Partition and independence
The end of empire, 1947 and its aftermath.
-
Founder Sites and Institutional Sites: A Note on Sikh Sacred Geography
X.T.M announces an automatic fine for racialised language against Dravidian communities, then sets a framework for disputes over Sikh holy places. Founder sites such as Nankana Sahib lie in Pakistan,…
-
Pakistanis = Indian Muslims With Sovereignty?
X.T.M argues that Pakistanis are in effect Indian Muslims who gained sovereignty, and asks what it cost. The post says Partition gave sovereignty to two-thirds of the pre-1947 Muslim population,…
-
Open Thread; the endless Argument of the Archives
Open thread marking the backtagging of the site’s 3,987 posts into one navigable archive. X.T.M reviews what it shows: Partition as a living argument, the Persianate thread, the genetics trove…
-
Ranbir as Lord Ram: The Indus Paradox
The man cast as Maryada Purushottam, the ideal Hindu man, the conscience-keeper of a civilisation, descends from Prithviraj Kapoor of Peshawar; a Hindu Pathan (his kinsman Anil Kapoor states on…
-
Allama Iqbal’s Dream Fulfilled; West Pakistan Defends India Against the Barbarians..
Omar Ali proposes that Iqbal’s 1930 idea of a northwest Muslim state defending India from invaders has proved partly right, with Pakistan a buffer against the Middle East. He argues…
-
Musings on & Answers to “The Partition of Elites: India, Pakistan, and the Unfinished Trauma of 1947” (Part 3)
Arkacandra Jayasimha, in part three of a response to X.T.M’s Partition essay, argues India’s post-independence settlement was half-hearted on integration, letting Muslim power centres persist while dividing Hindus, and draws…
-
Musings on & Answers to “The Partition of Elites: India, Pakistan, and the Unfinished Trauma of 1947” (Part 2)
Arkacandra Jayasimha, in part two of a response to X.T.M’s Partition essay, examines the thesis that the Muslim League won and most Muslims stayed, using Deleuze and Guattari to frame…
-
Musings on & Answers to “The Partition of Elites: India, Pakistan, and the Unfinished Trauma of 1947” (Part 1)
Arkacandra Jayasimha, in part one of a response to X.T.M’s Partition essay, agrees that diversity is not India’s central problem, but questions whether the diagnosis of Partition as its trauma…
-
Why Zia, Munir, Ayub, and Even Modi, Are Jinnah’s Children
X.T.M argues that Zia-ul-Haq, Asim Munir, Ayub Khan and Narendra Modi are Jinnah’s true heirs, because Jinnah’s communal mobilisation built a state of permanent insecurity, military guardianship and Islamic legitimacy.…
-
Nehru, Privilege, and the Missed Settlement of 1947
X.T.M argues that Nehru’s privileged background left him the least prepared of the principal leaders to negotiate the settlement of 1947, contrasting him with Gandhi, Jinnah, Bose and Ambedkar, who…
