Aatish Taseer, the son of an assassinated Pakistani leader, explains the history and hysteria behind a deadly relationship.
I am not quite sure if the picture of Pakistani identity that he describes in the first half is one that most Pakistanis would identify with. I can’t help thinking that it reflects his own, admitted identification w/ India more than how a Pakistani might see himself…
To understand the Pakistani obsession with India, to get a sense of its special edge—its hysteria—it is necessary to understand the rejection of India, its culture and past, that lies at the heart of the idea of Pakistan. This is not merely an academic question. Pakistan’s animus toward India is the cause of both its unwillingness to fight Islamic extremism and its active complicity in undermining the aims of its ostensible ally, the United States.