Outstanding article Fehmina.

Partition was a Holocaust. That’s the word. Let’s not be feeble about it. It’s a word which belongs to everyone so I will use it.

I’m unaware of how history is taught in Indian schools. Here in Pakistan, when I speak with young people, they lack clarity and awareness regarding Partition.

Pakistanis have failed to keep the horrors alive unleashed by a hastily departing oppressor and lack of vision of Muslim figureheads, and as such, leaving the political arena open to dubious actors.

Two, three? generations seem lobotomized by propaganda which has resulted in an undervaluation of ‘statehood’. In itself a shaky notion.

Pakistan was birthed in horrors and heartbreaking sacrifice. Those who were witness to them are few and far between.
My sister is one of them. When she speaks of them, a listless lackluster youth couldn’t care less.
A sense of fractured identity pervades society.
In order to know where you’re going, you have to know where you come from. Trite but true.

Pakistani history does not begin with Partition. We deny our connection with an ancient land of our ancestors. I’m no historian but it saddens me that today’s Pakistan is teetering on brink of failure. Was it all in vain?

Thank you for using Manto’s lens to view history and social norms, tragedy and loss.
He remains to my mind, one of the greatest writers of the Indian subcontinent.