- India`s independence from the British rule and its subsequent partition in two countries: India and Pakistan

The Force Behind The Great Divide

2006 . The British government unscrupulously utilized the dichotomy of religious bigotry and secularism to create an air of discontent among the Muslim populace . In the same vein , this as well fueled a rising antagonism towards the Muslims in India

This policy of division was not a new concept for even before the turn of the 19th century , the British crown had already undertaken the work to cripple the unity of the Indian people by means of the social and cultural differences among them . A concrete example

of such separatist policy was the pronouncement of a British officer , in 1821 , under the assumed name of "Carnaticus , who wrote in the Asiatic Review that "Divide et impera should be the motto of our Indian administration whether political , civil or military " The same position had been carried out by the Crown years later . To quote the words of the Secretary of State for India to the Viceroy , Lord Elgin (1862-63 "We have maintained our power in India by playing-off one part against the other , and we must continue to do so . Do all you can , therefore , to prevent all having a common feeling (The 2-Nation Theory and Partition , a Historical Overview , 21 Oct 2006

Worthy of note is the strategic geographical location of Pakistan . The British bolstered its position for partition not because of its imminence considering the social turmoil that plagued the nation but more so because it worked to their advantage . The newly created state of Pakistan , therefore , was just one means to an end . A British political officer named Sir Olaf Caroe considered the creation of the Islamic state of Pakistan as a global strategy that served an insurmountable wall that protected British interests in India from Russian intervention . In his own words , published in Wells of Power : The Oilfields of South-Western Asia (1951 , which called on Washington to take up its great power responsibilities and erect a "northern screen around the Persian Gulf 's oil fields , he said "In politics , as in things of the spirit , a marriage of forces , themselves destined to perish , may generate a fresh force of greater power . It is not too much to hope that , through Pakistan , some new strength of this (Meyer 2003 . Earlier in 1939 , Jinnah had pledged the loyalty of Indian Muslim troops and the British expected that this loyal fighting force would come in handy in controlling the oil-wealth of the Middle East and provide the Western powers with a "reliable ally " that could serve as a foil to the former Soviet Union (Sarela , 2000

Paul Johnson (1991 ) offered a contrasting view , that the separation of Pakistan from India was inevitable simply because the British government lost control over India 's rising diversity . This ran counter to the established foreign policy taken by the crown since its occupation of the Indian sub-continent , and that is to divide and rule . Some historians espoused the belief that the crack between Pakistan and India had been there all along and it is only a matter of time for this imminent partition to materialize . To illustrate , the British editor and imperial veteran H . V . Hodson posited that

"It is not possible to divide and rule unless the ruled are ready to be divided . The British may have used the Hindu /Muslim rivalry for their own advantage , but they did not invent it . They did not write the annals of Indian history , nor prescribe the conflicting customs of her communities , nor foment the murderous riots that periodically flared between Hindus and Muslims in her villages and cities . They were realists , and if they did use India 's divisions for their advantage , the divisions themselves were already real (Meyer , 2003

Needless to say , these views clearly tried to wipe out any vestiges of participation , or even guilt , in the carnage that resulted from the division of one great nation into fractured entities

Indubitably , vast and overwhelming were the detrimental consequences of the partition . The havoc it created caused a deep and unbridgeable chasm that could permanently segregate the two nations of India and Pakistan A once-proclaimed brotherhood among the Hindu people and its Muslim neighbors that dated back from the times of the Mughal Empire was finally obliterated by the divide-and-rule tactic engaged by the British rulers . The senseless wars fought by the two factions foment not only political strife but also created a deep-seated enmity between the two races sharing the same origin . Sadly enough , the partition cost thousands and even millions of lives for a cause that brings no real victory but continued misery among the people caught up in the cross-fire . The partition of India and Pakistan is one great example of how one nation can be divided not by the apparent irreconcilable differences with respect to religion , language , and culture , but by a foreign force instilling a sense of divisiveness and social unrest

Rerences

Johnson , Paul . Modern Times . New York : HarperCollins Publishers , Inc 1991

Meyer , Karl E . The Dust of Empire . New York : A Century Foundation Book 2003

Narendra Singh Sarela . Creation of Pakistan - Safeguarding British Strategic Interests ' Times of India . March 17 , 2000

Puniyani , Ram . Social Roots of Partition Process . Issue In Secular Politics ' No .2 , Vol 1 , 2002

HYPERLINK "http /www .britannica .com /citations

2006

The 2-Nation Theory and Partition , a Historical Overview ' South Asian History . 21 Oct 2006 ...