INDIA, PAKISTAN, 1948

Following the birth pangs of partition, India and Pakistan have been left with pure, unbridled chaos. Sectarian violence took control of a series of regions such as Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, and Junagadh while militias of all sorts took control of the country. It was then that both India and Pakistan decided to keep the peace, launching policing forces in a wide range of areas. These operations have largely been successful, with the sharing of information playing a key role in helping curb the violence – but at some cost.

The Downfall of Kapurthala

The standstill agreements with India proved themselves to be futile. The Princely State of Kapurthala has collapsed as the futile wishes of Maharaja Jagatit Singh to accede to India were frustrated. The region has been partitioned between India and Pakistan. Although there was some initial violence by RSS Militia, it was quickly curbed by the peacekeeping efforts.

The Frustrations

The Sikhs had been profoundly discontent by quite a while due to incidents such as the one in Khem Karan and the recent downfall of Kapurthala only served to fuel their discontent. It appears as if most Sikhs are extremely supportive of the implementation of wide autonomy in the regions where they are present - if not outright secession. They feel as if they cannot trust neither the Indians nor the Pakistanis.

The RSS, as was expected, is immensely frustrated and feels betrayed by the INC. Its leadership has been extremely critical of the government, blaming it for the violence and unrest in the first place. Their militants have been quite active in producing propaganda that is profoundly anti-Muslim in the hopes of inflaming the Hindu population. M.S. Golwalkar has released the following public statement regarding the peacekeeping efforts:

“The Indian National Congress seems to have a misguided – if not outright malicious – perspective on the essence of India. It distances itself from its fellow Hindus and opts instead to collaborate with Muslims in an attempt to fragment India. These efforts will not, cannot, shall not succeed. The people of Hindustan are aware of their birthright. They are aware of what is rightfully theirs. The RSS is resolute in its stance. It will not tolerate this.”

It appears that, although the worst has passed, there is still a lot of dissatisfaction and frustration with the partition process.

SUMMARY

• Kapurthala State has been successfully partitioned between India and Pakistan;

• Peacekeeping efforts have been successful and violence has gone down significantly;

• Both the Sikhs and the RSS feel profoundly betrayed. The RSS is actively producing materials to incite sectarian violence and are wholly uncooperative with the INC.