Riots, refugees and rehabilitation: a case study of Punjab 1946-56

Abstract

The Partition of India was neither the result of the allegedly inevitable clash between Hindus and Muslims ways of life nor was it due to any inherent inability of Islam to co-exist with other religions. It was largely due to the policy of British imperialism encouraging, sometimes openly and often with a consummate sanctimonious mask of impartiality and conflict of interests between the economically powerful and politically ambitious classes of both communities. At the root of partition lay distinct antagonism between the two principal communities of the sub-continent. The study brings out various theories of nationalism and how ideologies brings out national consciousness and formulates a type of attitude. It justifies that people living in an ethnic group having common heritage, language, history, tradition do get influenced of Ethno-Nationalism. In brief, this study concentrates to analyse the question of Ethnicity and Ethno-Nationalism related to the deep-rooted hatred among the communities. It also have a dig on the role of Hindu fundamentalists, whose activities further aggravated the Muslim Community. The economic depravity among the Muslim middle and lower class community the concept of violence, the role played by the Muslim communalists in the Pir-Dargah and religious places, the role played by the Aligarh Muslim University in the creation of Pakistan and the separatist concept, add new dimensions to the study.