Lets have a look at the most repeated story of Partition of a Motherland into two nations India and Pakistan
Reasons for partition
India and Pakistan won independence in August 1947, following a
nationalist struggle lasting nearly three decades. It set a vital
precedent for the negotiated winding up of European empires elsewhere.
Unfortunately, it was accompanied by the largest mass migration in human
history of some 10 million. As many as one million civilians died in
the accompanying riots and local-level fighting, particularly in the
western region of Punjab which was cut in two by the border.
The agreement to divide colonial India into two separate states -
one with a Muslim majority (Pakistan) and the other with a Hindu
majority (India) is commonly seen as the outcome of conflict between the
nations' elites. This explanation, however, renders the mass violence
that accompanied partition difficult to explain.
It is possible that Mohammed Ali Jinnah, leader of the Muslim
League, simply wished to use the demand for a separate state as a
bargaining chip to win greater power for Muslims within a loosely
federated India. Certainly, the idea of 'Pakistan' was not thought of
until the late 1930s.
One explanation for the chaotic manner in which the two independent
nations came into being is the hurried nature of the British withdrawal.
This was announced soon after the victory of the Labour Party in the
British general election of July 1945, amid the realisation that the
British state, devastated by war, could not afford to hold on to its
over-extended empire.
Transfer of power
An act of parliament proposed a date for the transfer of power into
Indian hands in June 1948, summarily advanced to August 1947 at the whim
of the last viceroy, Lord Louis Mountbatten. This left a great many
issues and interests unresolved at the end of colonial rule.
In charge of negotiations, the viceroy exacerbated difficulties by
focusing largely on Jinnah's Muslim League and the Indian National
Congress (led by Jawaharlal Nehru).
The two parties' representative status was established by Constituent
Assembly elections in July 1946, but fell well short of a universal
franchise.
Tellingly, although Pakistan celebrated its independence on 14
August and India on 15 August 1947, the border between the two new
states was not announced until 17 August.
It was hurriedly drawn up by a British lawyer, Cyril Radcliffe, who
had little knowledge of Indian conditions and with the use of
out-of-date maps and census materials.
Communities, families and farms were cut in two, but by delaying the
announcement the British managed to avoid responsibility for the worst
fighting and the mass migration that had followed.
Tensions in India
Many have wondered why the British and Indian leaders did not delay
until a better deal over borders could have been agreed. One explanation
is that in the months and years immediately following World War Two,
leaders on all sides were losing control and were keen to strike a deal
before the country descended into chaos.
Immediately before World War Two, India was ravaged by the impact
of the Great Depression, bringing mass unemployment. This created
tremendous tensions exacerbated during the war by inflation and food
grain shortages. Rationing was introduced in Indian cities and in Bengal
a major famine developed in 1942.
The resulting discontent was expressed in widespread violence
accompanying the Congress party's 'Quit India' campaign of 1942 - a
violence only contained by the deployment of 55 army battalions.
With the cessation of hostilities, the battalions at the disposal
of the government in India were rapidly diminished. At the same time,
the infrastructure of the Congress Party, whose entire leadership was
imprisoned due to their opposition to the war, had been dismantled.
The Muslim League, which co-operated with the British, had rapidly
increased its membership, yet still had very limited grassroots level
organisation.
This was dramatically revealed on the 16 August 1946, when Jinnah
called for a 'Direct Action Day' by followers of the League in support
of the demand for Pakistan. The day had dissolved into random violence
and civil disruption across north India, with thousands of lives lost.
This was interpreted by the British as evidence of the irreconcilable
differences between Hindus and Muslims. In reality, the riots were
evidence as much of a simple lack of military and political control as
they were of social discord.
Further evidence of the collapse of government authority was to be
seen in the Princely State of Hyderabad, where a major uprising
occurred in the Telengana region, and with the Tebhaga ('two-thirds')
agitation among share-cropping cultivators in north Bengal. A leading
role was played in both by the Communist Party of India.
Elsewhere, the last months of British rule were marked by a naval
mutiny, wage strikes and successful demonstrations in every major city.
In all of these conflicts the British colonial government remained
aloof, as it concentrated on the business of negotiating a speedy
transfer of power.
Post-partition and conflict over Kashmir
The death of Muhammed Ali Jinnah in 1948, the conflict with India
over the Princely State of Kashmir (which both countries claimed at
independence), as well as ethnic and religious differences within
Pakistan itself, all combined to stymie early attempts to agree on a
constitution and an effectively functioning civil administration.
This failure paved the way for a military takeover of the
government in 1958 and later on, a civil war in 1971. This saw the
division of the country and the creation of the separate state of
Bangladesh. Ever since then, military rule has been more often than not
the order of the day in both countries.
At independence, in India and in Pakistan, civil unrest as well as
ethnic and religious discord threatened the stability of the new
country. However, the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi on 30 January 1948
by a Hindu fanatic strengthened the hand of secularists within the
government.
Indian politicians ratified a constitution, which led to the first
democratic elections in 1951. This made India the world's largest
democracy and consolidated governmental authority over the entire
subcontinent.
However, major tensions have persisted among both Muslim and Sikh
communities, which suffered most from the violence and land loss
resulting from partition. These tensions erupted most seriously in the
1980s in a violent campaign for the creation of a separate Sikh state
which led ultimately to the assassination of Indira Gandhi.
Renewed victimisation of Muslims has also occurred, notably with
the destruction of the Muslim shrine at Ayodhya in 1992 and anti-Muslim
riots in Gujarat in 2004. With such notable exceptions, however, India
has maintained a remarkable level of cohesion since independence,
especially if one considers that it is a country nearly the size of
Europe.
For both India and Pakistan, the most singular conflict unresolved
since partition has concerned the former Princely State of Kashmir,
whose fate was left undetermined at the time the British left. Lying as
it did on the border, Kashmir was claimed by both countries, which have
been to war over this region on numerous occasions.
The conflict has wasted thousands of lives and millions of
dollars, but is closer to a solution now than at any time since
independence. If achieved, it might finally bring to fruition the dreams
of Mohammed Ali Jinnah and Mahatma Gandhi and once more set an example
for post-colonial societies elsewhere in Africa, Asia and the Middle
East to imitate and follow.
Source: BBC
