Pakistan celebrates its 79th Independence Day in circumstances few could have anticipated only a few years ago. A country widely associated with economic vulnerability, political instability, terrorism and diplomatic isolation has demonstrated credible military deterrence against India, regained diplomatic relevance, strengthened its major external partnerships and acquired a consequential role in the rapidly changing strategic order of West Asia. The timing gives this Independence Day particular significance. Pakistan enters its 80th year immediately after the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement with Saudi Arabia and Türkiye, extending the Saudi-Pakistan strategic defence relationship into a trilateral framework. Its collective-defence commitment and provisions for military coordination, joint exercises and defence-industrial cooperation place Pakistan within an emerging regional security architecture involving two of the most important states in the Muslim world.

The larger transformation is worth examining precisely because it did not occur in isolation. For decades, India sought to confine Pakistan internationally within the narrative of terrorism. Pakistan's own policies gave that narrative credibility. The consequences of General Zia-ul-Haq's Islamisation, the Afghan jihad and the subsequent proliferation of militancy eventually turned inward, costing tens of thousands of Pakistani lives and damaging the country's economy, social fabric and international reputation.

Pakistan has spent much of the past two decades trying to reverse that inheritance. Terrorism has certainly not disappeared, as continuing violence by the TTP and Baloch insurgents demonstrates. But the state that once tolerated or instrumentalised religious militancy now regards its violent manifestations as a fundamental threat to national security. The lesson has been extraordinarily costly: religious extremism may initially serve political or strategic purposes, but eventually threatens the society that allows it to flourish.

The consequences of General Zia-ul-Haq’s Islamisation eventually turned inward, costing tens of thousands of Pakistani lives and damaging the country’s economy, social fabric and international reputation.

The consequences of General Zia-ul-Haq’s Islamisation eventually turned inward, costing tens of thousands of Pakistani lives and damaging the country’s economy, social fabric and international reputation.

This history makes the contemporary comparison with India particularly instructive. Pakistan began moving towards religious conservatism and extremism after 1979 and has spent decades struggling with the consequences. India, once internationally admired for secularism, pluralism and democratic accommodation, has moved increasingly towards Hindu majoritarianism under Narendra Modi and the BJP.

India remains a democracy, a major economy and a formidable military power. Ignoring those realities would reduce serious analysis to nationalism. But Hindutva has changed the political character of the Indian republic. The position of Muslims and other........

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