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India and Pakistan Relations: Foreign Differences
India is comprised of many religions, but the two dominant faiths are Hinduism and Islam. However, 80 percent of the countries population (700 million people) are Hindu and only twelve to fifteen percent are Muslims.

For over a century, in the small town of Ayodhya (located in Uttar Pradesh), violent altercations between Muslims and Hindus have taken place, since 1528. This year is significant because that is when the Muslim Emperor Mir Baqi dismantled an 11th century Hindu temple, marking what some people believed to be the birthplace of Rama (the Hindu god).1 Subsequent riots and raids took place in 1934 and 1949, respectively. So, the government locked up the building and declared it off limits. Hindus and Muslims then seperately partitioned the courts for possession. After three decades, the mosque reopened in 1986, during which ground-breaking ceremonies were simultaneously being held for a Hindu temple, adjacent to the mosque. So, riots broke out, during which 600 people died. Hundreds more were killed in another outburst that took place in 1990. In December 1992, the conflict was rehashed, when a mob of 4,000 Hindus destroyed the 464 year old mosque with their bare hands, pickaxes, metal rods, and sledgehammers. After the rioters were driven away by police, they went on to loot and burn 270 other Muslim homes and structures, destroying eighteen other local mosques. Eventually, this rioting spread to at least 1,000 other villages in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Causing 1,100 deaths and 4,000 injuries; Hindu temples were also destroyed.

Hostilities between India and Pakistan existed and increased when Britain decided to form two independent countries in 1947, upon Britain’s leaving of India. They thought that this would diminish tensions between the two by declaring Pakistan as the Muslim state. However, just like the rest of the world, carved up by the European powers, this created problems for the people: One of the world’s largest migrations. An estimated 12.5 million people were uprooted from their homes since many people were forced to travel across the border. People were forced to give up their belongings that could not be carried and that were not incredibly essential. Herds and herds of desperate people walked hundreds of miles in India’s brutal heat. Even though, many were too frail from age or illness; so, many died before completing the journey. Meanwhile, Hindu-Muslim violence continued to break out, especially in Punjab (region that is in Northern India and Southern Pakistan; half is India, half is in Pakistan).

India and Pakistan continued and still continue to dispute borders and other issues. Both fight over the regions of Jammu and Kashmir, located in the northwest corner of India, bordered by China, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.

The India-Pakistan disagreement still exists today. It was deepened in January of 2002, when tens of thousands of Indian and Pakistani troops faced off. This tension was incredibly significant to all world leaders, due to the fact that both sides were armed with nuclear capability, allowing for the potential of catastrophic devestation. The source of the crisis was India’s accusation towards Pakistan that Pakistan supposedly supported the separatist movement in the Indian state of Kashmir. For, in 2001, the Kashmiri separatists attacked the state assembly building and India’s Parliament complex.