The two nation theory is nothing but an attempt by the punjabi majority to refuse the existence of other ethnicities in Pakistan.
It resulted in 1971 and the flawed two-nation theory was sunk in the bay of bengal.
I don't blame INDIRA GHANDI and INDIA for what happened back then. This what an adversary is supposed to do. It is absolutely natural.
The ones who broke the fatherland back then, now claim to be patriots. They denied East Pakistanis their rights and converted them into BANGALESE.
This whole idea of a single identity or culture for all Pakistanis is never going to be acceptable to large number of pakistanis including me.
Excuse me, but while you are completely correct in asserting that a single identity or culture for all Pakistanis at that time was not and is never going to be acceptable to a large number of Pakistanis, assigning the blame to the TNT is due to a misreading of the theory.
That is not a reasonable assessment of the TNT. Please note that while i am not a supporter of this theory, it has an inner logic and a consistency of its own, and cannot - should not be discounted out of hand. It leads us to understand exactly why the later split came about, in some ways, it even predicts the later split. Please bear with me while I explain.
About 90% of people who come to discuss the TNT come with the wholly mistaken impression that 'nation' here refers to 'nation-state'. It does not. It is an identity-specific use; it could relate to religious groups (Christians/Sikhs/Muslims/Hindus), to social divisions (caste Hindus/Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes), to ethno-linguistic groups (Tamils, Punjabis, Bengalis, Maharashtrians, Gujaratis), in short, to
a variety of descriptors found in the index of attributes that define identity.
At the time of partition, and for forty or fifty years prior to that (some date it to the times of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan), the TNT was put about by educated, westernised Muslims for the most part to express their growing concern at the trends within British India at the time. This 'salariat', as a brilliant Pakistani analyst has described it, were deeply concerned that Muslims were being gradually edged out of every responsible layer of society, and being left to do the most humble and unremunerative things available. They saw this process as due to the disconnect between what was recommended for their community and what was available. Educational and professional opportunities seemed to be slipping further and further away, due to their increasing alienation from Muslim society. They sought protection for the community within Indian society, to enable them to play a full role, a responsible role, and not be swamped by a brute majority and reduced to servility.
In one sentence, they sought to avert what they rightly or wrongly saw as their coming fate, the fate to which the lower castes and tribes of central and eastern India and minorities such as Sikhs and Christians, or even ethno-linguistic groups such as the Tamils. It is interesting to see Jinnah's acute sensitivity to the fate of these other minorities, and his very clear decision to stand aloof not to compromise his advocacy of the Muslim cause.
You mentioned Punjabi domination and the alienation of the Bengali. This was bound to happen because of the non-recognition of the
other identifiers of identity by the leadership of Pakistan after the untimely death of Jinnah. Unfortunately, their collective attention was diverted elsewhere.
The fact is that we all have multiple identities. If at one stage my Hindu instincts are predominant, among an assemblage of Hindus, my Bengali instincts instantly come to life. The same thing applies to Muslims. Pakistan was sought as two homelands for Muslims, not as one state created for Islam. This was Jinnah's vision, and it is for Pakistanis to ponder over the events that followed. It is for them to follow the thread as different ethno-linguistic groups found themselves suddenly still under threat, even among a majority Muslim population. But in passing, the
'Maududi' line that has been suggested in another post is a complete figment of the imagination of the author. Both in Pakistan and in India, people had, and continue to have multiple identifiers of 'identity', and cannot be described in mono-cultural terms.
