"Hindu and Muslim" is an occasional column which reflects on the Hindu-Muslim schism, its origins and ramifications. The writer of this instalment is a Karachi-based educationist and a student of Islam.
Community, or Communal?
With Babri Masjid and the ten percent increase in the defence budget of both India and Pakistan, with hawks on both sides gleeful that the future of war-mongering is so bright, is it true to say that Hindus and Muslims are fated to be enemies? Are they, historically and by karmic law, always meant to be on a collision course? Need they be that way?
The first thing to think of when considering the relations between the Hindu and the Muslim is a strange paradox: They are a community separated by the very people who claim to bring them together.