Problems of partition of Pakistan

Problems of Partition of Pakistan

Pakistan was carved out in desperate urgency. It came into existence with horrible loss of life and property. But it seemed in those early years (1947-58) that the immense sacrifices might have been in vain for Pakistan had been struggling from one major crisis to another, fighting to ward off the multiple problems that threatened the nation.

Geographical Problems

In 1947, Pakistan finally gained its long-for independence, but it immediately faced very serious problems. Although Pakistan was created to unite the Muslim population of the old British India, it did not have natural borders, such as rivers, mountains or the sea. The two separate parts of Pakistan (East Bengal and West Pakistan) were separated by about a thousand miles of land that belonged to India. The vast distance between them also meant that there were significant differences and outlook between the people of the two different regions. East Bengal and the Punjab, for example, were both largely Muslim areas, but they had little else in common.

Political Problems

Pakistan lacked the machinery, personnel, and equipment for a new government. Even its capital, Karachi, was a second choice--Lahore was rejected because it was too close to the Indian border. Moreover, the constituent members of the assembly had been mostly wealthy landowners who had little political experience. Consequently, Quaid-e-Azam needed capital for government machinery, buildings and stationery as well as a government and officials to run the country. However, the major leader of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinaah, who possessed the spirit needed to run the country from a scratch was himself suffering from tuberculosis.

Economic Problems

Partition and its accompanying confusion also brought severe economic challenges to the two newly created and antagonistic countries. The partition plan ignored the principles of complementarity. West Pakistan, for example, traditionally produced more wheat than it consumed and had supplied the deficit areas in India. Cotton grown in West Pakistan was used in mills in Bombay and other west Indian cities. Commodities such as coal and sugar were in short supply in Pakistan--they had traditionally come from areas now part of India. Pakistan was not a wealthy country and its major activity, agriculture, did not produce a sufficient surplus to create the wealth needed for industrialization. Furthermore, Pakistan faced logistic problems for its commercial transportation because of the four major ports in British India, it was awarded only Karachi. But the problem that proved most intractable was defining relations between the two wings of Pakistan, which had had little economic exchange before partition.

The Accession of the Princely states

The maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir, unpopular among his subjects, was reluctant to decide on accession to either dominion. He first signed agreements with both Pakistan and India. Alarmed by reports of oppression of fellow Muslims in Kashmir, armed groups from the North-West Frontier Province entered the maharaja's territory. The ruler requested military assistance from India but had to sign documents acceding to India before that country would provide aid in October 1947.

On August 14 and 15, 1947, these three princely states had become technically independent. But when the Muslim ruler of Junagadh, with its predominantly Hindu population, joined Pakistan a month later, India annexed his territory. In September 1948 India used force of arms to annex Hyderabad, which had a mostly Hindu population. 

Division of financial and military assets

One of the major issues that involved in partitioning the Bengal was the division of financial and military assets.  It was agreed that the assets were to be divided in ratio of 17 of India to 5 of Pakistan. Furthermore, India agreed to pay 750million rupees of 4 billion rupees in the world bank. However, as soon as the first 200 million were paid, the war between the two countries broke out over the issue o Kashmir, so India reused to pay the leftover amount. But the strike of Gandhi compelled them to pay further 500 million rupees, though the rest of 50 million were never paid. Moreover, Pakistan needed 4000 military officers for 150,000 army men, whereas only 2500 were available so Jinnah was forced to appoint 500 British officers. In cases of the division of military weapons, they often arrived late and were mostly outdated. In addition, India refused to handover any 1 of the 15 ordinance factories located in India, though it paid 60 million rupees to build an ordinance factory in Pakistan which was soon to be built at Wah.

The canal water dispute

The Indus Waters dispute had its origin in the Radcliffe Awards. The Radcliffe Award gave India the Ferozpur Headworks that controlled the Sutlej River as well as the Madopur Headworks controlling the River Ravi.  However, just one year later India turned back from its promises and blocked the two rivers that flowed through these head-works on the grounds that since it was located in their territory, they had every right to block the canals. However, Pakistan claimed that as Pakistan was an agro-based country, so its economy mainly depended on agriculture, therefore it had every right upon it.  Consequently, a temporary agreement was reached, India agreed to flow the water if Pakistan tried to India alternative water supplies.

Refugees and the accommodation crisis

In the years immediately before partition, there was widespread violence between the Muslim and non-Muslim communities across India. When the boundary of the two nations was demarcated and announced in August 1947, things became even worse. Millions of people found themselves living in the ‘wrong’ country and became victims of communal attacks. The only answered was for Muslims to move into Pakistan and non-Muslims to move into India. So began one of the largest migrations ever witnessed in the history of making and also some of eh worst scenes of communal violence. Hence Pakistan had to deal with a massive refugee problem. Nearly 5.9 million Muslims arrived in Pakistan shelterless and penniless. Not surprisingly, they were very difficult to accodomate by a country that was already going through economic distress.

CONCLUSION

Pakistan came into being as a free Muslim state in quite unfavourable circumstances .It had no resources ,it had no resources,it had to build up its administrative machinery from a scratch.But Supreme efforts were made by the Quiad-e-Azam and his colligues to grapple with the situation .His golden principles “Unity ” “Faith” and “Discipline” gave way to Pakistan for a bright future of a strong and well developed country .In his last message to the nation on 14th August 1948,he told the nation:

“The foundation of your state have been laid and it is now for you to build and build as quickly and as you can.”