As neighbors, Pakistan and Iran are both big countries in the Islamic world: Pakistan's land area excluding Pakistani-controlled Kashmir is about 796095 square kilometers, if it includes Pakistani-controlled Kashmir, it is about 880254 square kilometers, and pakistan's population has exceeded 200 million by 2020; Iran's land area is about 1.645 million square kilometers (ranked 17th in the world) and a population of more than 80 million (ranked 17th in the world). Neither of these Islamic powers were Arab countries, but countries belonging to the Aryan race.
The name "Iran" itself refers to the land where the Aryans live. Around 1800 BC the Aryans split into two groups: one that crossed the Ural Mountains eastward into Asia, and the other that moved west into the heart of Europe. The Aryans, who migrated to Asia, later further diverged into two branches: one that entered the Indian peninsula south to become the ancestors of the Hindustan people, the main ethnic group of india today, and the other that entered the region of present-day Iran to become the ancestors of the Persians. In this way, the Aryans pioneered the Persian civilization and the Indian civilization in Asia.
Pakistan was a country that split off from British India through the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947, so the majority of Pakistan belongs to the Aryan ethnic group as much as the majority of India. Pakistan and Iran, which are of the same Aryan ethnicity, are ethnic cousins, and both Pakistan and Iran are also Muslim. Of course, there are differences between the two countries: Pakistan is mainly Sunni Islam, and Iran is mainly Shia. So Pakistan and Iran are countries that have a lot of similarities and differences.
How have these two deep-knit neighbours developed? To compare which of the two countries has developed more successfully, we can consider many aspects: we can compare the hard power of the economic strength and military strength of the two countries; we can compare the people's livelihood and public security environment of the two countries; we can compare the situation of the two countries in international geopolitics... Here I will mainly compare the internal and diplomatic environments of Pakistan and Iran, and the comparison of the economic and military strengths of the two countries will be elaborated separately in the article comparing the comprehensive national strength of the two countries.
The diplomatic environment iran faces is actually relatively bad. Iran has been flying the anti-American flag since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, so Iran has been collectively isolated by the West, led by the United States, ever since. The U.S. system of alliances encompasses almost all of the world's major developed countries. Being blocked by those countries is almost tantamount to being separated from the international community. Therefore, Iran's economic development and diplomatic activities under the long-term blockade and sanctions of the West have been greatly affected. Some important international organizations, such as the G20, almost do not take Iran to play.
Iran and Saudi Arabia are said to be allies of The Shiites and Sunnis in the Middle East, respectively. Iran's own national strength is no less than that of Saudi Arabia. Now that Saudi Arabia has already entered the G20, why can't Iran, which is also a major country in the Middle East, enter? This is actually the result of the isolated suppression of Iran by the Western countries led by the United States. Not only is Iran isolated by the West, led by the United States, but it is also poorly popular in the Islamic world. Iran's Shia faith is a minority in Islam, so Iran is an outlier in the eyes of most Sunni countries.
The outbreak of the Islamic Revolution in Iran overthrew the rule of the Pahlavi dynasty. After the revolution, Iran was actively committed to exporting Shiite revolutionary ideas to the outside world. This exacerbates the already existing contradictions between Iran and the Sunni state. Egypt, then a Sunni state, provided political asylum to the Pahlavi royal family in exile. Iran has therefore announced that it has severed diplomatic relations with Egypt, and the two countries have not yet resumed full diplomatic relations. In 2015, Yemen announced the severance of diplomatic relations with Iran; in 2016, Saudi Arabia announced the severance of diplomatic relations with Iran; in 2018, Morocco broke diplomatic relations with Iran...
Isolated by both Western and Sunni countries, Iran has remained in a state of solitude in international diplomacy. Pakistan's diplomatic environment, by contrast, is significantly better than Iran's: Pakistan is known to have maintained long-standing close and good-neighbourly relations with the mainland. Generally speaking, when we position our relations with other countries, we only say strategic cooperative partnership, but when we describe China-Pakistan relations, we add the modifier "all-weather" before the strategic cooperative partnership, while the mainland people's description of China-Pakistan relations is condensed into two words "Pakistan Railway".
The mainland's close relationship with Pakistan tends to make it easy for some of us to forget the objective fact that Pakistan is an ally of the United States. As early as May 1954, Pakistan signed a mutual defense assistance agreement and a bilateral defense agreement with the United States out of strategic intent to contain India. Pakistan, which was good friends with the United States and China in the midst of the international changes in the 1970s, also played an intermediary role in breaking the ice of Sino-US diplomacy: Nixon's special envoy Kissinger was able to get rid of journalists' secret visits to China with the help of Pakistan.
Although Pakistan's relations with the United States have stumbled in recent years due to the proximity of the United States to India, the covenant between Pakistan and the United States has not been abrogated. In fact, Pakistan's overall relationship with Western countries (especially commonwealth countries) is still relatively close. Although Pakistan today is critical of many U.S. practices, many of Pakistan's top officials send their children to the United States to study. Many pakistani middle-class and senior government officials have a longing for the material life and political system of the United States.
It is an objective fact that Pakistan, from the ruling party to the opposition party, from the elite to the grassroots, is very friendly to China emotionally, but it is also an objective fact that many people in the top of the Pakistani government have pro-American complexes, in addition to Pakistan's special financial and religious ties with Saudi Arabia. As early as 1976, Saudi Arabia led other Gulf oil producers to list Pakistan as the first recipient of aid. At that time, the Gulf oil producers, led by Saudi Arabia, provided about $450 million in loans to Pakistan (including $130 million in Saudi Arabia alone).
