Delegitimising Pakistan's two-nation theory: An imperative for India and the West

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De-legitimising the Pakistani model of exclusivity would not be humiliating a neighbour, but would be about defending the universal standard that religion cannot be the standard of legitimacy for the state read more
(File) Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir (C) prays after laying wreath on the martyrs' monument during a guard of honor ceremony at General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi on May 21, 2025. Photo by Handout/ Pakistan's Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR). AFP
Ever since it emerged in 1947, Pakistan has been an ideological 'outlier' in the international system—created not on the basis of language, ethnicity, or culture shared between the people, but on the exclusivist premise of religion as the sole basis for the nation. Pakistan's then Chief of Army Asim Munir, and now Field Marshal, made this clear in his now viral Address to Pakistan's diaspora on April 15 this year, though not the first by any leader of consequence since its birth.
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The ostensibly Two-Nation Theory, which is the notion that Muslims and Hindus form two distinct peoples who cannot live together within one state, is the Pakistani state's myth of origin. This vision of exclusivity, problematic in the context of South Asia, has since 9/11 turned into a more immediate global danger, one that erodes the principles of pluralism, resists the values of liberal democracy, and sustains transnational Islamist radicalism and terrorism.
India and the Western liberal democracies of the day, particularly the United States and Europe, have to acknowledge this ideological project as a long-term threat to global order today. Delegitimising the Two-Nation Theory is not merely a regional imperative for India anymore but is now a global imperative for upholding the values of peaceful coexistence, religious diversity, and democratic secularism.
The very rationale of Pakistan's existence—a state for Muslims only—set the precedent for the acceptance of rejecting multi-ethnic, multi-religious coexistence. In contrast with India, which had adopted the notion of secular, pluralist democracy in spite of the multicultural diversity of its society, Pakistan canonised the perception that identity and statehood are determined along strict religious lines. This over time took the form of an apparatus of exclusion not only of religious minorities such as Hindus, Christians, and Ahmadis but of dissident ethnic groups such as the Baloch and Sindhis as well. Even within Muslims, only a narrow, Punjabi-centric, Sunni vision was hallowed.
The turning moment for the global community, however, arrived after 9/11. The Taliban government of Afghanistan, supported by Pakistan's military-intelligence establishment, gave refuge to Al-Qaeda & Osama bin Laden, the perpetrators of the most horrific terrorist strike on American terrain. In spite of official partnerships with the US-led 'War on Terror', Pakistan went on providing strategic depth and logistical support for jihadist organisations. Pakistan's shenanigans stood fully exposed with the US killing of Osama bin Laden on May 2, 2011, in his hideout in Abbottabad, very close to Pakistan's elite military academy.
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The ideological origins of this duplicity reside in the same exclusivist worldview that delegitimises pluralism and espouses Islamic terrorism as an instrument of strategic depth and religious obligation rather than as a threat. Ever since, Pakistan's soil has spawned several internationally recognised terrorist groups- lending support includes Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed, and the Haqqani Network-whose attacks against Western interests and citizens add to their role in destabilising India and Afghanistan. The connection is no longer local: Pakistan's state ideology has global implications.
For decades, the West has been equivocal in dealing with Pakistan- straddling strategic imperatives in Afghanistan, nuclear containment fears, and economic pressure, while willfully turning a blind eye to Pakistan's ideological roots that sow radicalism. This policy of ticklish engagement has proven counterproductive.
Pakistan today is more than a willing host of extremism; it is an active ideological sponsor. Its military and clergy maintain an environment in which terror surrogates can operate, in which minorities are silenced through the force of their blasphemy laws, and where schools indoctrinate anti-Western, anti-India views. It is no coincidence that Europe has experienced an influx of radicalised youth, who drew their ideological roots from the Islamist networks of the Indian sub-continent. The West needs to realize that by legitimizing Pakistan's strategic value while turning a blind eye towards its ideological path, they empower the actor who undermines the liberal international order from its core. The time has arrived for a recalibration – an arrangement with India for calling out, challenging, and diplomatically isolating the main ideology that keeps Pakistan's perilous course intact.
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India, being the main victim of Pakistani ideological enmity, has most stakes. India's response, however, is not only required to be reactive or securitised but has to be ideational and normative and initiate an international discourse bringing into the open the vitriocity of the Two-Nation Theory based on its actual impact: terrorism, sectarianism, and civilisational backwardness. There are several tangible diplomatic initiatives that India can take along with Western democracies:
First, India needs to embark on focused public diplomacy targeted against Pakistan's ideology, portraying it as against the norms of the international community. Just as apartheid was diplomatically and morally besieged during the 1980s, so should Pakistan's founding exclusivity be challenged in international forums. Second, India needs to further bond with pluralism-oriented countries such as the US, France, Germany, and Australia based on common civilisational values instead of security interests only. Interfaith discussions, diaspora partnerships, and parliamentary friendship groups should be utilised for forging across-nation narratives against religion-based exclusivist nationalism.
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Third, India and like-minded countries need to bring the question of ideological statehood and its linkage with terrorism on the agenda of organizations like the UN Human Rights Council, FATF, and the G20. Karachi's ideology export needs to be connected with international volatility from European radicalisation to Afghan Taliban resurgence. Fourthly, India needs to spend on international research institutes that study the threat of religious exclusivisms, bring out comparative studies of pluralistic and ideological states, and construct cultural centres overseas celebrating India's inclusive civilisational tradition vis-a-vis the sectarian intolerance of Pakistan.
Fourth, diplomatic and economic pressure should be directed strategically against Pakistan's military and clergy elites who have emerged as chief custodians of the ideological state. Asset freezes, visa sanctions, and travel bans against key figures who assist with terrorism or for blasphemy-related persecution should be included in Western policy.
The Pakistani state's ideological project is no longer peculiar to South Asia, it is now an international outlier. The Two-Nation Theory in its current sophisticated incarnation presents a danger directly threatening the moral and political structure of the international system. India and the West should now share a shared civilisational project: defending pluralism, safeguarding minorities, and reviving faith in the possibility of variegated societies coexisting harmoniously together.
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De-legitimising the Pakistani model of exclusivity would not be humiliating a neighbour, but would be about defending the universal standard that religion cannot be the standard of legitimacy for the state.
Manish Dabhade is an Associate Professor of Diplomacy in the School of International Studies, JNU & Founder of The Indian Futures, an independent think tank based in New Delhi. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost's views.