Partition, Bengal and After : The Great Tragedy of India ~ Kali Prasad Mukhopadhyay (68 of 2024)

 

Leonard Mosley in is book 'The Last Days of the British Raj', has rightly painted the year 1947 as the 'Year of Vultures' - as their most favourite food the human flesh were in abundance in Indian streets. A lot has been said about the great tragedy of Jews in Germany where around 2 million were effected, pathetic.  The Great India Tragedy has lead to tears of at least One hundred million people.  

This book is a comprehensive history of Partition and its impact in the life and property of the minorities, especially in East Pakistan, now Bangladesh. This is a narration of terrific atrocities and holocaust on innocents. After the Partition, demand for exchange of population  has been severe communal riot. The way all this was done was a great Blunder. The cost was not insignificant. Over 600k people were killed, smashed, raped, robbed. 

On 4th June after the announcement previous day that partition was inevitable as needed by Muslim league and it will be carried out in the peaceful and friendly spirit of the Gandhi-Jinnah appeal, Gandhi was like a bird with a broken wings, preparing to break with the Congress leadership and denounce the plan in the evening prayer meeting. Many newspapers christened it at the 'Mountbatten Plan'. Leaving the choice of their future to the Indian people themselves, avoiding coercion and transferring power as soon as possible were suggested by Gandhiji. Louis Mountbatten's  persuasiveness had won him the ultimate and most difficult triumph of his Viceroyalty, and ended up saying in the prayer meeting "It was no use blaming the Viceroy for partition. Look to yourselves and in your own hearts for an explanation of what has happened."

And on the eve of Independence, there was no one getting off the 'Ten down express' in Amritsar that night, it was a train full of cropses. In great white-washed letters on the flank of the last car the assassins' calling card read: "This train is our Independent gift to Nehru and Patel.' It was preplanned to put to shame what Halaku (Hulagu Khan) did. The uprooted and alive millions were in a terrible state of mind.  Kushwant Singh, a Sikh lawyer from Lahore, was totally indifferent to the gay crowds around him in New Delhi. 'I had nothing to rejoice about' he would bitterly recall. 'For me and millions like me, this Independence was a tragedy. They'd mutilated the Punjab, and I had lost everything.' Since both the communities in Western India were warrior class, they fought from day one, the holocaust in Western Pakistan had its repercussions in East Punjab.  Administration there was virtually broken down.  The partition of Punjab caused great untold miserly, to several million refugees.Some suggest it to be upto 5 lacs. 

In Eastern Pakistan there was supression of news because of retaliation.  They were not fully out of the 'Direct Action Day' on the 16th August 1946 where thousands of Hindus were massacred and Muslim League volunteers set fire to Hindu houses, it was known as 'Great Calcutta Killing'. By the end of 1947 about 4,25000 hindus had migrated from East Pakistan, of the 13 million Non muslims. Right from the beginning discrimination against the non-Muslims became the rule. There was a false rumour spread about the murder of Fazlul Haq a prominent leader of East Bengal, who had come to Calcutta to dispose of his property. Nehru suggested that Liaquiat Ali Khan and he sign an agreement to stop the recurrent massacres and large scale migration. But the people there were instructed to talk sweetly to minorities with a smile on lip, but not to appoint non muslims in govt. jobs. force hindu's to wind up their businesses, blame them for anything going wrong, thus encouraging foul play, and creating havoc with the rights of the minorities. Trailokya Natch Chakrabarti, who fought for freedom and was in jail for 30 years and underground for 5 years,  was sent out at the age of 75 when he was suffering from Cardiac problem.  All hindus were brought to a court compound, there were no toilets and basic necessities. Condition was pitiable. These continued, situation worsened again in 1964 when 3000 refugees left from Bangladesh but only 1500 reached India. US Senatro Edward Kennedy in his report gives the following details about the refugees from Bangladesh in 1971. As on October 25th 1971, 9.54 million refugees from East Pakistan had crossed over to India. The average influx as of October 1971 was 10,645 refugees a day. In the 1971 war of liberation 2,00,000women were raped hundreds of thousands were victims of mass murders.  Parties were created within on the basis of subreligion. Indigenious people had their own group. 

