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From International Socialism (1st series), No.9, Summer 1962, p.32.
Thanks to Ted Crawford & the late Will Fancy.
Marked up by Einde O’Callaghan for ETOL.
Divide and Quit
Penderel Moon
Chatto & Windus. 30s.
Some of this book deals with the diplomacy and politicking behind the demand for Pakistan from 1937 on; most with the communal violence that accompanied its birth. It is an official’s book – it lacks human sympathy and political understanding, but being uninvolved is relatively honest.
The author confines his eyewitness account to that part of Pakistan – the princely State of Bahawalpur – in which he held office, but wanders occasionally to more general themes. One such excursion involves a description of an official conference on refugees held in Lahore in December 1947.
‘At this conference,’ he writes, ‘a general, if cynical, hope was expressed – though not officially recorded – that with the onset of the really cold weather, due in two to three weeks’ time, a good proportion of the refugees would die of pneumonia and so relieve us partially at least of our difficulties.’ (p.256)
He concludes that the communal riots were inevitable once Gandhi ‘deliberately sought to enlist wide popular support.’ For ‘to appeal to the masses was to run the risk of rousing the latent Hindu-Muslim antagonism that existed at mass level.’ (p.271)
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Last updated on 12 March 2010