DBWI: Poor Pakistan

Pakistan is a very rich economy, though it is a bit behind India. Pakistan, along with India, could be classified as "Asian Tigers". Hell, South Korea modeled their economic reforms after Pakistan in the 1950s and 1960s. But how do you make Pakistan a poor country?
 
Making a country poor is a lot easier than trying to make a country rich. But a good POD would be a decisive defeat in or even just a inconclusive end to the Indo-Pakistan war. That'd probably end in East Pakistan seceding and it'd certainly keep Kashmir in some sort of limbo along the lines of the West Bank in Israel. That would certainly have a destabilising effect on the region as a whole. Also, no July Movement in the 1980s so the country stays under a military regime instead of liberalising.
 
War and coups (maybe relations with India somehow becomes sour and they go to war over Kashmir rather than the peaceful solution that was reached IOTL). Pakistan post partition was very stable and had stable governance. Also becoming close with their neighbours india really meant that they could rely on each other for consistent trade so if they don't have that and have constant coups, warring with india and maybe even civil unrest and you have a possible recipe for disaster.

I also think Pakistan's secularism has been key to their success, despite being a muslim majority country, unlike Iran or the middle eastern countries, they haven't really let religion define their policies and that's probably helped them. So if you saw some kind of islamic sect rise there in the 50's or 60's, that could lead to destabilisation.
 
I also think Pakistan's secularism has been key to their success, despite being a muslim majority country, unlike Iran or the middle eastern countries, they haven't really let religion define their policies and that's probably helped them. So if you saw some kind of islamic sect rise there in the 50's or 60's, that could lead to destabilisation.

OOC: Yeah I don't see that happening. Pakistan was founded based on religion. After all, Pakistan was founded based on Muslims wanting a separate state for Indian Muslims.
 
OOC: Yeah I don't see that happening. Pakistan was founded based on religion. After all, Pakistan was founded based on Muslims wanting a separate state for Indian Muslims.

ooc: secularist policy, meaning mainly separation of church (or mosque) and state, at least more than OTL. So religion doesn't play as much of a factor in politics, even if it is very much prevalent in life. So kind of like turkey until recently.
 
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