I was going to do a thread on Partition in the form of a historical chronology - I think that can wait. I've decided to do a thread which is more "philosophical" and on "principles" about Partition.

So here goes. As we know, "partition" carved two countries out of one....

In 1947. One with a Hindu majority (~85% Hindu in 1947 but now 79%). The other with a Muslim majority (over 90% Muslim in 1947 - even more skewed now).

The process was extremely bloody resulting in over a million deaths (some think the figure could be two million).

For those who are unfamiliar with the scale of the carnage, it is worth Googling Margaret Burke-White's pictures of partition for LIFE Magazine (now defunct).

Indians, Pakistanis and Brits can keep arguing for centuries about who was responsible for what but that's another....

Subject. The purpose of this thread is to concentrate on what I think is the key philosophical diverge between Hinduism and Islam which made violent conflict or a "partition" unavoidable. Although one can write an encyclopaedia on the theological differences between the two....

Faiths, the key difference to me is on the question of "Blasphemy". Broadly, Hinduism has had atheists in the mix for millennia (or those with a weak adherence to faith or those who have created new sects). This was never punished. As a result, Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism and...

Later Sikhism lived next to each other for millennis or centuries despite enormous theological differences.

Islam's approach to Blasphemy is radically different. Basically, Blasphemy = Death. Once Islam entered the lands of the Dharmic faiths, its insistence was on imposing.....

Islamic blasphemy rules on everyone else. Some will vehemently disagree but this problem became impossible to hide with the "Rangeela Rasool" case. It started with Muslims slandering Bhagwan Ram and Sita. Hindus responded by "slandering" the Prophet - words v words. A Muslim.....

Responded by stabbing the alleged "Blasphemer" to death. As this was in British India, the murderer was tried under Colonial era laws and was hanged. Iqbal and Jinnah both tried to stop the execution but it didn't work. Muslims pressured the British to introduce a......

"Blasphemy law" - the British, concerned about violent feuds between Hindus and Muslims, caved in and introduced Section 295A, IPC. As I had mentioned before, 600,000 Muslims turned up for the killer Ilm ud Din's funeral in Lahore. He was and is a hero to Muslims even today

What partition eventually did was create two states with divergent views on Blasphemy. In India, the Colonial era law survives but it isn't used often (though Muslims have managed to impose a Blasphemy code on the rest of the population through violent reprisals - same as Europe)

Pakistan of course went much further and passed a law which punishes Blasphemy with death. This was introduced in the regime of the Islamist dictator Zia ul Haq. The law is an absolute terror and all kinds of people (including, ironically, Muslims) must live in terror of this law

It is my contention that no society with blasphemy laws has ever achieved scientific or technological advancement. The spirit of "free enquiry" is fundamental in the pursuit of science. I also believe this is one of the factors which explains the divergence between Britain and...

Spain. Although the Spanish conquered most of South America and pillaged their gold, they weren't able to turn this vast hoard of new capital into scientific and technological advancement. The British, however, in due time, relaxed their laws on Blasphemy gradually resulting....

In a scientific and technological explosion in Britain and later in the most successful British colony: America. Spain became a backwater and only achieved first world status more recently.

Now comparing India and Pakistan, the same divergence appears. The overall scientific....

Output of India after independence, though modest by western standards, is still phenomenal when compared with Pakistan. Even the Pakistani excuse that India is 6X bigger doesn't hold. Israel is 1/30th the size of Pakistan but has produced more science than the entire Islamic...

World combined.

We have to ask ourselves: what do Indians (especially non-Muslim Indians) want? I think the answers are: peace, prosperity and security. The only way to achieve that is with science and rule of law.

What do Pakistanis want? Sharia it seems is priority no. 1.

Whatever the arguments for or against Partition, non-Muslims Indians have a state in which Blasphemy laws can either be expunged or watered down in the pursuit of science and economic growth. Indian Muslims may want Sharia by the same percentages as Pakistanis but that's not....

Likely to be enough to impose it on the entire populace except in pockets like Kashmir with a Muslim majority.

In Pakistan, the Sharia law structure/system is here to stay. Pakistan is now at less than half the per capita income of India and sinking lower. It has no industries.

The "model" depends upon parasitical dependence on superpowers and remittances from the oil rich Gulf by migrant workers. Both are reaching a dead end. American largesse is down to a pittance and the Chinese don't do free money. Gulf remittances will eventually go to zero.

Interestingly, Pakistan's per capita income was 50% higher than both India and China at the end of the Cold War. It is now a basket case.

Partition has given two sides what they wanted more or less. Hindus have no desire to live under Sharia or face relentless attacks to.....

Impose totalitarian Sharia. Muslims got a state in which totalitarian Sharia and can be honed and refined ad infinitum on shoe string incomes and shrinking calorific intakes.

Whatever the arguments for or against Partition, both sides got what they wanted (though Hindus could...

Do better and crack down very hard on Sharia loving Muslims who are ready to commit murder in the name of Blasphemy). That said, the two states have divergent and very different philiosophies and characters with very divergent results.

Here is a good documentary on murder and oppression in the name of Blasphemy in Pakistan:

Hindus have escaped this hell for the most part.