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Partition Of India To India/pakistan In 1947
#74
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Dr.B.R.Ambedkar Analysed The Implications Of Partition
Aug 2006 

How far does Pakistan approximate to the solution of the communal question ? If the boundaries of Pakistan are to follow the present boundaries of the provinces in the north -west and in Bengal, it certainly does not eradicate the evils which lie at the heart of the communal question. It retains the very elements which give rise to it, namely, the pitting of a minority against a majority. The rule over Hindu minorities by the Muslim majorities and the rule of the Muslim minorities by Hindu majorities are the crying evils of the present situation. This very evil will reproduce itself in Pakistan, if the provinces marked out for it are incorporated into it as they are, i.e. with boundaries drawn as at present.

Besides this, the evil which gives rise to the communal question in its larger intent, will not only persist as it is, but will assume a new malignancy. Under the existing system, the power centered in the communal provinces to do mischief to their hostages is limited by the power which the central government has over the provincial government. At present, the hostages are at least within the pale of a central government which is Hindu in its composition and which has power to interfere for their protection.

But, when Pakistan becomes a Muslim state with full sovereignty over internal and external affairs, it would be free from the control of the central government.The Hindu minorities will have no recourse to an outside authority with overriding powers, to interfere on their behalf and curb this power of mischief, as under the scheme, no such overriding authority is permitted to exist. So, the position of Hindus in Pakistan may easily become similar to the condition of Armenians under the Turks or of Jews in Tsarist Russia or in Nazi Germany. Such a scheme would be intolerable and Hindus may well say that they cannot agree to Pakistan and leave their co-religionists as a helpless prey to the fanaticism of a Muslim national state.

This is a very frank statement of the consequences which will flow from giving effect to the creation of Pakistan. But care must be taken to locate the source of these consequences. Do they flow from the creation of Pakitan, or do they flow from particular boundaries that may be fixed for it? If the evils flow from the creation itself, if they are inherent, it is unnecessary for any Hindu to waste his time in considering it. He will be justified in summarily dismissing it. On the other hand, if the evils are the result of the boundaries, the question of Pakistan reduces itself to a mere question of changing the boundaries.

A study of the question amply supports the view that the evils of Pakistan are not inherent. If any evil results follow, they will have to be attributed to its boundaries. This becomes clear if one studies the distribution of population. The reasons why these evils will be reproduced within western and eastern Pakistan is because, with the present boundaries, they do not become single ethnic states. They remain mixed states, composed of a Muslim majority and a Hindu minority as before. The evils are the evils which are inseparable from a mixed state. If Pakistan is made a single unified ethnic state, the evils will automatically vanish. There will be no question of electorates within Pakistan, because in such a homogeneous Pakistan, there will be no majorities to rule and no minorities to be protected. Similarly, there will be no majority of one community holding in its possession, a minority of an opposing community.

The question, therefore, is one of demarcation of boundaries and reduces itself to: Is it possible for the boundaries of Pakistan to be so fixed, that instead of producing a mixed state composed of majoritiesand minorities, with all the attendent evils, Pakistan will be an ethnic state composed of one homogeneous community, namely Muslims? The answer is that in a large part of the area affected by the project of the League, a homogeneous state can be created by merely shifting the boundaries, and in the rest, homogeneity can be produced by shifting only the population.

Parliament Of India

Some scoff at the idea of shifting and exchange of population. But those who scoff can hardly be aware of the complications, which a minority problem gives rise to, and the attendant failures on almost all the efforts made to protect them. The constitutions of post war states, as well as of older states in Europe which had a minority problem, proceeded on the assumption that constitutional safeguards for minorities should suffice for their protection, and therefore the constitutions of most of the new states with majorities and minorities were studded with long lists of fundamental rights and safeguards to see that they were not violated by the majorities. What has been the experience?

Experience shows that constitutional safeguards did not save the minorities. Experience also showed that even a ruthless war on the minorities did not solve the problem. The states then agreed that the best way to solve the problem is by exchanging alien minorities within its border, with those of its own which were outside its border, with a view to bringing about homogeneous states. This is what happened in Turkey, Greece and Bulgaria. Those who scoff at the idea of transfer of population, will do well to study the history of the minority problem, as it arose between Turkey, Greece and Bulgaria. If they do, they will find that these countries found that the only effective way of solving the minorities problem lay in an exchange of population. The task undertaken by the three countries was by no means a minor operation. It involved the transfer of some 10 millon people from one habitat to another. But undaunted, the three shouldered the task and carried it to a successful end because they felt that the considerations communal peace must outweigh every other consideration.

