This entry covers three countries crafted by violence: India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. India, with a sizeable Muslim population, is secular by constitution and law; the other two, with majority Muslim populations, have turned from secularism to theocracy.

The Indian subcontinent was structured along tribal and feudal lines during colonial times. The British superimposed upon this a secular common law framework that applied to all areas except personal law, which was left to the discretion of each indigenous community. At the same …