Thanks to my brother for this recommendation. I had originally passed this up because I had read the very well-done 'Freedom At Midnight' forty years ago. In that book, the focus was on the British. Here, it is much more about the Indians and the Pakistanis. Partition on August 15, 1947 lead to the deaths of hundreds of thousands. One of the largest refugee crises of the century sent 14 million people on the road. The tensions between Pakistan and India remain one of the major flash points in the world. A destabilized nuclear Pakistan torn between its army and civilian rulers, and overwhelmed by religious intolerance, violence, and Taliban extremism is a concern to all. The author's intent is to explain how Partition impacted both societies and laid the groundwork for the strategic disconnect 70 years later.
The division of the Raj was the consequence of the ambitions of two men, both English- educated lawyers, Jinnah of the Muslim League and Nehru of the Indian National Congress. Nehru believed in an India populated by Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and a multitude of minor religions. Jinnah wanted an independent Pakistan as a safe place for the country's Muslims. Nehru held the upper hand until he spent the years from 1942 to 1945 in jail along with the rest of the Congress leadership. They had failed to support the war effort and were summarily imprisoned. During those years, Jinnah was able to convince the public and the leadership of the Raj that a separate Muslim nation was an appropriate part of independence. Congress, although favored by the British leadership - particularly the the last Viceroy, Dickie Mountbatten never recovered its momentum. In the year run-up to freedom, there was endless violence, especially in those locations that were coveted by both sides. The Punjab in north central India was eventually divided, but only after slaughter perpetuated by both sides and the Sikhs, who were hoping for their own country. The author poses that had not Mountbatten rushed things, perhaps it would not have been the disaster it became. In light of the religious and ethnic tribalism that sparked violence on a scale comparable t0 central Europe in the recently ended world war, it is hard to imagine how this could have come out any better.
Independence brought chaos to the new capital at Delhi and the forced exile of thousands of Muslims. But, it was and still is the conflict far to the north, high in the Himalayas, over Kashmir, that has assured the countries are mortal enemies. They have fought two wars over it, and the author refers to it as "the wound that keeps the paranoia and hatreds of 1947 fresh for both". The new armies of the two nations fought a border war for over a year and reached a UN sanctioned settlement in 1948. Jinnah died the same year, leaving Pakistan virtually leaderless. The first army coup came a decade later. "Pakistani generals would helm the country for thirty-two of the next fifty years." After the generals lost East Pakistan, they settled on Islam to unite the populace behind the junta. The US poured millions into Pakistan in order to help the fight against the Soviets in Afghanistan. Billions followed during the war on terror. Notwithstanding the Pakistani Taliban and other extremists, Pakistan's strategic concerns are India and making certain that Afghanistan doesn't support India. India in turn expends a fortune and a vast amount of effort to be prepared to defend against a Pakistani incursion. "It is well past the time that the heirs of Nehru and Jinnah put 1947's furies to rest."
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