In hindsight, did it prove to be a good decision to have partition take place in 2 months?

[Major]

i have been reading and watching lots of material regarding partition for the last 2 days.

One thing that i have picked up is that, Mounbatten had originally announced that partition would take place in 1948, thus, giving everyone more time.

Then suddenly he changed the dates and said it was to be done in 2 months.

People have often said that this was done to catch the new State of Pakistan off guard. This indeed made alot of trouble for them.

Due to this alot of people perished, had partition been extended towards an year with people being moved out and shifted gradually this could had saved many lives.

But eventually, in 1948 Quaid-E-Azam passed away. And I have also read that Mounbatten and Nehru wold go on to say that had they knew that Jinnah was suffering from tuberculosis and was to die soon, they would had stalled his dream.

Whats your guys opinion on the way partition took place?

 

[Pakistanian]

What happened has happened, we gain nothing from these "what if" discussions. If you change one thing about the past, it changes everything (the butterfly effect), so we can't answer your question. Watch back to the future.

 

[Savak]

I do think in the direction that if we were part of India and if Partition did not take place, we would have been a very powerful second minority if you add the Muslim Population of Pakistan, Bangladesh and India vs the Hindus of India.

 

[CricketCartoons]

Lol. 1947 was not the partition. Partition is what we are doing now, finishing the unfinished business. For me, a Pakistani is not one who lives across the border, but one who does not follow our national opinion, and there are too many of those in my country.

 

[humzy]

Lol. 1947 was not the partition. Partition is what we are doing now, finishing the unfinished business. For me, a Pakistani is not one who lives across the border, but one who does not follow our national opinion, and there are too many of those in my country.

Damn you sound like the next big gunman attacker. be weary of this guy.

 

[TM Riddle]

Yeah very good decision indeed. Infact a brilliant move which saved the life of millions from getting slaughtered since people got enough time to prepare and leave thus minimizing the casualties.

 

[TM Riddle]

I do think in the direction that if we were part of India and if Partition did not take place, we would have been a very powerful second minority if you add the Muslim Population of Pakistan, Bangladesh and India vs the Hindus of India.

In hindsight I'm glad that partition happened.
Hindus and Muslims from Subcontinent are mostly jahils who can't coexist together no matter how hard you try (unless the centralized authority rule with iron fist which isn't possible in a democracy).
Thus the decision taken at that time was quite sensible which prevented thousands of potential riots that would have taken place every decade had we stayed together.
My only gripe with the whole issue was the way how the process of partition was carried out. The Brits were in a hurry to leave India and in a bid to save their face ,lead millions of innocents to their deaths.

 

[BlackShadow]

An India with comparable Hindu-Muslim population would have been a mess. Over the years, Hindus have evolved to be a lot more open-minded and that wouldn't have been possible if there was this insecurity of Muslims taking over. Also, Indian population would probably be 2 billion by now as there would be fatwas to reproduce more and outnumber Hindus.

Thank you Mr. Jinnah.

 

[TM Riddle]

An India with comparable Hindu-Muslim population would have been a mess. Over the years, Hindus have evolved to be a lot more open-minded and that wouldn't have been possible if there was this insecurity of Muslims taking over. Also, Indian population would probably be 2 billion by now as there would be fatwas to reproduce more and outnumber Hindus.

Thank you Mr. Jinnah.

Definitely. Mr Jinnah was one of the two astute leaders of his time, other being Sardar Patel. Both these men were practical and knew about the risk United India posed both to Hindus and Muslims.

In fact I would go as far to claim that had India not partitioned then, it would have lead to a massive civil war in upcoming decades having potential to turn it into the balkanization of Subcontinent which would have been disastrous for the whole region.

Thankfully sanity prevailed and the country was divided at the right time.

 

[Major]

everyone has gone off topic.

Im not talking about whether partition should have happened or not

im talking about the often critiszied decision of doing so in a two months time was a good decision or not

 

[Major]

Yeah very good decision indeed. Infact a brilliant move which saved the life of millions from getting slaughtered since people got enough time to prepare and leave thus minimizing the casualties.

i know what you are trying to say.

But as i mentioned in the OP, Jinnah died in 1948, and that was most likely the time when partation would had happened.

Plus, from Muslim League Jinnah was the only proper leader.

I have read texts where Mounbatten has said that if he knew Jinnah was ill and would die eventually, he would had not given into the two nation theory

 

[Major]

What happened has happened, we gain nothing from these "what if" discussions. If you change one thing about the past, it changes everything (the butterfly effect), so we can't answer your question. Watch back to the future.

reread the op plz

 

[CricketCartoons]

Damn you sound like the next big gunman attacker. be weary of this guy.

bro, I am a peace and quiet loving hindu, from a community which has been at the receiving end of all types of oppression, and it is due to the valor of my ancestors that I am still alive. Your fears are misplaced.

 

[TM Riddle]

i know what you are trying to say.

But as i mentioned in the OP, Jinnah died in 1948, and that was most likely the time when partation would had happened.

Plus, from Muslim League Jinnah was the only proper leader.

I have read texts where Mounbatten has said that if he knew Jinnah was ill and would die eventually, he would had not given into the two nation theory

Bhai you need to read up a bit more on the subject.
By June 47 partition was absolutely certain and Mountbatten's plans would have meant jack. Nehru in his memoirs has wrote that the division had become inevitable and there was little they could do to prevent it.
Jinnah's death wouldn't have halted it since the situation had worsened a lot by the with communal riots in full flow. It was the only sensible option left by then. But it no way exonerates Brits of killings that occurred pre and post partition since they were directly responsible for the whole mess having deliberately dithered on the question for long.

 

[TM Riddle]

everyone has gone off topic.

Im not talking about whether partition should have happened or not

im talking about the often critiszied decision of doing so in a two months time was a good decision or not

I have done a fairly good reading on the issue at hand but I'm sure @KB can give a better, impartial analysis since his hold on modern Indian history is commendable.