Thanks for your input Sino. I think the reason is to do with the concept they call 'geographic determinism'. Indus Valley occupies a very strategic zone. It's a buffer or a bridge between major regions. To the east you have massive populations of the Ganga/Dravid peninsula. To the West you have what they call Middle East (I don't like that term as it is very Euro-centric. I prefer West Asia) and to the north have Central Asia. In addition you have the conduit through the Indus gorges that funnel through the Karakorums and allow access to Inner China/Tarim Basin which of course was the one of the routes of the Silk Road and now the CPEC. This has meant that the Indus has always been subjected to historical events and at the same time been the crucible of major historical events.
Therein lies Pakistan's destiny today. If the country can synchronize itself with it's geography and the tempo of history then it would move fast forward. That Pakistan is not just a political entity (despite what reasons caused it to emerge in 1947) but in fact a inheritor of major pathway of history is being recognized slowly. I only wish if Pak elites also woke up to this fact and educated the nation on geograhic and historical destiny. Robert Kaplan has written some interesting pieces on this. Before this Aitzaz Ahsan - Indus Saga and The Making of Pakistan was a seminal book that should have opened the eyes of Pak elites. That book should have been mandatory reading for every high school student in Pakistam.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/872849.The_Indus_Saga_and_the_Making_of_Pakistan
In a recent Foreign Policy article, Robert Kaplan argues that Pakistan’s problems—and its destiny—are rooted in its physical landscape: “Pakistan’s present and future, for better or worse, are still best understood through its geography.”
Instead he contends that the country does indeed have a specific geographical logic—one that shapes its politics and guides its development. That logic is founded on possession of the Indus Valley and (most of) the fertile plains of the Punjab, areas that, he claims, automatically tie in with the adjacent western uplands and hence to the vital trade routes of Central Asia and the Middle East.
“the Indian subcontinent has two principal geographical regions: the Indus Valley with its tributaries, and the Ganges Valley with its tributaries.”
“Today’s political geography is historically unique, however: an Indus Valley state, Pakistan, and a powerful Ganges Valley state, India, both fighting for control of an independent and semi-chaotic Central Asian near abroad — Afghanistan.”
I don't want to sound facetious or anything but when people make a statement it tends to help a lot if they can can
qualify it. Like you say x and then you qualify it by giving y reasons. Makes it better all round.
