My dear shanks!!!
India too, could be viewed as a Muslim nation, since only Indonesia (as far as I am aware) has more than India's 150 million+ Muslims. So India is the world's second largest Muslim state. I shall admit that I was somewhat thunderstruck by this. India does have a large number of Muslims, but that CANNOT and DOES NOT make it a Muslim state. [shudder] [hysterical
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For one, Hindus are the majority in India and outnumber the Muslims. So, just simply in terms of numbers, that statement does not hold. India is the largest democracy in the world and its commitment to secularism is written into the constituion. And then, a nation can only be called a Muslim state if IT professes to be one and openly wears its religion on its sleeve, which Pakistan does. I would not call Turkey or Somalia Muslim states. And lastly, the generals (from Ayub to Perverse Pervez)actually used the mullahs and the ulema in Pakistan to quell democratic uprisisngs. General Zia was the man most responsible for the increasing Islamisation of Pakistan and for effecting the firm entrenchment of the Shariah law in Pakistani society.
oftroy, thank you for your post. I agree with each one of your points wholeheartedly.
the US press is guilty of 'presenting facts' about islamic/muslim countries in just that sort of way Ed Said wrote a marvellous book on just this in the early eighties. Even then, misrepresentation by the media, was felt acutely enough by large sections; enough for him to write a great book. The subject matter was just as relevant then as it is now and a new edition was released with a new preface in the late nineties or 2000. The book is, "Covering Islam". (note the clever pun) What a giant of a man he was. I wept when he died.
