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Partition of india essay
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Often synonymous with open hostility, relations between India and Pakistan are influenced by numerous discordant factors. This essay will examine the primary antecedent, the Partition of India and its bifurcation into two states. In emphasising the collective trauma and fragile nationalisms that emerged, a connection will be established between the ensuing fear and distrust and its manifestation into policies and actions over the past six decades. Its ramifications will be considered in relation to each state’s security and regional ambitions, the Kashmir dispute and their acquiring of nuclear technology. Particular focus will be given to the Kargil conflict in determining if continued vexed relations could lead to nuclear war.
The Partition of India represented the culmination of ethnic tensions predominantly between the Hindu, Muslim and Sikh communities. Examined within the prism of a security dilemma, Kaufmann (1998, 132) observes that independence from Britain removed the security guarantee from the minority communities. Faced with an uncertain future irresolvable in the existing model, it proved a gory culmination of more than fifty years of mutual suspicion and fear (I Ahmed 2002, 11). The horrors of forced resettlement signified the crucial relationship between the new borders of Pakistan and survival for Muslims (Gilmartin 1998, 1088). Moreover, partition created collective memories of refugeehood that continues to sustain hatred, whilst enabling the forgetting of atrocities committed by one’s own group (Chaturvedi 2002, 152). Thus, the enduring legacy of Partition is its homogenising effect – creating the “we” as the innocent victims of the “evil other”.
The fusing of a syncretic India into two states was above a...
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...d at assuaging spiralling can lead to an aggressor doubting a state’s willingness to resist. Given mistrust, misperception and deep convictions of malign intent plague relations, it produces a very uncomfortable balance of terror.
The calamitous events of Partition are critical to the contested narratives that continue to drive hostilities between India and Pakistan today. Arising from fear and distrust, the resulting nationalisms are adolescent, aggressive and arguably pernicious. This relentless animosity is embodied by internal instability, conflicting regional goals and the advent of nuclear weapons. While deterrence has proven to be an enduring bulwark, it relies on continued accurate perceptions and communications. Considering the intensity of competition and the tendency toward escalation, the risk of a nuclear conflict remains an acute possibility.
On the other hand, in The Slippery Slope to Preventive War, Neta Crawford questions the arguments put forward by the Bush administration and the National Security Strategy in regard to preemptive action and war. Crawford also criticizes the Bush administration as they have failed to define rogue states and terrorists as they have “blurred the distinction” between “the terrorists and those states in which they reside”. In Crawford’s point of view, taking the battle to the terrorists as self-defence of a preemptive nature along with the failure to distinguish between terrorist and rogue states is dangerous as “preventive war
New York: St. Martin's, 1998. Print. The. Singh, Jaswant. Jinnah: India, Partition, Independence.
In the India and Pakistan conflict, nationalists willingly sacrificed themselves for pride and respect. As each country devoted massive resources to the occupation of Kashmir, they both owed the support to their people. The fear of nuclear warfare did not influence the people at all as nationalistic groups fought over the birthplace of India. The lack of nationalism also proved to be a conflict for the people of Burma or Myanmar. The militaristic government’s philosophy of ruling isolated people left people living in absolute poverty and is a major human rights concern.
The people of India and Pakistan hate each other with a burning passion that goes back thousands of years. Because of the constant border wars you had to be stealthy when talking to people. For example if we were both on India's land and were both Indians we could be buddies; on the flip side if you spoke Sindhi, a derived form of Hindi, and I spoke Hindi I can assume you were Pakistani and we would have to fight it out.
India is the center of a very serious problem in the world today. It’s a very diverse place with people from many different religious backgrounds, who speak many different languages and come from many different regions. They are also separated economically. Two of the country’s religious sects, Muslims and Hindus, have been in conflict for hundreds of years. Their feelings of mistrust and hatred for each other are embedded in all those years and will not leave easily. What’s most disturbing is that there seems to be no plan for reconciliation available. There are numerous reasons for this conflict.
During the Cold War, many regional conflicts occurred and were noted as the significant battles which later led to decolonization. One of the regional conflicts were India and Pakistan fighting for their independence. In 1947, India was released under Great Britain’s control and gained its independence. However, the country was divided between Muslims and Hindus, which share different religions. Muslims wanted church and state to become unified while Hindus wanted a separation of these two establishments. Since these two ethnic groups disagreed, it was difficult to create a new government. Therefore, India was divided into two nations: India for the Hindus and Pakistan for the Muslims. Hindus and Muslims were racing to the border in order to get to their nation state which led to killing 500,000 people due to rioting. Although, Mohandas Gandhi, an Indian National Congressman, wanted to obtain peace between these two religions. Pakistan refused the H...
