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Greater Pakistan (Urdu: عظیم تر پاکستان) is a political concept which refers to the geographical and territorial expansion of Pakistan beyond its modern boundaries. The term has been used in different contexts throughout various points in history by nationalists, political figures and historians alike, such as in reference to Pakistan's territorial dispute over Kashmir, as well as for irredentist claims on other territories and regions in South Asia which have historical, cultural, demographic, political, religious or geographic connections with Pakistan.
Bengal
During the Pakistan Movement, there were proposals to have a united Bengal, as opposed to one that would be partitioned, being an independent sovereign state from India and joining Pakistan.[1] This idea was supported by several prominent Bengali politicians and leaders such as Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy and Khawaja Nazimuddin, and also briefly taken into notice by Muhammad Ali Jinnah. The proposal of a united Bengal stemmed from the fact that even when unified, Muslims still constituted a majority population in Bengal (read Two-Nation Theory) and an undivided Bengal would be economically viable as a unified unit. A separate East Bengal would lose the port city of Calcutta, described as the "heart of Bengal" around which "the province has developed and grown" and other industries which were predominantly based in the western part of Bengal. Jinnah opined that "Calcutta should not be torn away from Eastern Bengal" and argued that "to divide the jute growing East Bengal districts from Calcutta" would negatively affect the latter also.
Congress leaders vehemently opposed the idea and preferred partition, saying that a united Bengal was a "device of incorporating the Hindu majority of the West Bengal into Pakistan."
Pashtunistan
There have been alternative proposals to amalgamate the entire Pashtun region into Pakistan. This is based on the notion that the majority (approximately two-thirds) of the Pashtun ethnic group lives in Pakistan, whereas Pashtuns in Afghanistan constitute just over one-third of the total Pashtun population. According to Robert Wirsing, Olaf Caroe had discussed this possible accession, were it ever to become a reality, and its relation to Afghanistan's political relations with Pakistan.[2]
To some extent, Kabul's support for Pashtunistan may have been a defensive reaction reflecting anxiety from its own polyethnic complexion. While maps of Pashtunistan were circulated that showed many non-Pashtun groups within its proposed boundaries, the Afghanistan government had from the beginning been noticeably careful to exclude from Pashtunistan its own Pashtuns, lest the claim for Pashtunistan result inadvertently in a truncated Afghanistan (or in a Greater Pakistan). Were political amalgamation ever to come, Olaf Caroe warned darkly some years ago, "Peshawar would absorb Kabul, not Kabul Peshawar.
— Robert Wirsing (1991), Pakistan's Security Under Zia, 1977-1988: The Policy Imperatives of a Peripheral Asian State, p. 29–30
See also
References
- ^ Chakrabarty, Bidyut (2004). The Partition of Bengal and Assam, 1932-1947: Contour of Freedom. Psychology Press. pp. 138–140. ISBN 978-0415328890.
- ^ Wirsing, Robert (1991). Pakistan's Security Under Zia, 1977-1988: The Policy Imperatives of a Peripheral Asian State. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 29–30. ISBN 978-0312060671.
Category:Pakistani nationalism Category:Political history of Pakistan Category:Pakistani political terms