Riaz Hassan

If current demographic trends continue, the ranks of religious believers in the world could rise through 2050, reports a Pew Research Report. Islam would show the fastest rate of growth, and the unaffiliated would decline in proportion to other religious categories. Riaz Hassan, director of the International Centre for Muslim and non-Muslim Understanding at the University of South Australia, analyzes the data for India, along with the Sachar Committee report on the status of Muslims in Indian society and India’s 2011 census report. He points out that Muslims could represent nearly one out of five Indians by 2050 as compared with one out of seven today. “The population increase will present additional and more complex challenges for the nation’s democratic political system grounded in its secular constitution that envisions justice, liberty, equality and fraternity for all Indian citizens—but is increasingly contested,” he writes. India is poised to be the world’s most populous nation by 2050. Uneven opportunities for a major minority group increase the risks of resentment, instability and security threats.

As the world awaits the outcome of the Afghan elections and the beginning of NATO withdrawal, it’s generally assumed that Pakistan would welcome Taliban victory in post-2014 Afghanistan.