When freedom was round the corner, one of the reasons given by the colonial British administration for not giving us freedom was due to their fear that there were too many divisive forces within British India who would not be able to survive together as an independent nation. They feared that if the stabilising and unifying force wielded by the British were to be removed, the divisive forces would tear India apart and what would follow would be worse than anarchy. Bapu told them not to worry, he said, India preferred anarchy of its own rather than the stability enforced by the British colonial power.

There was a cause of concern about our ability to unite and it wasn’t just the communal divide, there was a divide between the rich and the poor, the educated and the unlettered, British India and the princely states, and then there was the greatest divide of them all — the caste based divisions, the varna pranali. All these together posed a grave threat but any one of them, on their own, was capable of causing a great rift in a fledgling nation.

What India managed to stave off, may be due to the balm applied to its wounds by Mahatma Gandhi or as we like to boast our ancient heritage, hasn’t had the effect on Pakistan. Pakistan has barely managed to paper over the deep fissures among its regions threatening its claim to be a nation. The process of the Balkanisation of Pakistan started right from the day of its formation. Pakistan wrongly celebrates its Independence Day on August 14.

Pakistan did not become independent on August 14, 1947; Pakistan was never enslaved. What happened on August 14, 1947, was that Pakistan was formed out of the former British India, so in reality, August 14 is its formation day. India, which was colonised by Britishers, became independent on August 15 and so, we rightly, celebrate our Independence Day on August 15. But that is not what I am writing about. What I am writing about today is how right from its formation. Pakistan has been balkanised.

At the time of its formation, when provinces were supposed to vote on whether they wanted to stay with India or join Pakistan, two provinces of Pakistan voted to stay with India rather than be clubbed with West Pakistan — North West Frontier province and Sindh.

The democratically elected government of the North West Frontier Province headed by Wali Khan, overwhelmingly voted to stay within the Indian union and refused to align with Pakistan, but the British governor overruled the decision of the assembly.

Made mass arrests of all the elected members of the provincial council, dissolved the council and called for fresh elections. Before the fresh elections could be called, he flooded the province with Punjabi supporters of the Muslim League and rigged the election. Pukhtoons were arrested, beaten up and murdered by the Muslim League storm troopers and finally a rigged provincial assembly overruled the decision of the legitimate assembly and declared that the North West Frontier Province would remain with Pakistan.

Then too, India failed to support the Pukh­toons, The Khan brothers Wali Khan and Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan, the Frontier Gandhi, kept pleading with the Congress leaders to come to their rescue but their pleas fell on deaf ears and all they got for their efforts was lifelong imprisonment in the prisons of Pakistan.

Similar is the case of Sindh. Before partition and the formation of Pakistan, the Sindh provincial government was dominated by the Congress and largely the Hindu elite of Sindh. When it was time for them to select sides, Sindh overwhelmingly voted to stay with India but once again the British governor played dirty, subverted the democratically elected government, infiltrated Sindh with Punjabi Muslim Leaguers and fomented anarchy and sectarian violence in Sind to such a magnitude that the provisional council fled and the Hindu elite was murdered or forced to flee and once again Sindh was forcefully made to join Pakistan.

All this is history; one cannot unmake history. But the two very important and strategic provinces have never really become part of Pakistan. The Pukhtoon resistance in Pukh­toonkhwa and the MQM in Sindh have always talked of breaking away from Pakistan.

The recent floods and the relief measures have once again exposed the fissures in Pakistan. There are continuous reports in the media as to how the Pakistan administration is curtailing aid to Pukhto­on­khwa and Sind — the two regions suffering the devastation of floods. The floods may be the last straw.

There has been large spread dissension in Pukhto­onkhwa, under the pretext of fighting the Taliban; Pakistan has systematically decimated the Pukhtoon leadership.

The floods and the devastation ca­used by them and the callous attitude of the Pakistani administration, overwhelmingly controlled by Punjabis, may be the final spark needed to fuel the fury of the Pukhtoons. When that happens the balkanisation of Pakistan will be complete.