical Differences
India is the seventh largest country in the world with a total area 1,260,000 square mi. whereas Pakistan presently stands at 36th position in that list with total geographic area of 310,400 square mi. Thus India occupies most of the subcontinent with its land stretching from the coast of Indian Ocean in the south to the Himalayas in the north and from coast of Gujarat in the west to Bengal in the east. Until 1971, Pakistan was a larger state than it is now as it had two territories – one to the west of India (what we now call Pakistan) and another to the east of it, which achieved independence in 1971 and became the sovereign state of ‘Bangladesh’ thereafter. But now Pakistan is an arid strip of land between Afghanistan and India with area = 1/4th of area of India.
Religion
India follows the principle of political as well as religious freedom and is one of the few secular countries in the world whereas Pakistan is an Islamic state. Religion was the main reason behind the partition of the Indian subcontinent into India and Pakistan. Muslims being a minority in India demanded their own sovereign state. After several intense riots during the time of independence, Muslims were allowed to set up their own territory which they named Pakistan. India chose to remain secular and did not force Muslims to leave the country.
Demography
The Pakistan’s population at present is over 169 million and nearly 100% of the population is the follower of Islam. India is the second most populated country in the world. The population of India as of now is over 1.2 billion of which over 80% are Hindus and over 120 million people are Muslims. Thus despite being a non-Muslim majority country, the number of Muslims in India are comparable to those in Pakistan. Both India and Pakistan suffer from common challenges of overpopulation, poverty, illiteracy, inconsistent wealth distribution, and corruption.
Summary
- India and Pakistan are the two developing nations of the South Asia.
- The countries have been ardent foes of each other.
- Both the countries are overpopulated with non uniform resources distribution among the mass.
- India is much larger in area than Pakistan.
- India is a secular state while Pakistan is an Islamic nation.
- Population of India is much higher than that of Pakistan.
- The areas comprising India and Pakistan have a long and rich history in the story of humanity.
- The first diploma was issued from an Indian school of higher learning after foreigners had taken up the practice of lying about attending Indian institutions.
