The Partition of 1947 Photo courtesy: abro

Main questions What was the Partition Why did the Partition of India occur? What were its major consequences? How did it affect relations between ordinary citizens? How did it change their everyday existence? Did it fulfill the promises it made to the people who now became “Indians” and “Pakistanis”

More questions… Is Kashmir a consequence of the Partition? Given the history of Partition, is peace possible in South Asia? Is it ‘simply’ history? Or does it affect us today?

August 15, 1947 India achieves independence and incorporates West Bengal and Assam Pakistan is created; incorporates East Bengal (the East Wing, or East Pakistan) and territory in the northwest (the West Wing, or West Pakistan); Jinnah becomes governor general of Pakistan; Nehru, the PM of India

The Map: Territory & Community

What was the Partition? Violence and dislocation Erasure of history, creation of new history A negotiated political arrangement ‘The Partition of India’ or the “Independence of Pakistan?”

Why did the Partition occur? British design? What did the British have to gain from it? What would have happened if they left it intact? (Note: a very similar question is raised now re: Iraq and Afghanistan) Orientalist understandings Divide and rule Negotiations between the ruling classes Communal conflict Incompatibility of cultures?

Iqbal: Two Nation theory First articulated in the Presidential address to the All India Muslim league in 1930 by Allama Iqbal, the famous poet, philosopher and politician. Argued that the aspirations of two different communities, especially when one was a minority, and the other a majority, could be addressed within one state Was in disagreement with both Nehru and Gandhi In India’s nationalist discourse this came to be known as Muslim separatism.

Savarkar and Hindutva Vinayak Damodar Savarkar was the President of the Hindu Mahasabha Advocated the idea of Hindu Rashtra and supported the two-nation theory His famous article “Who is a Hindu?” argued that more than a religion, Hindus were ethnically and territorially connected to India

Impact and Aftermath Large-scale communal slaughter Women were used as instruments of power both by the Hindus and the Muslims 15 million refugees Division of of Punjab and Bengal, divisions claimed the lives of Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs alike. Creation of a Muslim majority state

Kashmir: What is at issue? Self-determination and independence Secularism versus religion as a basis for states Territory Dislocation and loss of lives Identity

Kashmir timeline 1925: Hari Singh ascends the throne of Kashmir August 1947: he is asked to “choose” between India and Pakistan – he remains undecided. Mountbatten suggests plebscite, which has never been held. October 1947: Jammu and Kashmir was attacked by militants from the Northwest. Hari Singh signed an Instrument of Accession (in return for military support from India).

Kashmir timeline(2) 1947-48 First Indo-Pak War 1949: Hari Singh was asked to hand over Kashmir to Sheikh Abdullah 1971-2 Bangladesh and Indo-Pak war 1972: Simla agreement and Line of Control 1989: Armed resistance to Indian rule

Kashmir Today Call for Independence from India Presence of Indian army Institutional failure communal politics Instability in Pakistan Militancy Possible scenarios But questions remain…

Kashmir … Can another negotiated settlement create a community? What does the Partition experience tell us? Is religion a good basis for creating communities?

Dawn of Freedom (August 1947) Faiz Ahmed Faiz, translated by Agha Shahid Ali “These tarnished rays, this night-smudged light– This is not that Dawn for which, ravished with freedom, we had set out in sheer longing, so sure that somewhere in its desert the sky harbored a final haven for the stars, and we would find it. We had no doubt that night’s vagrant wave would stray towards the shore that the heart rocked with sorrow would at last reach its port. … Friends, come away from this false light. Come, we must search for that promised Dawn”.