3 Review(s)

Indians and Pakistanis are the same people: why then have their nations moved on different trajectories since 1947? The idea of India is stronger than the Indian, and the idea of Pakistan has proved weaker than the Pakistani. Pakistan was not born across a breakfast table. It was the culmination of a search for 'Muslim space' that began during the decline of the Mughal Empire, by a north Indian elite driven by fear of the future and pride in the past. The father of Pakistan, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, who wanted a secular nation with a Muslim majority, did not realize there was another claimant to the nation he had delivered, Maulana Maududi, founder of the Jamaat-e-Islami, the godfather of Pakistan. In Tinderbox: The Past and Future of Pakistan, M.J. Akbar embarks on a historical whodunit to trace the journey of an idea, and the events, people, circumstances and mindset that divided India. The investigation spans a thousand years, and an extraordinary cast: visionaries, opportunists, statesmen, tyrants, plunderers, generals and theologians. There could be no better guide to the subcontinent's past, and a glimpse into its future.