Saif Shahin’s article “Separated at birth” (Aug. 30) could have considered another significant similarity between Israel and Pakistan; the efficiency of their respective secret services, Mossad and the Inter-Services Intelligence. The article missed out on another startling fact. Israel, carved out of what was Palestinian territory, has never been accepted as an independent country by many of its neighbouring states and has faced intense hostility. Pakistan never had to face such hostility. India never had problems in accepting it as an independent sovereign state, in a spirit of accommodation. On the contrary, there are “state” and “non-state actors” in Pakistan who have problems with the Indian state.
Pakistan’s hostility towards India is without provocation whereas Israeli hostility, in the context of that part of the world, is a consequence of provocation and its non-acceptance by its neighbours, which has driven it to a siege mentality, perpetually dealing with an existential threat.
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