Tawhid Kabir
Before the Indian subcontinent became a British colony in 1947, the Indian subcontinent was a very rich land with enormous resources. All the emperors back then had a very good reputation regarding military power, literature, education, medicine, art, culture, and food. The British ruled the subcontinent for 200 years (1747-1947). During this period, the British literally looted the subcontinent in every way possible. It was only possible for a foreign country to colonize a whole subcontinent just for the paucity of UNITY.
One of the main issues the Indian subcontinent had so many wars between emperors was Religion. The majority- Muslims and Hindus. For many centuries, the fights, the misunderstandings, the conflicts between Muslims and Hindus in this subcontinent never diminished, most of the time it ended up with bloodshed. This was the trump card for the British to keep this subcontinent divided and rule it however they wanted. Some heroes could unite and fight against the British colony which took a lot of effort and 200 years to send them back to their country and free the Indian Subcontinent.
But, before they left, they divided the subcontinent into two countries and three parts in terms of religion. The majority of the Hindus got their land like India, majority of Muslims got the land of East and West Pakistan. They also put Kashmir in a situation that always made a conflict between India and Pakistan. Kashmir is still in a situation where war never stops. It is said that ‘Kashmir is designed to keep the war running forever for some peoples’ benefit. So far, in these three paragraphs, we can understand how divided the people are in this Indian subcontinent in terms of religion. But this is not the end.
Conflicts rose again between East and West Pakistan during the 1950s. West Pakistan used to rule East Pakistan although they have different leaders, different cultures, and languages. The situation heated up when East Pakistani people felt they don’t get many priorities in every government sector and oil to this fire was the police killing unarmed students at the protest for “Bangla” as the national language which the world celebrates as International Mother Language Day on every 21st February. In 1971, the war started between these two Muslim parts for political issues. 3,000,000 Bengalis killed, 200,000 Bengali women were raped, 9,000 Pakistani soldiers and 3,900 Indian soldiers were killed in this nine-month’s war and East Pakistan became Bangladesh after getting their freedom. This is the biggest issue that separated Bangladesh and Pakistan forever. Neither the Pakistan govt asked for any apology, nor the Bangladeshi govt could ever accept their apology. So this conflict and hatred between these two countries have no chance to be diminished.
The two major issues that separated these three countries of the subcontinent are politics and religion. India is one of the leading countries in the world right now. If you take a moment and think of these three countries as one, what do you expect to see in global affairs? This continent could have the best and strongest military power of the world, all the CEOs of the best global companies could be only from this continent, they could be the best export hub for the whole world, their economy could be the strongest, their human resource could supply as much as they could take the global market from China, the fashion and textile sector could dominate both European and American markets. In a sense, this Indian Subcontinent could rule the world if they could ever work together. But the question is- is it even possible? Yes, it is possible if the majority of this continent can achieve better education to agree to that point where they will support choosing humanity over religion and work according to it without spreading any hatred, it can be possible. Secondly, if they can ever make an agreement where they will agree to apologize and forget all their past political conflicts. And lastly and most importantly- if they actually take steps to stop corruption. Without these three steps, UNITY cannot be formed amongst the people of this subcontinent. Because they want divisions in every way possible. Racially, religiously, sub religiously, traditionally, culturally, caste wise, location-wise, language-wise, and what not?
But sadly, none of these three will ever happen. Not in the next 100 years at least.