LAHORE: Speakers at a seminar on a book, titled The Punjab Bloodied, Partitioned and Cleansed, were of the view that the history of Partition has been distorted for nationalist purposes in India and Pakistan.

The seminar was organised by the Quaid-i-Azam Political Science Society of Government College University (GCU) on Friday. The book has been authored by Sweden’s Stockholm University Prof Dr Ishtiaq Ahmed and sheds light on the events of Partition through secret British reports and oral history. The event marked launch of the second edition of the book, which coincides with the 70th anniversary of Partition.

GCU Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Hassan Amir Shah and Prof Ahmed were also present on the occasion and responded to questions about the book.

IT University assistant professor Dr Yaqoob Bangash said a bloody movement or process of cleansing society from minorities had started during Partition and had not stopped, but had taken the form of a sectarian movement over time.

GCU Political Science Department Chairman Prof Dr Khalid Manzoor Butt said that use of religion in politics always leads to intolerance. He said that religious and sectarian intolerance had become the biggest challenge for Islamic world, adding that only the government’s version was being taught to students.

Dr Ali Usman Qasmi said Partition had resulted in the biggest forced migration in history and as many as 14 million people, including 10 million from Punjab, were forcefully evicted. He also talked about violence against women in 1946-47. “Although historians have failed to narrate the violence, but some masterpieces of Urdu literature have highlighted the women’s experiences during Partition,” he concluded.

Urdu fiction writer Dr Saima Iram and Punjabi literature critic Prof Dr Muhammad Saeed Khawar talked about diversity in the book. Two witnesses of Partition, Rana Muhammad Azhar Khan and Sheikh Hameed Ali Tanveer, also shared their stories.

Published in Dawn, February 3rd, 2018