India, May 12 -- Pakistan's doctrinaire general Syed Asim Munir green-flagged the latest invasion of Kashmir with a reiteration of the defunct but toxic conjecture that Islam was sufficient as the basis of nationalism. The two-nation theory, endorsed by the British to partition India, died at the early age of 24 on December 16, 1971, killed by Bangladeshis who preferred Bengali to Urdu and reframed their Constitution on the more sustainable lines of linguistic identity.

Islam has never been theraison d'etreof any other political entity. If Islam was enough, why would there be 22 Arab nations? They have both religion and language in common. Islam is a faith; it cannot be imprisoned in a country.

After 1971, Pakistan did not replace its b...