Partition

731 Words2 Pages

A nations’ partition has stood as one of the century’s most inglorious episodes of communal acrimony. The ubiquity of civil conflict owing to post-colonial social and political instabilities drove two particular nations to desire a partition. With the anticipated release from Britain’s clutch, Palestine and India had the insidious problem of communal aggression that manifested as each nation housed two separate cultures. Within Palestine, the nation was divided among the Jewish people and the Arab people; while Palestine was segregated with its Hindu and Muslim population. Britain’s inevitable need to decolonize arose the opportunity for a partition as a viable identity solution to the enmity constructed within Palestine and India to alleviate the religious, territorial, and political bellicosity occurring.
Self-rule was finally within reach for the two nations to give them the opportunity to fulfill their desires of a partition. As colonizers, the British operated on a divide-and-rule policy in that a divided population was not capable to fight against the sovereign authority. In the Indian census, the British categorized people according to their religion and treated them as separate from each other to the extent that upon the formation of the Muslim League, the two religions were placed on separate electorates. Leader of the Muslim League, Muhammad Jinnah, acknowledged the Muslims as a “hopeless minority” and that “an united India means slavery for Mussulmans and complete domination [by] the imperialistic caste Hinduraj.” Thus, he called upon divided boarders to ensure the Muslim people could be free from persecution and be able to establish a national identity. Similarly, Britain played the divine right of kings in further ...

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...groups had different ideologies to the other and this constant conflict to gain representation only produced violence. They are different and distinct societies that belong to “two different religious philosophies, social customs, and literatures.” The Hindus resented the Muslims for their former rule over India and constantly tried to prove their authority in the nation. From a protest to ban the butchery of cows, a cheap source of meat for the Muslims, to wanting to change the national language to Hindu, the Hindus wanted to show India was only their home. In 1947, India gained independence from colonial rule, and Pakistan was born to give the Muslim people their own identity. However, the Palestine clash continues today, as neither side can part with valuable land, particularly the holy site of Jerusalem, the gain true self-rule even after Britain has long left.

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