By Osman Sher , Toronto, Canada
A ‘Peace Proposal’ by Moorthy Muthuswamy in Pakistan Link of November 2 has been presented as the panacea for the ills of hatred and war between India and Pakistan. In a nutshell, the proposal envisages ceding the Muslim majority area of Kashmir, i.e., the valley only, to Pakistan, and in exchange to ethnically cleanse India and Pakistan of the Muslims and Hindus by transferring them beyond the borders.
First, Mr. Muthuswamy claims to be a ‘secular’ peace activist, but the base of his proposal is the religious divide. In 1947, religion had divided the land, but through Muthuswamy’s proposal religion is set to strike the final blow to divide the people in absolute terms by placing them in watertight compartments of Islam and Hinduism. Second, it is naïve to think that peace will automatically come to the sub-continent by pushing away the Muslims from India without conceding them the lands appropriate to their size, and which morally and legally belonged to them.
It may be recalled that the Muslim League’s demand was originally based on the
Muslim-majority provinces to form Pakistan, and Hindu-majority provinces to constitute India. It was the Congress, however, that put a condition to divide Muslim majority provinces of Bengal and Punjab. The British, who were the sole arbiter at the time, acceded to this demand. Thus, these two provinces, which should have come to Pakistan as a whole, were each given away half to India. It was an injustice perpetrated on the emerging state of Pakistan. Further, soon after Independence, Kashmir, another Muslim- majority state was occupied by India.
Undoubtedly, the idea thrown by Muthuswamy has a good deal of substance, but only if the whole of Bengal, Punjab, and Kashmir is given back to Pakistan. In view of the large Muslim population in the sub-continent (roughly 450 million Muslims as against 850 million Hindus) the northern portion of UP and Bihar should also be ceded to Pakistan, which would then be a contiguous entity. Then, the Muslims will live happily in Pakistan, and the Hindus peacefully in India.