Interesting! Could the partition in 1947 been avoided! Yes....The average Pakistani does not carry rancor and would like to have cordial and good relations with its neighbor! It is only the political establishment that does not want any rapprochement!
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Up until the spring of 1946, a political compromise that would have preserved a united India, was still possible. The Congress -- Nehru in particular -- would have had to grant the Muslim areas that (eventually) became Pakistan more autonomy than he was willing to grant, and have had to accept a weaker Central government than he wanted.
Abandoning that compromise was the fatal mistake.
You (Nehru) couldn't just dismiss this demand as illegitimate and say you weren't going to deal with it. You had to accommodate it somehow. And as the larger, more powerful party it was their responsibility to accommodate it. You don't ask the weaker party to make the concessions. You have to be generous.
Nehru for his own reasons chose not to.
I think that was the last real chance to avoid Partition. Maybe it could have still happened later, no one knows, but at that point it was really possible to preserve a united India.
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http://www.rediff.com/news/interview/nehru-was-as-much-to-blame-as-jinnah-for-partition/20150813.htm
Quote
Up until the spring of 1946, a political compromise that would have preserved a united India, was still possible. The Congress -- Nehru in particular -- would have had to grant the Muslim areas that (eventually) became Pakistan more autonomy than he was willing to grant, and have had to accept a weaker Central government than he wanted.
Abandoning that compromise was the fatal mistake.
You (Nehru) couldn't just dismiss this demand as illegitimate and say you weren't going to deal with it. You had to accommodate it somehow. And as the larger, more powerful party it was their responsibility to accommodate it. You don't ask the weaker party to make the concessions. You have to be generous.
Nehru for his own reasons chose not to.
I think that was the last real chance to avoid Partition. Maybe it could have still happened later, no one knows, but at that point it was really possible to preserve a united India.
Unquote
http://www.rediff.com/news/interview/nehru-was-as-much-to-blame-as-jinnah-for-partition/20150813.htm