WAS PAKISTAN EVER BETTER THAN INDIA? YES BUT TILL LATE 1960'S

Beautifully replied by Siddharth Sinha-Novelist-Write-Lecturer thru Quora Digest

YES! Pakistan was better than India in many ways till late 1960′s.

While Indian economic growth was hanging around 2.5–3% Pakistan was roaring away at near 5%, and it had the backing of the US and its allies. Pakistan was able to sign various pacts like SEATO (South East Asian Treaty Organization) and CENTO (Central Treaty Organization) which were strategic and defense treaties at the time of cold war and these were aligned with NATO to ward of Soviet and its allies. SEATO and CENTO.

These treaties gave Pakistan access to most modern arms and ammunition from the west. So, it had virtually everything going for it.

During this period Pakistan virtually no problems whether inside its boundaries or outside because until 1963 people of India and Pakistan used to travel across the boundaries without restrictions, and until around that time, even train travel was free to cross borders.

Then in 1965 the Indo-Pak war happened, and then in 1970 Pak soldiers led by Zia Ul-Haque joined Jordanian army in slaughtering up to 25,000 Palestinians in the infamous Black September Operations, and the Arabs got really mad at the Pakistanis. Until Ayub Khan was in power he had managed Pakistan quite well. It was all fine until then - late 1960’s.

And then all went haywire when a string of disastrous events rocked Pakistan and the after effects of those events have changed Pakistan for ever, and in some cases, the crippling effects of decisions made then are destroying Pakistan today. These events happened in a span of few months.

• East Pakistan suffered heavily when in November of 1970 Cyclone Bhola struck, and killed nearly 500,000 people. The region was devastated. (details in the link below)
• In December, when first general elections were held (the only free and fair election held till date in Pakistan), Bhutto and Ayub Khan did not respect the ballot boxes. They did not transfer power to the victors - Awami League (under Sheikh Mujibur Rehman - father of present Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina Wajid).
• In March of 1971 Pak Army launched Operation Searchlight which killed upto three million Bengalis in East Pakistan, and nearly three hundred thousand women were raped - all according to Bangladesh Govt statistics.
• On December 03, 1971 Pakistan Air Force struck six Indian bases which brought India into the war openly. 

Pakistan lost more than half it’s population and almost half of its territory when Bangladesh became independent.

Later there were other disasters - the poor decisions made then, are haunting Pakistan today…

• Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was arrested on murder charges and sent to the gallows by Zia Ul Haq (the same guy who led the Black September operations in Jordan).
• Zia took power in a military coup and became the dictator, and later the President of Pakistan. His lust for power to remain in office he used the most disastrous method. He brought about the greatest difference in Pakistan’s brief history. He brought in Islamisation, and pushed the country backwards - the effects of it can still be seen.
• Then came probably the greatest blunder in Pakistan history - it got involved in a war which wasn’t Pakistan’s to fight. When Soviet army entered Afghanistan, with assistance from CIA, the ISI created a monster it is unable to control today - Taliban. Today, that monster is killing Pakistanis today at will - the TTP - Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan.
• After Zia died in an air crash, there were several civilian Govt but none completed its full tenure till date (though the PPP Govt completed five years in office from 2008–2013, the Courts had ruled against PM Prime Minister Yusuf Reza Gilani mid-way, and the PM was ousted). And now Nawaz Sharif has been rightly removed by Supreme Court of Pakistan.
• When the Soviets left Afghanistan and Taliban came to power, Pakistan instead of disarming and reining in the Jihadis fighting the Afghan war, diverted them to Pakistan’s eastern front, on the border with India. This saw mushrooming of terrorist outfits which started to run amok. Now they are targeting India - (like LET, Jaise-Mohammad), Afghanistan - (Afghan Taliban, Sipah-e Sahaba and Jundullah), Iran (Jundullah) and inside Pakistan (TTP primarily the Haqqani network). Till date there have been nearly 80,000 deaths due to terrorism, and war on terror.
• Intermittently, Pakistan had been facing sanctions because it had tested the nuclear bomb in May 1998. Then in 1999, the Kargil war happened and this was the biggest shame for Pakistan because, for the first time, the term ‘State Sponsored Terrorism’ was used and Pakistan was blamed squarely for promoting terrorism. An important note here: During Kargil war, Pak army was deploying its missiles which could carry nuclear warheads into position. When Nawaz Sharif arrived in Washington DC on July 04th 1999, Clinton gave an ultimatum to Sharif to either withdraw from Kargil heights unconditionally, and remove the missiles or else US would declare a terrorist state and block all fundings from IMF and World Bank. Nuclear Conflict Was Averted - writes Strobe Talbot (Under-Secretary) in his book.
• On October 12 that year, Nawaz Sharif’s Govt was toppled in military coup by Pervez Musharraf, and he became the President of Pakistan. Now, the sanctions were even severe, but then came a silver lining for Musharraf. 9–11 happened. Americans needed Pakistan to get into landlocked Afghanistan but Musharraf was reluctant. Then the Bush administration gave an ultimatum to Musharraf to ally with the US or else, Pakistan would be bombed into ‘stone age’. Musharraf had to relent. Bush threatened to bomb Pakistan, says Musharraf
• Then came another brief time in Indo-Pak history when cross border firings stopped, and barring the attack on Parliament, there were no major terrorist attacks in India. Indo-Pak ties had improved dramatically.

In the meantime, Indian economy had started to take off from late 80’s. When Finance Minister Manmohan Singh was in-charge, under Narasimha Rao later, the economy started to leap.

• All was going well until that fateful day when Terrorists from Pakistan struck Mumbai on November 26, 2008. All ties were called off, all the thaw which had built up over 6–7 years went down the drain and India and Pakistan were back again firing at the borders.

And that is how the situation stands today. Pakistan had a golden opportunity to leap frog over India economically and become a happy and wealthy nation, but then destiny, written by its leaders brought about a situation where today, Pakistan is at a cross roads.

That’s the sad story!!!