After WWII, the
British felt pressured to give India independence. However, the
Muslim forces in the north of India, led by Jinnah, a lawyer, wanted
to control their own destiny. Jinnah would settle for nothing less
than an independent country, and Pakistan was born. However, creating
two separate countries was not simple. Muslims, Hindus, and Sikhs
lived on both sides of the proposed border. Each group feared the
other would try to take away their freedoms, and thus began the
ethnic cleansing.
Muslim toughs
rampaged through the countryside killing hundreds of Hindus and
Sikhs. Hindus and Sikhs retaliated by killing Muslims. Wholesale
massacres occurred and the British were unable to stem the tide. Even
Gandhi, who believe that the Indians as a whole were a peaceful
people, was unable to keep the violence from escalating.
This is a very
difficult book to read because of the descriptions of violence.
However, it's important to the understanding of what happened and
what is still happening today. Before reading the book, I knew little
about the division of India, now I can see how stressful it was. The
author points out that much of the violence in the Middle East today
had it's roots in that time. Pakistan feared India and as a result
gave asylum to the Taliban and other extremist groups.
Anyone interested in
the problems of the Middle East should read this book. It is
very well written and gives a warning about the origins of the
stresses in that region that we would all do well to heed.
I reviewed this book for the Amazon Vine Program.
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