This post is also available in: العربية (Arabic) اردو (Urdu)
India is already on the path to becoming the Major Power of South Asia, or more accurately, sole “Major Power”. The state achieved independence in the mid of 20th century along with Pakistan, but it has shown outstanding fluency towards development and a remarkable growth.
While Pakistan is left far behind in the race. India’s pace of advancement was very fast as compared to Pakistan, partly because of the uneven assets distribution at the time of their independence that led India to receive already built factories and mills, whereas Pakistan had to start from scratch.
The assets factor aside, India played appreciable politics right after its birth. It focused on its domestic development by staying isolated from the rest of the world. On the contrary, Pakistan started choosing sides from the very beginning. As it was the time of ideological warfare between USA and USSR, Pakistan chose to ally with the USA. India, however, was more cautious and chose to stay non-aligned along with 3 other countries, all from the third world.
India has made more progress by staying non-aligned then Pakistan has made by an alliance with the West. In a way, Pakistan made weak and sudden choices, while India played sensibly. The results are that India, who did not choose the USA at the time of Cold War, is closer to it. It is considered to be a “responsible” state that goes by International Laws. While Pakistan is always targeted with suspicion.
It cannot be compared to India in terms of development and importance. India fulfills quite the criteria of becoming a new major power in the region. Domestic development aside, it has made a lot of progress internationally. It is investing in several international projects like Chabahar with Iran.
It is set to become the hegemon of the region in no time. It is relatively stable economically, it is supported politically and is developing socially. Besides, other small countries of South Asia are already falling under its umbrella like Nepal, Bangladesh, and Sri-Lanka. If things go as they are going, India will single-handedly enjoy the status of being a major power in South Asia, and that will be a serious concern for Pakistan.
