"it doesn't have to be India/Pakistan."
Too late, I'm afraid Al
It has been suffering the Post Colonial Blues since independence
The Brits, having had their arses kicked firmly out of the Cointry, decided to maintain an interest by leaving six counties in a 'safe pair of hands' in the sahpe of a viciously sectarian party - "monsters, but our monsters' - the u.S. attitude ato all despotic regimes sympathetic to their own interests
As a people, the Irish are extremely tolerant and friendly to all - it takes the politicos and their marches and displays of 'superiority' to drive a wedge in between them
That was how the six counties were governed - an unequal society where a substantial majority were regarded as second class citizens.
The Civil Rights protests began peacefully enough but were directed through mobs of screaming mobs of bottle-throwing thugs - hence the violence of the 1970s/80s
It is simplistic to put this down to religious differences - it had far more to do with maintaining political power than it did which brand of Christianity people favoured.
I know this from personal experience living in an from English city where people worked sisde to side for 363 days of the year, but were divided into hostile clans by arrogant displays in the second week of July
Try walking down Netherfield Road or the dock area then and you took your safety in your hands
That is what I was referring to by the bowler hatted, besashed "little men"   
The balance in the North East has now levelled out and with the aid of Brexit, Ireland can return to being a single country again - hopefully without a return to violence.
Jim Carroll