…….…, “Amitav Ghosh’s The Hungry Tide and the Blurring of National Boundaries”. Conference issue of South Asian Review 25.3; 2004.
There is a distinct difference between popular Indian nationalism, that is the nation believing in a state independent of Britain, and Indian nationalist movements, for example the Muslim League or the Hindu revivalist movement. These movements fought for independence but were far more religiously orientated and were fighting in their own interests. Although Indian nationalism initially found expression in the Mutiny of 1857, its deve...
The two groups were fighting for control over the province of Kasmir, which is a valley in the northern part of India and is part of the state of Jammu and Kashmir. They both want this piece of land because, since Muslims and Hindus were split apart, they feel the need to be more powerful than each other and take control of this beautiful piece of land. In 1947 this state was considered an independent country and the Marahaja, who was the ruler of India, made it so that India and Pakistan remained neutral. While India stuck to this agreement Pakistan attacked Jammu and Kashmir because they wanted control of it, which forced the Marahaja to escape to India. The Marahaja asked the people of India to help get rid of the Pakistanis who were attacking them and, if they did, he would make Jammu and Kashmir a part of India. The people of India got rid of most of the Pakistani attackers, but a large area that was hard to reach was still controlled by them. Since India wanted to stop the fighting, they ended up leaving the Pakistanis to have a large area, but India had an even larger area. The fighting ended in 1949 and, since other powerful states didn’t ask Pakistan to withdraw it’s troops from a state that had became a part of India, India called the United Nations and told them that Pakistan had attacked a neutral state that had became a part of India, so they should withdraw their soldiers. The United Nations agreed with this and also wanted India to ask the people of Jammu and Kashmir if they wanted to be part of India or Pakistan. The Prime Minister of India asked the people if they wanted to be part of India or Pakistan through a process called referendum or plebiscite, which is basically a vote. A plebiscite couldn’t be made because Pakistan didn’t want to give up Jammu and Kasmir, and since many powerful countries didn’t force them to withdraw their troops
In the book Train to Pakistan, author Khushwant Singh recalls the brutal and unfortunate times when Muslims were being forced out of Mano Majra. They, along with the Hindu and Sikh population, were living in relative peace. But when there had to be change, chaos ensued. There were several key individuals that shared the total responsibility of the expulsion of Muslims from Mano Majra; Even though some had purer motives than others, they all took stock in the unfortunate process.
“India and Pakistan: Tense Neighbours.” BBC. N.p., 16 Dec. 2001. Web. 15 May 2011. .
...shown through Lenny’s point of view. Prior the partition, Lahore was a place of tolerance that enjoyed a secular state. Tension before the partition suggested the division of India was imminent, and that this would result in a religious. 1947 is a year marked by human convulsion, as 1 million people are reported dead because of the partition. Moreover, the children of Lahore elucidate the silences Butalia seeks in her novel. The silence of survivors is rooted to the nature of the partition itself; there is no clear distinction as to who were the antagonists. The distinction is ambiguous, the victims were Sikhs, Hindus, and Muslims, and moreover these groups were the aggressors, the violent. The minority in this communal violence amongst these groups was the one out-numbered. This epiphany of blame is embarked in silence, and roots from the embodiment of violence.
Athwass in its spirit and essence mirrors the ethos of Kashmir, which, for centuries, has represented peace, nonviolence and brotherhood of man (Kaul, 2012). Since 1989, the low-intensity conflict in Jammu and Kashmir has been the most important issue in India's internal security scenario. Possession of the State of Kashmir has been an issue of dispute since 1947 starting with India and Pakistan. After tw...
Until a child is eighteen years old, the parents have full responsibility. They provide a stable and loving environment for their children. As the leaders in a household, caring and loving parents also maintain the bonds that hold the family together. However, absence of loving parental guidance can create tension between family members. Anita Desai’s Clear Light of Day shows how war, specifically the partition of India, affects a particular family. The partition of Indian in 1947 created the separate countries of India and Pakistan, consequently ripping families apart. The partition, initiated by India’s independence from Britain, attempted to accommodate irreconcilable religious differences between Muslims and Hindus by forming the Islamic Pakistan. In Clear Light of Day, the Das children’s relationship with their parents causes lasting sibling conflict that mirrors this social and political upheaval of India.
Overall India’s recent political environment has been largely unstable due to international events & continued tension with Pakistan.