Separated by a wall, raised solely on basis of religion
People like these believe India and Pakistan can unite. Nothing is impossible, but there are several obstacles in the way
My brothers and other family members think they have no future in Pakistan. My Grandfather and his family migrated from Prayagraj & Delhi for a better future in Pakistan. Watt laga di Dada Ji!”
This tweet is from a well-known YouTuber and journalist of Pakistani origin, Arzoo Kazmi. When one sees such remorse, one wonders if the wheel of time has come full circle. While India has advanced economically since the British era, Pakistan’s decline is ongoing.
Pakistan was created as a result of contradicting coincidences. Muhammad Ali Jinnah said in Lahore in March 1940 that the British, who “up until yesterday did not pay close attention to what we had to convey, are now beginning to take Pakistan’s demand seriously”. Ishtiaq Ahmed, a Swedish political scientist of Pakistani descent who has authored credible volumes on Jinnah and the Partition of India, has written extensively on this subject.
According to Ahmed, even before World War II, the British government suspected the Bolshevik Revolution would expand outside the Soviet Union. This is why, in the 1930s, the Northern Command Headquarters in Rawalpindi was tasked with keeping a watch on Soviet border movements. World War II broke out six years later, dividing the world in two.
Berlin, the defeated Germany’s capital after the war, was a living illustration of this. The Soviets occupied one part of Berlin, while Western powers occupied the other. According to several accounts, everyone was being spied upon at that time. It is reported that the then prime minister (PM) of Britain, Winston Churchill, warned United States president Franklin D Roosevelt that they should also occupy Moscow. However, the Allies were hesitant to do so.
English army commanders and foreign policy architects were especially sensitive to this threat. According to Ahmed, the report of Richard Stafford Cripps, a British Labour Party politician, barrister, and diplomat who drew the blueprint for India’s Partition, had been presented, but London was in a dilemma. Jinnah’s statement cited earlier proves this.
Several British rulers believed that the Indian subcontinent should be kept under British authority for two to three decades more. They thought that doing so would save money for the British forces. They will raise Indian armies with Indian funding and deploy them as needed. The same thing was done during the first and second world wars, but things did not go as intended. Britain’s economy crumbled, and the democratic transition in the world had begun. The French, Dutch, and Portuguese were also burning their hands in their occupied colonies.
Meanwhile, on May 12, 1947, Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery met PM Clement Attlee, accompanied by senior generals and diplomats, such as Leslie Hollis. They claimed that India was a socialist country by nature. In such a case, if they do not establish a religion-based Pakistan, the Kremlin’s influence will likely extend to the Indian Ocean. No wonder that viceroy Lord Mountbatten announced the Partition of India on June 3, 1947.
It is known that Pakistan’s economy was stronger than ours until the 1980s, but then its growth momentum faltered. Pakistan was the only country that was established on the basis of faith. It is no wonder that it remains trapped in the hands of religious fundamentalists. Several rulers were assassinated here; many others were toppled, which has pushed that country to the confusing crossroads of theory and practice.
The army there has dreamed of Ghazwa-e-Hind (a prophecy in some hadiths where an Islamic army invades and conquers the Indian subcontinent as part of events leading to the eventual apocalypse) since the time of General Ayub Khan. The ghost of the “shadow war” it embraced has now engulfed it. Even bread has become a nightmare for millions of Pakistanis today. The tweet by Kazmi describes the feelings of millions of people who witnessed the dream of Quaid-i-Azam Jinnah being destroyed. This is why some individuals on both sides of the border have begun to construct dreams of unity again. But is it possible?
People like these believe that if East and West Germany can reunite after 45 years, so can India and Pakistan. Nothing is impossible, but there are several obstacles in the way. Between East and West Germany, the wall was one of ideology. The wall that separates us is one built on religion. This is why there is uncertainty about whether violent religious groups will allow this.
Shashi Shekhar is editor-in-chief, Hindustan The views expressed are personal
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