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Toronto, Canada Jeffrey S. Ram, Editor March 1, 2022
INDIA AND PAKISTAN ARE EMPIRES, NOT NATIONS – THEY ARE SUCCESSORS OF THE BRITISH INDIAN EMPIRE
By the partition of the British Indian Empire in 1947, the governments of India and Pakistan inherited control over various nations of the Indian subcontinent that were conquered by the British army. Both India and Pakistan deploy their troops to subjugate and oppress these colonies of their empires.
At the time of the partition of India, the British empire had 17 Provinces. These provinces were divided between India and Pakistan. Out of the 17 provinces, three provinces - Baluchistan, North-West Frontier, and Sindh became part of Pakistan, three provinces - Punjab, Bengal, and Assam were partitioned between India and Pakistan. The remaining 11 provinces that became part of India were: Ajmer-Merwara-Kekri, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Bihar, Bombay, Central Provinces, and Berar, Coorg, Delhi, Madras, Panth-Piploda, Orissa, and the United Provinces.
Besides these 17 provinces, 565 princely states had the only option to accede to India or Pakistan. The accession of 564 princely states was completed in 1949. Sikkim joined India in 1975.
The Republic of India occupied the Portuguese colonies of Goa, Daman, and Diu on December 19, 1961. France ceded to India full sovereignty over its territories of Pondicherry, Karaikal, Mahe, and Yanam on August 16, 1962.
The Muslims were in the majority in all the areas in the dominion of Pakistan. The non-Hindus -- Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, and Buddhists-- were in the majority in some parts of the dominion of India. These were Kashmir (Muslims), Ladakh (Buddhists), Bhutan (Buddhists), Punjab (Sikhs), and North-East (Christians).
THE INDIAN EMPIRE
Today India is a union of 28 states and eight union territories. The states and union territories are subdivided into districts and smaller administrative divisions. In the 2011 Census, India had a population of 1.21 billion.
LANGUAGES
India does not have a national language. Hindi in the Devanagri script is the Indian Union’s official language. The business of India’s parliament is conducted in Hindi and English only. There are 22 scheduled official languages. English is not one of the scheduled official languages. Still, its official use is permitted for parliamentary proceedings, judiciary, and dealings between the central and state governments. The 2011 Census recognized 22 Scheduled (official) languages and 99 Non-Scheduled languages.
According to the 2011 census of India, the percentage of people who spoke these languages were: Hindi (43.63%), Bengali (8.3), Marathi (7.09), Telugu (6.93), Tamil (5.89), Gujarati (4.74), Urdu (4.34), Kannada (3.73), Odia (Oriya) (3.2), Malayalam (2.97), Punjabi (2.83), Bodo (0.12%), Dogri (0.21%), Kashmiri (0.56%), Konkani (0.19%), Maithili 1.12%) , Manipuri (0.145%), Nepali (0.242%), Sanskrit, Santali (0.576%), Sindhi (0.139%), Assamese (1.22%)
Besides the 22 official languages, Bhili/Bhilodi had (0.265%) speakers, Gondi (0.236%), and English (0.02).
RELIGIONS
According to India’s 2011 census, the percentage and number of people following major six religions were: Hindus 79.8% (966.3 million), Muslims 14.23% (172.2 million), Christians 2.30% (28.7 million), Sikhs1.72% (20.8 million), Buddhists 0.70% (84,42,972), Jains 0.37% (44,51,753). These faiths comprised 99.4% of India's 1.21 billion population. Other religions and No Religion categories covered the rest of the population.
Hindus are born in one of the four castes. Dalits are outside these four castes. Therefore, they are considered untouchable by most Hindus. Scheduled Tribes worship nature or some other non-Hindu religion and do not have a caste system. Still, they are counted as Hindus in the enumeration. According to the 2011 Census, the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes are about 16.6% and 8.6%, respectively, of India's total population.
Various languages and ethnic groups in different states of India represent separate nations within the Indian Empire.
THE PAKISTAN EMPIRE
According to Pakistan’s Bureau of Statistics (6th Population and Housing Census 2017), the total population of Pakistan (excluding territories Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan) was 207.68 million.
Pakistan has four provinces: Balochistan, Sindh, Punjab, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It also has four territories: Azad Kashmir (autonomous territory), Gilgit-Baltistan (semiprovince semi-autonomous region), the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), and the Islamabad Capital Territory.
LANGUAGES
Pakistan’s official language is English, and the national language is Urdu. About 75 to 80 languages are spoken in Pakistan, but only six are major languages spoken by 93.8 of the population. These are: Punjabi (38.78%), Pashto (18.24%), Sindhi (14.57%), Saraiki (12.19%), Urdu (7.08%), and Balochi (3.02%).
RELIGIONS
As per the 2017 Census, the percentage of the followers of various religious groups was: Sunni Islam (80%), Shia Islam (16%), Hinduism (2.1%), Christianity (1.3%), and other religions (0.5%).
ETHNIC GROUPS
Pakistan's cultural and linguistic differences are visible through the ethnic groups. The estimated percentage of ethnic population varies with the Census figures. The estimated ethnic population, which differs from the Census figures, is Punjabis (44.15%), Pukhtuns (15.42%), Sindhis (14.1%), Seraikis, a group considered as transitional between Punjabis and Sindhis (10.53%), Muhajirs (7.57%) and the Balochis (3.57%). The Brahui, Kashmiri, Hindko Pukhtuns, and the various Northern Areas' different peoples are about 4.66% of the total population.
Pakistan's various language and cultural groups in different parts prove the presence of many nations within the Pakistan Empire.
On 26 March 1971, Bangladesh (formerly East Bengal) declared independence from Pakistan. The freedom of the subjugated colonies of the Indian subcontinent remains an unfinished business. The Indian and Pakistan Empires’ armies ruthlessly suppress the discontented and disgruntled people of their subject nations.
The ideal resolution will be the organization of these colonies as independent nations in the Indian Union and Pakistan Union on the lines of the European Union. Until then, election by proportional representation system, instead of first past the post, may provide some voice to these nations in their empire's affairs.
[Toronto, Canada-based, ReformAdvocate.com encourages the Christian minorities, immigrants, women, elderly, and other weaker groups to empower themselves and others.]
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