prisoners of geography, Appunti di Inglese

Scarica prisoners of geography e più Appunti in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! "Prisoners of Geography” - Tim Marshall Dermouh Latifa, Milesi Giulia INDIA AND PAKISTAN India and Pakistan agree on only one thing: neither wants the other around. This is a bit problematic as they share a 1,900-mile border. Both countries are rich in nuclear weapons, and their conflicting relationship puts tens of millions of lives at risk every day. The two nations, located in Asia, are linked by the geography of the Indian subcontinent: the border mountains to the north, the Bay of Bengal, the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea to the south create a natural frame. The interior of the frame contains what are now India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan. India is the undisputed master of these territories. Today, however, Pakistan has become a threat to India as, since 1947, it has begun to master the technology to develop nuclear weapons. India has a population of about 1.3 billion people, while that of Pakistan is 182 million. The regions that make up India and Pakistan have distinct identities and languages. Hindi is the mostly spoken language in India and Urdu is the national language of Pakistan. India, despite its size, cultural diversity and secessionist movements, has built a solid democracy with a united sense of Indian identity. It is an emerging world power with a growing economy and an expanding middle class. Pakistan, on the other hand, is geographically, economically, demographically and militarily weaker than India. The two nations have fought four major wars and still face each other in small conflicts. ➤ HISTORICAL BACKGROUND Various powers have invaded the subcontinent over the centuries, but none has ever succeeded in conquering it. Muslims have been most successful in uniting the subcontinent under one leadership, but even Islam has never overcome linguistic, religious and cultural differences. The first Muslim invasion dates back to the eighth century AD and from then until the eighteenth century various foreign invasions brought Islam to the subcontinent; however, east of the Indus river valley the Hindu population resisted conversion, thus laying the groundwork for the eventual partition of India. ➣The role of the british Britain began to occupy India between the end of 1757 and the first half of the nineteenth century, and when they le the state things fell apart. On 3 June 1947 in the House of Commons, the British, exhausted by two world wars, announced that they would withdraw and that India would be divided into the two independent dominions of India and Pakistan. Seventy-three days later, on 15 August, they le. 1 An extraordinary movement of people followed, with millions of Muslims heading for India's new borders, west to Pakistan, and millions of Hindus and Sikhs going the other way. Columns of up to 30,000 people were on the roads as whole communities moved on. It was carnage. Riots broke out in both countries as, in general confusion, Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs turned on each other in panic and fear. The British government has washed its hands of the situation and rejected appeals for help from the new Indian and Pakistani leaders to maintain order. Estimates of the death toll are at least one million dead and 15 million displaced. ➤ THE BIRTH OF NEW BORDERS Aer the termination of the British government in the Indian subcontinent, two nations-Pakistan, and India were born. The Muslim-majority areas, namely the Indus Valley region west of the Thar Desert and the Ganges River basin, became West Pakistan, while those east of Calcutta became East Pakistan. ❖ PAKISTAN As a result of this division, Pakistan gained much less than India. It inherited India's most problematic border, the North West Frontier with Afghanistan, and was a state divided into two non-contiguous regions with little to hold it together, as 1,000 miles of Indian territory separated West Pakistan from East Pakistan. The only connection between the two parts of Pakistan was Islam, so it was no surprise when they split. In 1971 East Pakistan rebelled against West Pakistan rule, India intervened and, aer much bloodshed, East Pakistan split off, becoming Bangladesh. Pakistan was le with an agricultural base, no money to spend on development, an unstable western border and a state divided internally in many ways. The name Pakistan gives us clues to these divisions; pak means 'pure' and stan means 'land' in Urdu, so it is the land of the pure, but it is also an acronym: P stands for Punjab, A for Afghania (the Pashtun area on the border with Afghanistan), K for Kashmir, S for Sindh and T stands for 'tan', as in Baluchistan. From these distinct regions, each with its own language, a state was formed, but not a nation. Religious tensions are always present, not only in the antagonism shown towards the country's Christian and Hindu minorities, but also between the Sunni majority and the Shia minority. The secret services, the military and the fear of England are what hold Pakistan together. ❖ INDIA The partition of 1947 gave India a great advantage: within India's new borders was the vast majority of the subcontinent's industry and most of the major cities. For example, Calcutta, with its port and banking sector, went to India, thus depriving East Pakistan of this important source of income and link to the outside world. ➤ CONFLICTS Militarily, India and Pakistan are opposed to each other. Both sides say their position is defensive, but neither side believes the other and so they continue to pile up troops on the border, grouped in a potential dance of death. India is satisfied to see Pakistan divided internally and intends to maintain this situation, while Pakistan seeks to threaten India, even supporting terrorist attacks. 2