Professor Mushirul Hassan on Punjab Partition

Dear All,

 

Yesterday I sent to you Rajinder Puri Sahib's very thought-provoking and very generous and laudatory review of my book in the context of the partition of India. I wrote to Rajinderji  that in this book I wanted to resist all temptations to go beyond the framework of the partition of the Punjab: THE REASON ARE ACADEMIC, INTELLECTUAL AND MORAL. I did not want this book to be hijacked by what the big boys did not did not do and who splet with whom. This time I wanted to just focus on the Punjab. The result is this massive work of long years which for the first time in 64 years attempts to present an account and analysis of the processes that were at work in the Punjab. I have attempted the analysis at the level of the colonial state, at the level of the Punjab colonial administration, at the level of politics and at the level of the common man and woman - you and me. THIS HAS NEVER BEEN DONE BEFORE BY ANYONE. THAT IS WHY IT IS UNIQUE ACCORDING TO SOME OF THE REVIEWERS.

 

On the other hand, the questions about the overall partition of India and the role of Britain and so on, I am very grateful to him for raising these issues. Who knows I may now go on to look at those issues. In one life time even one work which can become a standard reference for other scholars would be quite and achievement. It is of course for my peers to judge whether this work qualifies for such a role or not.

 

 

I am also sending a comment by Famous Indian historian and celebrated academician Professor Mushirul Hassan who has written extensively on the partition of India was one of the three panelists besides me who took part in the discussion on 23 September 2011 at the India International Centre on my Punjab book. He was interviewed by a Tribune reporter. What he said is given below.

Best regards,

Ishtiaq
.

The writer has a PhD from Stockholm University. He is a Professor Emeritus of Political Science, Stockholm University. He is also Honorary Senior Fellow of the Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore. He can be reached at billumian@gmail.com

Pain of partition of Punjab penned
Charu Singh
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 24
"I am a cold blooded historian and the question that upsets me about the partition is that when one moves away from such tragedies, one comes face to face with a dichotomy where Punjab is concerned," says Dr Mushirul Hassan, renowned historian and academician.

Dr Hassan was airing his views on the partition of Punjab at the launch of a book, 'The Punjab: Bloodied, Partitioned and Cleansed' by Ishtiaq Ahmed.

Dr Hassan said, "The dichotomy in Punjab is that it was one of the primary arenas of the partition, yet in those days it was a model for inter-communal harmony. Punjab was a very good example of the unity in diversity".

The question arises as to how did the edifice collapse and how did the situation in Punjab deteriorate so much that the partition took place. For this, one has to look into the developments that preceded partition and which were the precursors for this region to become a playground for communal politics."

Punjab becomes important because it was the arena where regional and communal politics was played and Ishtiaq's book deals with it.

This book can be seen as a final statement on all the horrendous things that happened during partition of Punjab. It deals with people's stories and their experiences which have been varied and the author has gone into this exhaustively. At the same time, there should also be a focus on the string of developments that took place during 1944-45 and that led to partition, said Dr Hassan.

Ishtiaq Ahmed has gone into gory details giving numerous and varied eyewitness accounts of the partition. He has interviewed some 200 people and told their stories in his book to help draw an exact picture of the partition of Punjab.

Ahmed said, "This book brings to a completion of a story that began in my childhood when I was living in Lahore in 1947. The partition left a tremendous impact on my young impressionable mind and I have felt compelled to tell the story. I have collected numerous witness accounts and stories relevant to the partition of Punjab. My attempt has been to bring the partition alive through the eyes of the people who lived it."