Sidharth...

... has this letter from a Pakistani on his page. [If the link doesn't work, scroll down to the Feb 28th entry: "Give peace a chance"]

I agree with major thrust of this letter - yes, let's stop quibbling and have peace - but not with most of the meaningless rhetoric about patriotism. Patriotism, like any other form of loyalty, should have a rational basis, and should not be blindly given just because it's the country you happen to be born in.

And in this context, I quote: "It was to be a place ... wherein a major part of the Muslims of the subcontinent would be able to control their own destiny..." - and this is essentially what Pakistan is about. A homeland for Muslims. Which so goes against the seculrism we hold dear in India.

Not that India doesn't have its own policy problems. But at least at the basic constitutional level it recognises all citizens as equal, and that's what matters.

Agreed, people have different opinions. There are those who believe religion and race are too integral a part of their people's identity to separate them from their politics. More power to them, but I, for one, can't respect this policy. I don't get along with militant feminists who want affirmative action for women even in developed countries in this day and age. People who believe in quotas and reservations for God knows how many different communities make me want to scream. For the same reason, I can never understand anyone who believes that Muslims need a homeland all to themselves, where they are 'more equal' than non-Muslims in their country, before they can feel free and safe, and make some progress. The ideology is fundamentally unsound at best, and unfair at worst.

If nothing else, for this one valid reason the bickering neighbours will never be bosom buddies.