That the transfer of minorities is the only lasting remedy for communal peace is beyond doubt. If that is so, there is no reason why Hindus and Muslims should keep on trading in safeguards which have proved so unsafe. If small countries, with limited resources like Greece, Turkey and Bulgaria, were capable of such an undertaking, there is no reason to suppose that, what they did, cannot be accomplished by Indians. After all, the population involved is inconsiderable and because some obstacles require to be removed, it would be the height of folly to give up so sure a way to communal peace.

The only way to make Hindustan homogeneous is to arrange for exchange of population. Until that is done, it must be admitted even with the creation of Pakistan, the problem of majority versus minority will remain in Hindustan as before and will continue to produce disharmony in the body politic of Hindustan.

Admitting that Pakistan is not capable of providing a complete solution to the communal problem within Hindustan, does it follow that the Hindus on that account should reject Pakistan?

Consider the effect of Pakistan on the magnitude of the communal problem. That can be best gauged by reference to the Muslim population as it will be grouped within Pakistan and Hindustan.

Figures indicate that the Muslims who will be left in British Hindustan will be only 8,545,465 and the rest 47,897,301 formig a vast majority of the total Muslim population, will be out of it and will be the subjects of Pakistan. This distribution of the Muslim population, in terms of the communal problem, means that while without Pakistan the communal problem in India involves 6.5 crore Muslims, with the creation of Pakistan it will involve only 2 crores. Is this to be of no consideration for Hindus who want communal peace? It seems that if Pakistan does not solve the communal problem within Hindustan, it substantially reduces it, becomes of minor significance and therefore much easier of peaceful solution.

It cannot be disputed that if Pakistan does not wholly solve the communal problem within Hindustan, it frees Hindus from the turbulence because of Muslims being predominant partners. It is for the Hindus to say whether they will reject such a proposal, simply because it does not offer a complete solution. Some gain is better than much harm.

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Partition Of India To India/pakistan In 1947 - by Guest - 04-13-2005, 01:29 PM
Partition Of India To India/pakistan In 1947 - by Guest - 04-13-2005, 09:34 PM
Partition Of India To India/pakistan In 1947 - by Guest - 04-14-2005, 03:39 AM
Partition Of India To India/pakistan In 1947 - by Guest - 04-14-2005, 08:21 PM
Partition Of India To India/pakistan In 1947 - by Guest - 04-15-2005, 02:58 AM
Partition Of India To India/pakistan In 1947 - by Guest - 04-15-2005, 04:05 AM
Partition Of India To India/pakistan In 1947 - by Guest - 04-15-2005, 06:11 AM
Partition Of India To India/pakistan In 1947 - by Guest - 04-15-2005, 09:38 PM
Partition Of India To India/pakistan In 1947 - by Guest - 04-20-2005, 11:37 PM
Partition Of India To India/pakistan In 1947 - by Guest - 06-07-2005, 11:59 PM
Partition Of India To India/pakistan In 1947 - by Guest - 06-09-2005, 12:47 AM
Partition Of India To India/pakistan In 1947 - by Guest - 06-13-2005, 11:21 PM
Partition Of India To India/pakistan In 1947 - by Guest - 06-14-2005, 02:29 AM
Partition Of India To India/pakistan In 1947 - by Guest - 06-15-2005, 04:04 AM
Partition Of India To India/pakistan In 1947 - by Guest - 09-17-2006, 09:13 PM
Partition Of India To India/pakistan In 1947 - by Guest - 09-17-2006, 11:21 PM
Partition Of India To India/pakistan In 1947 - by Guest - 09-17-2006, 11:58 PM
Partition Of India To India/pakistan In 1947 - by Guest - 11-04-2006, 06:25 PM
Partition Of India To India/pakistan In 1947 - by Bharatvarsh - 11-25-2006, 02:29 AM
Partition Of India To India/pakistan In 1947 - by Guest - 12-10-2006, 02:38 AM
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Partition Of India To India/pakistan In 1947 - by Guest - 12-11-2006, 07:30 PM
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Partition Of India To India/pakistan In 1947 - by Guest - 12-12-2006, 07:55 AM
Partition Of India To India/pakistan In 1947 - by Guest - 12-12-2006, 01:38 PM
Partition Of India To India/pakistan In 1947 - by Guest - 12-12-2006, 01:40 PM
Partition Of India To India/pakistan In 1947 - by Guest - 12-12-2006, 01:43 PM
Partition Of India To India/pakistan In 1947 - by Guest - 03-16-2007, 08:45 AM
Partition Of India To India/pakistan In 1947 - by Guest - 07-12-2007, 11:30 AM
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