Page 71 - Age of Peace Goodword.indd

The Age of Peace

According to their original proposal, Kashmir was to be a
part of Pakistan, but after Partition, Kashmir became a part
of India. This was not acceptable to the Pakistani leaders. The
whole national policy of Pakistan revolved around making
Kashmir a part of Pakistan. The former president of Pakistan,
Pervez Musharraf, once said:
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‘Kashmir runs in our blood.’
Because of this obsession, Pakistan has fought several wars
with India. It has also initiated a proxy war against India. The
so-called non-state actors of Pakistan are, in reality, crusaders
for Kashmir. They have spent more than sixty years in trying to
regain Kashmir but have not been successful in this endeavour.
On the contrary, this strategy of Pakistan has proved to be
counterproductive to the extent that in the eyes of the people
of the world, Pakistan has become a failed state.
A contrasting example is that of Singapore. Singapore,
earlier a part of Malaysia, separated from Malaysia in 1965 and
became the independent republic of Singapore. Geographically,
Singapore was also a truncated Singapore. But Singapore’s
founder leader, Lee Kuan Yew (1923 – 2015), was a very wise
man in that he did not waste any time in trying to reverse
the truncation of Singapore. Instead, he completely devoted
himself to planning for his country’s progress and development
on the basis of the available resources. Within forty years after
its formation, Singapore emerged as a developed country on
all fronts.
Today the per capita income of Pakistan is 4,840 dollars,
while that of Singapore is 76,860 dollars. Singapore is a debt-
free country while Pakistan’s international debt and liabilities
have reached the alarming level at 65 billion dollars. Pakistan is
placed eighth in the list of the most dangerous countries in
the world, according to Country Threat Index (CTI) compiled
on December 9, 2014 by IntelCenter, a Washington-based

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