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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jacob Snyder who wrote (114714)	9/14/2003 12:39:53 AM
From: k.ramesh	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Dear Dr. Jacob Snyder Ph.D (5 minute Google University). You must have heard of the Indian story of 4 blind men describing an elephant. Each one describes the whole based on a part. Well that is what any of us is doing, the fact that I am from India not withstanding. Your earlier post on the military having only 2% Muslims. There is probably several good explanations, the most straight forward one is of course, mistrust, discrimination etc. There is probably a good deal there, What do you expect when the army is most likely to be used against a self described Muslim nation. But the hidden story is that, had that statistical cut been made on any other basis, the results would have been skewed as well. eg. 60 million Tamils in the country but I bet the proportion in the Army does not reflect that - you get the picture. The reason is that the Indian Army got huge infusions of Punjabis Muslim and hindu to put down the 1857 Indian Mutiny against the brits. since then the Army in both countries Pakistan and India has a predominance of Punjabis. see sikhs 2% of population but 10% of the Army. After partition Punjab and Haryana in India where Punjabis live are 100% Hindu or Sikh. Curiosly the rest of the nation does not consider this a major issue as after all this is one of the frontier states. Your other map will bear this out. As for Multi ethnic/mish mash states longevity - the reports of India's dissolution are premature. Infact it would be helpful for the US to study how India has succesfully overcome these pressures atleast 3 times. The Tamilians made a feeble attempt, it was more a fight against Hindi language which had overtones of seccession, Accomodation resulted in the first state having regional political party to hold power. Ditto in Punjab - Sikhs wanted a seperate country,the terrorism and the violent actions against it resulted in the assassination of Indira Gandhi. In Assam in the North East too, resulted in a political party made up of the Students who led the revolution. India is fully aware of the limits of force, In Kashmir - India has not resettled the place with outsiders like China in Tibet. Has not allowed the land to be bought up by private interests. etc etc. Indians realize the advantages of being one country - tangible benefits being job mobility, large market for services, not becoming a pawn in the international game etc. India is home to refugees from many parts see the story of the Bahai's and Parsis from Iran. Better still visit India or atleast the lonely planet thorntree site to see why Israelis, Aussies and Brits, and Canadians flock to India. thorntree.lonelyplanet.com India's most admired Muslim - The President vedamsbooks.com 'Mobile Muslim #1' in.rediff.com Good religious muslim too in.rediff.com uneducated sane muslim inhome.rediff.com