Readjustment

Here is something which Iqbal wrote in the early 1930s. I am wondering if we can replace "England and India" with "West and the East" in general, or "US and Pakistan", and would it still make sense?

I am looking forward to the day when the disputes between England and India will be settled and the two countries will begin to work together not only for their mutual benefit but for the great good of mankind.

There is no need for pessimism on either side. There are people who seem to be overwhelmed by the strength and apparent universality of the bad feelings which exist between the two countries today. I am not one of them.

In my judgement they are normal and inevitable accompaniment of an age of readjustment and will pass away without irremediable disaster to anybody, if we keep our heads and our sense of humour and have the self-control to resist the appeal to hatred or pride, violence or intolerance to which they are always trying to allure us.

The periods of readjustment are the common-places of history. They have been going on ever since time began. The history of Europe deals with little else. And readjustment is no less inevitable between the East and the West though the transition there has naturally taken longer to work out.