A Critical Inquiry into the Foreign Policy of Pakistan (1947-51).

This paper critically inquires into the foreign policy of Pakistan during the period (1947-51). British divided India into two sovereign states in August, 1947. Mainly, Indian National Congress spearheaded the independence movement in the Indian subcontinent on the basis of Indian [Hindu] nationalism. The Indian Muslims contested the Congress claim of One Nation Theory. The Muslims presented their own brand of counter Muslim nationalism called the TwoNations Theory. The basic assumption of Two Nations Theory was that India politically, unlike European nation states, was a heterogeneous society. There were two major nations in the subcontinent--Hindus and Muslims. Resultantly, both Hindus and Muslims had a birthright to selfdetermination and separate states. For about fifty years, the Congress seriously contested, both theoretically as well as politically, the genuineness of the validity of Two Nations Theory. The Congress never accepted the theory. It called the Muslim demand of a separate state "a vivisection" of India and would never agree to it. Fortunately, the British did not accept the Congress argument. The Congress did her best to prevent the creation of Pakistan, however, thanks to British fairness, the Indian subcontinent was divided. Then out of utter frustration and revenge, the Congress resorted to 'Policy of Strangulation' to undo Pakistan. The researcher has come up with a non-traditional concept that Pakistan in the early phase suffered from an economic existential threat rather than military. Understandably, the foreign policymakers of Pakistan overplayed the presumed military threat to its existence. However, for the better and realist foreign policy, Pakistan survived the immediate existential economic threat in the early phase. Pakistan confronted the deadly economic context during her infant years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]