Zahra 1
Tip of the Ice-Berg
We seldom use the words dispossession and fracture whilst speaking about the partition
of the Subcontinent. Rarely, if ever, do we mention that partition was not just an event realized at
midnight of 15th in 1947 and that in fact, when it comes to partition, August 1947 was but the tip
of the ice berg. However, that does not take away from the fact that regardless of the widespread
ignorance, the partition was a realization that took more than five years to register in the minds
of the new Indians and Pakistanis. Thus, “Long Partition” by Vazir Zamindara piqued my
interest due to the account of the partition narrated by the book being so different than the one
we had always heard. Be it from our families, schools or just the popular literature.
Talks about the partition have yet to start mentioning how both Pakistan and India, at the
time of the partition, were not ready for what was yet to follow as a part of the coveted
‘partition’. How both the infant countries would struggle to control the flow of people, police
their borders, and articulate their definitions of citizenship. How for most people the real
partition came after the 15th of August 1947, instead starting from the next year with the
inception of the permit system by these very countries that were now placing restrictions on
border crossings. The facts present in the “Long Partition” showcasing the aforementioned
occurrences make sure that I saw partition in a new light altogether. Hereby, noting the nature of
the partition as an overall long-standing event instead of a transient incident as I was earlier
taught.
Another vague phenomenon misinterpreted in the history many a time was the concept of
choice with regards to migration. I had listened to an account that sounded better, by my
grandmother. About how she had a choice to move while her parents were moving and how her
elder sister ‘decided’ to stay back with her husband. However, here that was not the case. Due to
Zahra 2
which, the questions about the relationship between state-building, national identity, everyday
life, and individual choice that “Long Partition” answers were eye-opening to me, as it would be
to my grandmother. The consequences of the choice to stay back for a Muslim is India would be
huge due to the failure to accept or trust Muslims by India and Pakistan’s failure to absorb every
incoming refugee into the fold of the infant nation at the time. Furthermore, and perhaps most
fascinating of all in the entire situation, was the exploration of the category of ‘intending
evacuee’ by India as a designation of a north Indian Muslim to extricate his or her citizenship
rights and property regardless of any reason their family had for moving to the other state. As
Zamindar notes of one court case as India sought to fix the meanings of citizenship in the wake
of partition, “allowing an individual … to choose his own nationality, was to open a Pandora’s
box in this social and political landscape” (Zamindar 208).
