Nobody wins in a war, regardless of how rich or poor either of the sides is. In fact, not only do the participating aggressors lose out, when it involves countries, their neighbours and the region in which they are situated also lose out.
Let’s take a look at India and Pakistan and see how they compare on the economic front.
India’s annual GDP per capita (as measured according to purchasing power party – which is more accurate since it takes into account the differing costs of living of countries worldwide) – for 2025 was an estimated $12,132 – and it ranked 119th out of a total of 186 countries and territories. By contrast, Pakistan’s annual GDP per capita (also measured by the PPP method) was $6,951 and it ranked 141st on the index. Both figures are estimates by the IMF for the current fiscal year.
Let’s have a look at how they fare in the latest UNDP’s Human Development Index (HDI).
India is ranked 134th with an HDI coefficient of 0.644 while Pakistan is ranked lower, at 164th with an HDI coefficient of 0.540 – the index ranked a total of 193 countries and territories. The closer a country’s HDI coefficient is to 1, the more developed that country is. For the most recent year, 2023-24, that the index was published, Switzerland was top at 0.967 followed closely by Norway at 0.966.
If India is so convinced that Pakistan is involved in the Pahalgam attack, then it should have no issue with supporting a neutral and independent investigation
So both Pakistan as well as India have a lot to do in terms of improving the quality of life of their citizens and their respective social and development infrastructure. The last thing they need is a war between them because if that happens it will most likely set them at least a few decades back.
There’s a clear distinction between mainstream media in Pakistan and India.
In Pakistan, you won’t see mainstream media call for the destruction and for the deliberate killing of millions of innocents - only a sociopath or psychopath would advocate that - someone like say, Hitler.
But mainstream Indian media has some of its top channels and their social media handles (all with followers running into tens of millions) routinely call for the deliberate bombing and annihilation of the enemy country (in this case Pakistan). And over the years I can’t say that I am surprised by this - saddened yes but not surprised - because of the way the present BJP/RSS government deals with minorities within India and in particular Indian Muslims - what the mainstream Indian media is advocating now is simply an extension of that mindset and worldview.
Thankfully, this is something that you will never get to see on any mainstream Pakistani newspaper or news channel. With the terrorist attacks in Pakistan and especially in Balochistan, one doesn’t get to see Pakistani mainstream media advocate a wholesale bombing and destruction of India and/or its civilian population. Of course, calls are made to respond to India’s support for these attacks inside Pakistan by pursuing the planners and the handlers by lodging a protest with the Government of India and also by ratcheting up pressure on New Delhi through other countries, especially those friendly with it.
Muslims in India are seen by and large as traitors and not to be trusted - and a large chunk of the Indian population thinks they should have all left for Pakistan because Bharat is a land only for Hindus - and then there’s the ‘love jihad’ (false) narrative which postulates that Indian Muslim men are actively looking to woo and marry Hindu women so as to convert them and to have children whom will also be Muslim.
Another point to note is that in the slew of measures taken against Pakistan, the Government of India took pains to issue a clarification the following day that long-term visas given to Pakistani Hindus were not affected at all. This gives the clear impression that BJP-ruled India sees Muslims as the primary enemy and has no issue at all with those Pakistanis who are Hindu. Of course, it has the right to hold such a view if it wishes, and it does that because its vote bank is primarily India’s Hindu population, but it comes across as highly discriminatory towards non-Hindus, especially Muslims – and also sends that very signal to India’s own Muslim population of around 200 million.
Pakistan’s statement that it is open to a neutral and independent investigation of the Pahalgam attacks should be accepted by India and taken forward. If India is so convinced that Pakistan is involved in the Pahalgam attack, then it should have no issue with supporting a neutral and independent investigation. Hopefully, a truly independent probe will ask some of the most basic questions – among them: How did the attackers manage to carry this out in a location where there are no roads and is accessible only by foot or horseback and which is at least 200 kilometers away from the Line of Control (and around 100 kilometers each of Srinagar and the Valley)?