ABSTRACT
In the years since the turning point of the 1977 elections, the choices made in both countries seem to have placed India and Pakistan on clearly diverging paths. While the degree of divergence should not be overstated, it is fair to say that Pakistan’s political history since Zia’s coup has seen the increasing entrenchment of the military in political power, and the deepening of democracy in India. The entrenchment of the military in Pakistan has paradoxically been accompanied by an increase in the openness of its society, even as it is both transformed by modernization and subject to the increased tension of religion-based violence. In India, a similar strengthening of democratic forces in society has also surfaced contrary forces of exclusionary and oppressive nationalism in the form of hindutva, and violent separatist and revolutionary movements that have been met by strong state suppression in certain parts of the country.
