Evening star., 1951-04-08

Ing Gne CdllpIldt6, SepaT dtlIle
church and state, freeing womer
and generally upsetting the ole
order. This was taken to NEAR
the end of Islam as a religious
force. Instead it started a re-
examination of their faith b!
Moslems. Despite the fact tina
nearly everywhere they were un'
der the hand of some seemingl.
powerful imperial system. the!
were growing steadily more reso
lutte and were learning the mod
ern techniques of intrigue ant
war from its foremost practition
ers.
The real revelation came whel
the British were driven out o
India and Pakistan came into be
ing. Again the diplomats guesset
wrong. Upon the division of tn
Asian subcontinent into India ant
Pakistan it was widely believet
that Pakistan would wither in ,
few years and beg to rejoin India
On the surface it was largely tn
|outgrowth of the wrath and am
bition of Jinnah, rich, frus
trated, intelligent lawyer, alread.
i'm i'll health from overwork. Fur
thermore, he lacked all the stag
business which endears an Ori
entail to the Western press.
Violent Separation
/ Pakistan itself was a geographi
cal monstrosity, its richest terri
tory being separated from its cap
|ital and the bulk of its land b
1000 miles of Indian territory. ]
was as If So per cent of our Amer
lean population and three-fourth
of our wealth were located il
Alaska, and we tried to operat
our Government from its presen
base, but by air across hostil
Canada, or by long sea routes.
In addition Pakistan got tn
worst of a necessarily hasty draw
ing of the line of demarkation be
tween the two new lands. TIL
basis of division, of course, was re
Iligious, since the Moslem minorit,
would not tolerate being ruled b,
the Hindus. Unfortunately, tn
Moslems were not completely con
centrated, and a clean break ter
ritorially and by religions was no
possible. In these circumstance
rough lines were hastily drawn
The British. furthermore, ad
vanced the date of the abandon
ment of their rule by severa
months at the last minute.
The actual separation of tn
two nations was sudden and vic
lent. About IL million people, Oh
the wrong sides of their respective
boundaries, shifted their home'
and their political ties. Th'
Hindus, furious at the turn O.
events, fell upon the Moslems, whit
struck back with terrific strength
For a few weeks an undeclaret
civil war ragged, with more cas-
ualties than America had suffered
in it's own Civil War of four year
or in four years Of World War II
Most of the victims were mobbed
Thousands, however, fell unde
rifle fire, some of it at the hand
Iof soldiers. The dead numbere,
around a million and a half.
The incident aroused the inter
est of the whole of Islam an
turned it's thoughts to the pc
tentialities of Pakistan, the flft
largest nation in the world wit
83 million people. Yet at tt
outset it was touch and go as I
whether Pakistan would surviv
or whether it would vindicate tn
hostile statesmen who ha
thought that it would be force
by anarchy and starvation to see
to rejoin new India. What reall
turned the trick for the immedi
ate crisis was Kashmir. It wa
80 per cent Moslem. Howeve,
, Nehru had been born there an
Kashmir, as a princely state, ha
won almost legendary fame in tn
West. 1t was supposed to b
doubly valuable as a symbol fo
that reason. A Moslem adven
turer named Abdullah chased OF
the ruling family and sought t
set up a virtually autonomou
state for himself within the orb
of India. India accepted his al
but decided to absorb his priz'
She therefore rushed in troop
Pakistan followed with a smalle
> force. Fighting resulted. an
again solution was found. Ths
is, a truce was declared and tt
issue was put to the United Ma
tions. Both sides agreed to
plebiscite. AS things now stan'
India still holds most of Kashmt
and still favors an eventual plet
iscite, but refuses to have it rel
' creed by the United Nations.
Powerful Group
This incident will probably ran
! as India's major blunder to dat
1t not only aroused the spirit
? the Moslems, giving them anoths
! incentive to make sacrifices to pl
l their unsteady government on
2 firm footing, but it also turne
= the press of Britain and Americ
away from India at the very tin
that she was seeking to establis
S herself in the role of caretakt
S for the conscience of the worl'
and the special advocate Of arb
S tration in other peoples affair
), specifically in Korea.
r Meanwhile, Pakistan is stror
and getting stronger. One proc.
S Her budget for the year endir
= recently showed a cash balance (
S $3.50 million. Here is somethir
= almost unique among importar
1 modern states-one that is not
/ the red.
And Islam as a whole is r
/ longer a camp Of sick and slinl
/ ing men. Turkey for instance h.
|. sent to Korea one of the best uni