THE FOOTPRINTS OF PARTITION
Narratives of Four Generations of Pakistanis and Indians
Anam Zakaria
HarperCollins India
264 pages (illustrated); Rs 350
The political historiography of Partition has been a popular subject of research by Indian, Pakistani and Anglo-American scholars, not least because of the magnitude of the tragedy. This study by Anam Zakaria is of a very different nature. Instead of the standard political, cultural and diplomatic approach, this book focuses attention on the memories and experiences of partitioned families - Pakistani and Indian.
"Oral history" can be tricky and it is to Ms Zakaria's credit that she recognises its limitations. It is also true, however, that only oral history can capture the feelings of those who experienced Partition and its consequences first hand. Also, the technique fits the context for this book which seeks to situate the India-Pakistan relationship against the current animus in both countries and make the case that hardening attitudes are the artificial constructs of the political dispensations on both sides of the border.
Ms Zakaria was in charge of Exchange-for-Change, an interactive exchange programme between schoolchildren in India and Pakistan that started in 2010 to foster mutual understanding across the border. It is an important programme not least because, as the author points out, the generation of people that holds important public decision-making positions in both countries has grown up with attitudes of mutual hatred.
At the same time, she notes, the Pakistani state, like the Indian state under Narendra Modi, are actively engaged in rewriting the history books to indoctrinate children with feelings of hatred against Hindu India, just as much as the saffronisation of textbooks teaches young Indians to hate Pakistan. The revision of the history curriculum means that instead of moving on from Partition, for many Pakistani children history is being reinterpreted as one in which Hindus and Sikhs are bad, Muslims are the purifiers of their infidel practices and India continues to be only an enemy.
Against this backdrop, the anecdotes and memories of Partition survivors matter because they present another side to the story - the fact that many migrants felt at home in both countries. There are Pakistani Muslims who grew up in what is now India, and Indian Hindus who grew up in what is now Pakistan as exemplified best in Lahore and Delhi, two cities with the largest number of post-Partition migrants. Underlying the bitter memories of loss and displacement is a longing for Punjabis on both sides for the cities in India or Pakistan in which they grew up.
Today, almost 70 years after the event, children are fast losing their access to the survivors of Partition so the chances of hearing anecdotes and memories from the conscious or subconscious are also dwindling. "It is sad that the new generation doesn't feel this link," said Mansoor Ahmad, a distinguished Pakistani diplomat, "There is so much enmity, I find many youngsters these days loath the Indians."
The author clearly highlights the generational change through her interviews. The earlier post-Partition generation both in Pakistan and India considered their separation unwelcome and were enthusiastic about visiting their place of birth and meeting relatives who had stayed behind. "There were stories of joint festivities, of sending mithai (sweets) to each other's homes at Diwali and Eid before partition," Ms Zakaria writes. She speaks to Viqar, who was 13 at the time of Partition and left behind his family's 350-year-old haveli to come to Pakistan. As he told the author, a family built over three generations in Meerut could not be eradicated overnight.
Based on these interviews, Ms Zakaria makes a case for "people-to-people" diplomacy to keep these connections alive. It is a sensible suggestion since we know that the tragedy of Partition could have been avoided. It was the British, especially Viceroy Louis Mountbatten and his Commander-in-Chief of India who miserably failed to do their duty and ensure a peaceful transition. It was the British who announced the date of Partition and the British government, not the Interim government of India, that had full control over the army and the law and order machinery for the whole of India. Absent the Partition riots and the millions of deaths and the legacy of an implacable animus between Hindus and Muslims, India and Pakistan might never have happened.
In presenting the "longing for the past" by the migrants alongside the hatred that exists in the present Ms Zakaria has shown just why states must resist the temptation to rewrite history with pernicious goals.