Today, Pakistan and China maintain an all-weather strategic cooperative partnership, relatively close relations with the United States and other Western countries, and maintain extremely special diplomatic relations with Sunni countries such as Saudi Arabia. Overall, Pakistan faces a much better diplomatic environment than Iran, but pakistan's domestic living environment is far inferior to That of Iran. Although Iran has suffered from Western sanctions, it is still a regional power. At present, Iran has made achievements in some important scientific research areas.
Iran, as the inheritor of ancient Persian culture, has both classical and modern beauty. Beautiful natural scenery and rich cultural and historical sites have made Iran a big country of tourism and culture. Iran's theocratic system is often demonized by Western countries, but realistically Speaking, Iran's popular customs may be more open than other Middle Eastern countries. Although Iran has a theocratic system, religious leaders are more in a state of unity and non-rule. Iran is in fact based on constitutional principles in the administration of state administration.
This is very different from the political ecology of Saudi Arabia, which has no constitution and no party activities. The Western countries, which have never said that Saudi Arabia's dictatorship and arbitrariness, have vigorously attacked Iran. It should be known that even women on the road in Saudi Arabia can become international news. In fact, the status of Iranian women is significantly higher than that of Saudi Arabia, and it can even be said that the status of Iranian women is relatively high in all Muslim countries. Many people who have visited Iran on the ground can find that Iran is actually a relatively secular country among all Muslim countries.
Of course, there may be some xenophobic people in any country, but most people in Iran are actually not as xenophobic as other Middle Eastern countries. Iranians, especially young people, are not as sensitive and shy about outside contact as other Muslim countries. In the process of promoting the Belt and Road Initiative, Iran is gradually strengthening cooperation with China. Although Iran is politically isolated by Western countries, ordinary Iranians are not exclusive of Western culture. Iran's relative closure is actually the result of the isolation of the West, not because the Iranians themselves have cut off contact with the outside world.
In fact, Iranian society as a whole presents an open and vibrant state. Most of today's Iranian youths have a strong thirst for knowledge – they are eager to understand both Eastern and Western cultures. At the same time, the various ethnic groups and sects in Iran can also live in harmony with each other. Although Iran is a country dominated by Shiite Persians, Iran has full respect for azerbaijanis, Armenians, Jews and other minorities within its borders. In fact, Iran is a country that has achieved great national unity like the mainland.
Pakistan, like Iran and China, is a multi-ethnic country: Punjabis make up about 63% of the total population, Sindhi account for about 18% of the total population, Pashtuns account for about 11% of the total population, and Balochitans account for about 4% of the total population... Different ethnic groups have different languages, religions and customs. Of course, from the examples of China and Iran, it can be seen that ethnic pluralism is not a problem in itself, because multi-ethnic countries can achieve unity on the basis of mutual respect among all ethnic groups. However, due to historical reasons, Pakistan has led to complex ethnic contradictions.
Pakistan is sometimes divided into many branches and opposed even within a people. The imbalance in economic and cultural development between regions in Pakistan can easily combine people's dissatisfaction with real life with ethnic and religious contradictions. In particular, in some areas such as Balochistan, there are even activities of ethnic separatist forces. Extremist groups in Pakistan also often collude with foreign powers to create unrest. Pakistan's complex ethnic, religious and historical relations have made it impossible for Pakistan to get rid of the phenomenon of local powerful families interfering in politics from the day of its founding.
Powerful local families are often in their own interests to resist the national plans of the central government, and they will use their local power to exploit the people and take bribes. Therefore, Pakistan is actually a country with a relatively high level of corruption. Foreign capital will naturally be deterred by such a politically unstable, frequent terrorist attacks and serious corruption. Due to the limited amount of money and technology that the state can invest, Pakistan's infrastructure construction has been relatively insufficient.
Although Pakistan is a country rich in natural resources, the lack of infrastructure has led to the underdevelopment of these resources. At the same time, the lack of infrastructure has further led to the external deterrence of foreign investment. This effectively creates a vicious circle: foreign investment is prohibitive in Pakistan, which in turn makes foreign investors more reluctant to invest in Pakistan. Therefore, Pakistan's business environment is objectively not ideal.
Due to the lack of sufficient funds in the hands of the Pakistani government, and the limited funds must be prioritized for the defense of India, there are indeed very few funds that Pakistan can really use for the welfare of the people. Today, 60.3 percent of Pakistan's population lives on less than $2 a day (less than 13 yuan). About half of Pakistanis experience varying degrees of malnutrition. Pakistan, with its unsatisfactory economy, is equally unsatisfactory in terms of its security situation: in 2019 alone, there were 370 terrorist attacks (518 deaths in total).
Pakistan is a strategic partner of the mainland all-weather, and Iran is also an important partner of the mainland's Belt and Road Initiative. We sincerely wish Pakistan and Iran good prospects for development, and we also hope that the friendship between China, Pakistan and Iran will last forever. As for who is actually developing better in Pakistan and Iran at present, we only need to think about this question: suppose you go out as an ordinary person without the premise of national friendship. Would you rather go to Pakistan? Or would you rather go to Iran?