South Asia: Pakistan and the Himalayan States - Dragons and Tigers: A Geography of South, East and Southeast Asia - page 180

Chapter 7

South Asia: Pakistan and
the Himalayan States

“F rom your past emerges the present,
and from the present is born the future. ”

MUHAMMAD IQBAL

(1873-1938)

In this chapter, we will focus on the Indian subconti-
nent' s northern regions: Pakistan, the disputed region of
Kashmir, Nepal, and Bhutan (Figure 7-1). These moun-
tain zones are both physically and culturally fractured.
High altitudes and deserts have limited accessibility and
foster cultural differentiation, communalism, and re-
gionalism.
Within the formidable Himalaya and Karakoram are
the tenuous and oft-disputed boundaries between Pak-
istan and Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, and Pakistan,
India, and China. Political instability has marked the
evolution of virtually every state in the region. We will
start with Pakistan at the time of India' s partition in 1947
and examine the factors leading to the transformation of
East Pakistan into Bangladesh in 1971. Then, we will ex-
plore current conditions and problems across the region,
beginning with modern Pakistan.

tion.'' In 1947, Pakistan had two “wings,'' the eastern
wing being only one-sixth the size of the western wing
yet holding eight million more people. This was only one
of a litany of differences between the two parts of this
new nation—centrifugal forces that would ultimately re-
sult in its political demise.
For the split nation of Pakistan, unity could not be
maintained with diversity . Contrasts were too numerous,
and conflicts were too intense. West Pakistan is dry; ac-
cess to water and drought is of critical concern. East Pak-
istan is humid; flooding is a yearly event. Aside from
differences in size and population, the west possessed 80
percent of the cultivable land, and its share per farmer
was more than double that of the east. West Pakistan had
the country' s capital and only port at Karachi. East Pak-
istan had far less infrastructure and was much poorer
economically .
Cultural differences are exemplified in linguistic dif-
ferences (Figure 7-2). There are several languages spo-
ken in the west. These are from different language
families and possess numerous dialects. Bengali, a
branch of Sanskrit, is spoken in the former eastern wing
of the country . In 1948, the Karachi government declared
Urdu the national language of Pakistan, enraging Ben-
galis and deepening the chasm between east and west.
Linguistic division would prove problematic in the years
ahead.

Nationalism and Regionalism:
The Devolution of P akistan

In 1948, British geographer O. H. K. Spate wrote that he
saw the creation of East and West Pakistan as “the ex-
pression of a new economic nationalism that has in-
evitably taken into its hands the immensely powerful
weapon of immemorial religious and social differentia-

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