Pakistan was created for a very simple reason: religion. The sprawling land mass that was colonial India under British rule was partitioned into three distinct places. Each one of these was created because the majority of its inhabitants worshiped one of two religions, Hinduism and Islam. This happened in 1947, and trouble has ensued ever since.

The independence movement in India began in earnest in the last half of the 19th Century. It then gained strength in the early part of the 20th Century, as nationalism swept Asia and Africa as it had Europe a century before. Crusaders such as Mohandas Gandhi began campaigning for independence from Britain. The independence campaign gained international focus, thanks in large part to the actions of Gandhi and a few other brave people, and the pressure was finally too much for Britain to ignore.

India, however, was not just one country full of like-minded people when it came to worship. Two fundamentally different religions dominated the soulful landscape of the world's second most populous country. The conflict between followers of those two faiths transcended the partition from Colonial India into India and Pakistan. Hinduism, one of the world's oldest religions, had millions of adherents living in India. Islam did as well, though its history was much shorter.

The British partitioned Colonial India according to population concerns. India was then and continues to be populated mostly by Hindus. Pakistan, on the other hand, had and continues to have a mostly Muslim population. However, neither of these are homogenous, and the partition separated many people from their families.

Much like the building of the Berlin Wall did, the partitioning of India created more problems than it solved. India was a mostly Hindu country, yes, but it had a sizable Muslim minority. The same was true, in reverse, for Pakistan, which was actually two landscapes to begin with. In 1947, Pakistan was actually West Pakistan and East Pakistan, with India squarely in the middle. India divided both Pakistans without a way to connect the two. East Pakistan became Bangladesh in 1971.

The sudden division of the colony into two separate countries led to mass exodus. Muslims went to Pakistan and Hindus to India. Some estimates put the "population exchange" at more than 14 million. The exoduses led to mass chaos and mass hysteria, often accompanied by violence. In many cases, faith-based massacres occurred behind country lines.

Another huge point of sometimes violent debate between India and Pakistan has been Punjab, a province between the two countries that is claimed by both countries. Punjab adds a third religion to the mix; Sikhism. Punjab was once a single state but has since become two, one in India and the other in Pakistan. Both countries want all of Punjab to be part of their homeland, and skirmishes have occurred in that territory. Conflicts over this region and on other serious issues have led to an escalating arms race between India and Pakistan, which both sides claiming to have nuclear weapons.