The task that confronted the Government of India was threefold. Firstly, they had to retrieve the law and order position and to stop the communal frenzy; secondly they had to bring about a sense of security among the Muslim minority/afford those who wanted to go away safe transit across the frontier, ensure the peaceable transfer of Hindu's and sikhs to India and provide for their resettlement.  An emergency committee of 15 was set up.  Hindu's were fleed from West Pakistan and they left Bangladesh mainly because of communal oppression, Communal atrocities, Declaration of Enemy Property Act, occupation of religious property, depriving Government services to the Hindu community etc. A veteran Journalist (RGK) once said, he heard some Pakistanis boasting in 1947 - Haske Liya Pakistan, Ladke Lenge Hindustan. This was confirmed by Collins and Lapierre. There is another slogan in Agartala, Thripura and other North Eastern States - 'Ghuske Lenge Hindustan' - Intruders. 

Soon after Independence, many of the leaders were assassinated in all three countries. Dr. Shyam Prakash Mookherjee and Lal Bahadur Shastri died a mysterious death.  In a speech at the India house in November, Mountbatten, during his visit to London said 'Only'  hundred thousand people had died and only a small part of the country has been effected. 

All Human Rights Group ignore the issue and try to silence others under the grab of so called secularism.  

There were business classes, missionaries, novelists, labourers etc. ex-majors who were located sleeping on railway platforms and women reduced to begging or abandoned some by Indian husbands.  After living in India for 40 years and more some found it difficult to leave India - as they could not afford cooking, did not know how to make even a tea, when they would return to London. In 1979, Mountbatten was killed by IRA 

Islamic exploration started in 636 AD but they could obtain foothold in 713 AD with the victory over Sind. For the next three centuries India resisted further spread. From 11th century AD rapacious Islamic invasion of Turkish origin started. Mahmood Gazhni invaded India several times from 1000 to 1026 AD and annexed Punjab to his empire. The Ghur successor expanded to the heart of India after defeating the valorous Prithivi Raj Chauhan in 1192. Upto 17th century, various Islamic dynasties, from Turko-Afghans and later the Central Asian Mughals ruled over large parts of India. They did not subscribe to the fundamental civilisational and religious principles of India. They consciously and perhaps conscientiously, resisted acculturation into the timeless civilizational and religious milieu of India. This thus became the first source of heterogeneity in India, dividing the Indian population into two religious communities as reflected in 1881 census, leading to partition. In Bangladesh Indian religionists fell from 33.93% in 1901 to 11.37 in 1991.  Of the estimated 15 to 20 million illegal migrants, approximately 8 to 10 million have settled in West Bengal, 6 to 8 million in Assam and the rest in Tripura and other north eastern states and in other cities like Delhi, Mumbai and Ahmedabad.  Then there are Indian Muslims who are made to flee these regions. Sending immigrants is the most effective way to colonise countries because it is less offensive than to send military expeditions and much less expensive. 

P.S. The Cheraman Juma Mosque is a popular pilgrim centre in Kodungallur in Thrissur district. According to hagiographical legends, it is claimed that the mosque was built in 629 CE by Malik Bin Dinar. It is claimed to be the first mosque to be built in India and the second in the world where Juma prayers were started.

Jinnah was stern and wanted to continue with the British law followed the British style of life, and transfer Pakistan into another Turkey on the lines of Kamal Ataturk. He was influenced by West. When Ulama asked him whether to apply the Shariah to the functioning of the new state, he asked: "Whose Shariah? Hanafis? Hambalis? Sha'afis? Ma'alikis? Ja'afris? I dont propose to hand over the the field to Ulama, I don't fall to propose to fall into their trap. 

