"Pakistan was born amid horrendous violence and indescribable dislocation—around 6.5 million Muslims moved from India to Pakistan, while 4.7 million Hindus and Sikhs left for India. Activist, revivalist Islam had grown in British India in part as a reaction to colonial rule, but also in opposition to Hindus, the majority. The name Pakistan was an acronym combining the first letters of the different provinces that made up the new country. But in Urdu, the language of the new nation, it also means “the land of the pure,” and there were many who wanted to purify it further. In 1956, Pakistan’s constitution declared the country an Islamic republic and prohibited non-Muslims from holding the office of head of state. In the 1960s, military dictators used religion as a rallying cry against India, feeding further intolerance against Hindus and appeasing Islamists. Social and cultural life continued unperturbed, but some now brandished Pakistan as a citadel of Islam."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Kim Ghattas, Black Wave: Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the Forty-Year Rivalry That Unraveled Culture, Religion, and Collective Memory in the Middle East (2020)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Partition_of_India
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Partition of India
51 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Partition of India →
Related Quotes
"India whose ancient borders stretched until Afghanistan, lost with the country of seven rivers (the Indus Valley), th…"
"India is free but she has not achieved unity, only a fissured and broken freedom.... The old communal division into H…"
"The most important departure from determinism during the Cold War had to do, obviously, with hot wars. Prior to 1945,…"
"[T]he opposition of fanatical Hinduism to partition did not and could not make any sense, for one of the forces that …"
"One ought not to forget that the terrible war of 1947 in India between the Muslims and Hindus was fought on a purely …"
"The single most dramatic instance of religious cleansing took place in 1947, removing the Hindu presence completely f…"
"But history moves in strange ways, and yesterday's disaster may be today's blessing. For Hinduism as such, Partition …"
"Moreover, the British Labour government had decided to relinquish the burdens of its vast empire. However, its hasty …"
"India had barely become independent, in 1947, when Pakistan invaded Kashmir, which at the time was ruled by a maharaj…"
"The creation of India and Pakistan were pyrrhic victories for their denizens because the political, socioeconomic, ps…"