The blood of partition lies at the feet of those who wanted it most
Over the past 70 years, India and Pakistan have developed along very different trajectories. The generation that saw partition is almost gone. It’s clear after 70 years that it is best if India and Pakistan stay apart which is what Pakistan has always wanted. No rational person in India wants any kind of re-merger with Pakistan anymore. That would be a genuine nightmare, if it were to happen.
“Indians and Muslims” cannot live together — a regular phrase from the Muslim League jumped on by the British government. Jinnah and the Moghuls all believed that Hindu and Muslims could not live together — modern day India shows that they can — but Pakistani feudal/religious politics does not.
The separation of India and Pakistan was on religious lines. It is common knowledge that the rulers of Pakistan (read M.A. Jinnah and Liyaqat Ali) were predominantly communal in nature and declared Pakistan as an Islamic state which should follow Sharia laws. A major chunk of the minorities in Pakistan (Hindus and Sikhs) were considered second class citizens and mass conversions (however not really supported in Pakistan’s constitution) were prevalent and even encouraged.
No Hindu or Sikh or even a Christian has ever been appointed on a major official post or any post that mattered in Pakistan, any attempt at egalitarianism in the ‘land of the pure’ was always a cruel joke.
So clearly, Pakistan never really got out of the mindset of separation on the basis of religion. This can be clearly seen from the demographics that we have today. The sizable chunk of the Hindu population i.e. 10% at the time of Independence of Pakistan has been reduced to 1% now. So, clearly, equality amongst citizens was never an agenda for Pakistan.
That being said India is shamefully aloof about understanding the pain of partition and the role of Jinnah and Pakistan is dividing a land that was the epitome of pluralistic secularism. It’s time that India teaches its school children about every facet of the Partition; the bloodshed, the British tactic of divide and rule and Pakistan’s role in tearing up the fabric of an equal society. Why? Pakistan has almost finished exterminating all religious minorities (it used to be 22% Hindu in 1947, today is 1% non-Muslim) take that alongside the fact that Pakistan ethnically cleansed all Hindus from the Indian-part of Kashmir in the 90’s, after a targeted campaign of murder, rape and threats.
Egalitarianism was never an entry in the Pakistan playbook.
India should dedicate its own Day of Partition, a public commemoration on the lines of Holocaust Day and raising a suitable national memorial to its victims.
Next, it should be made a compulsory subject of study in schools, and state funding should be made available for research to challenge biased and divisive narratives around Partition. There’s a need for catharsis if Hindu, Muslims — and India and Pakistan — are serious about normalising relations, though this is an unattainable dream.