P.S. The important thing for you to know is that if you see someone else following different rules because that person follows a different fiqh, do not argue, disrespect or feel bad about it. Respect them for what they do and practice with confidence what your fiqh teaches.

This flexibility is in matters of fiqh rules. But make sure that your Aqeedah is exactly as described in the Qur-aan. No difference is acceptable in matter of Aqeedah, which must come from the Qur-aan.

The Hanafi and Shafii schools of fiqh (jurisprudence) are two of the four major Sunni schools of Islamic law, the others being the Maliki and Hanbali schools. All four schools are named after their founders and are based on the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad and the interpretations of the Qur'an and Hadith (sayings and actions of the Prophet).

Imam Malik was in Al-Madina. He founded. the Maliki school in parallel to Abu Hanifa founding his Hanafi school. Imam Shafi^i was a student of Imam Malik. Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal was a student of Imam Shafi^i.Maliki, Shafi^i, and Hanbali schools have great similarities between them because they come down from teacher to student and student becoming a Mujtahid and making his own deliberations. Hanafi school is different and so you will see much difference between Hanafi and those three schools.

There are several differences between the Hanafi and Shafii schools, including:

1. Methodology: The Hanafi school places a greater emphasis on the use of independent legal reasoning (ijtihad) and the application of legal principles (usul al-fiqh) in making legal decisions, while the Shafii school places more emphasis on the use of precedent (qiyas) and analogy (analogical reasoning).
2. Sources of law: The Hanafi school gives greater weight to the Qur'an and the Hadith, while the Shafii school places more emphasis on the Hadith and the consensus of the community (ijma).
3. Legal principles: The Hanafi school has a more liberal approach to legal principles, allowing for greater flexibility in the application of the law, while the Shafii school is more strict and rigid in its application of legal principles.
4. Areas of law: There are also some differences between the Hanafi and Shafii schools in the way they approach specific areas of law, such as inheritance, marriage, and criminal law.

Despite these differences, both the Hanafi and Shafii schools are recognized as legitimate interpretations of Islamic law and are followed by millions of Muslims around the world.

Before partition Jinnah had been cautioned by several experts that it would be difficult to manage both western and the eastern wings separated by twelve hundred miles of foreign territory and inhabited by people different in their habits, customs and lifestyle. But he had such confidence in the supremacy of his leadership that he believed that he would be able to put everything right. Now he became aware that neither he nor the bond of Islam would be able to knot together two such diverse people. The gulf in political, economic and social respect was very wide. Despite his ill health he rushed to Dacca to pacify the agitated people there. On March 21, 1948 when he reached there were no slogan's of 'Quaid-i-Azam Zindabad'.  Language was proving to be a much more powerful link than religion. He had declared Urdu to be the national language of Pakistan, when Bangladesh would not accept. This was of course, the most volatile, divisive issue in Pakistan politics. 

The extremists on the Muslim side Khaksars, a group of militant Muslims had demanded a Pakistan stretching from Karachi to Calcutta.  The council of the All India Muslim League wanted to have undivided Pakistan and Bengal. 

After the meeting he told his sister Fatima, "I am sorry the game is lost. I backed the wrong horse. Liaquat Ali Khan was the prime minister then. Jinnah's absurd two nation theory had created Pakistan, but he could not run it as he wanted, soon after he died on 11th Sept 1948 at 10.20 pm. Initially men governing Pakistan were not practicing Muslims, but products of Anglo-Saxon training. Muslims in India were united before partition, but Jinnah divided Indian muslims into Pakistani Muslims, Indian Muslims and Bangladeshi Muslims who had no connection with each other. He had destroyed all the ties which had knit them together. All this he had done in the name of Islam. After Jinnah's death the politicians of Pakistan were like 'a flock of sheep without their Shepherd. From the date of its birth till the Governor-General Iskander Mirza, handed over the country's Government to General Ayub Khan in October 1958, there were as many as seven Prime Ministers and none of them were bold enough to tackle the difficult situation.