Institute of History of the Government College University (GCU) organised a virtual conference titled ‘Partition of India and Settlement’ here on Sunday.
The conference was attended by a large number of scholars, researchers and students across the world through video link, said a spokesperson for the university.
In his inaugural speech, GCU Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Asghar Zaidi said that August 1947 marks the independence of South Asia from the British Raj and the beginning of a process of decolonization. He added the event of partition created one of the greatest humanitarian crises of the 20th-century as it accompanied an unprecedented scale of migration, violence, and bloodshed.
Dr Zaidi said the event had re-shaped every aspect of state and society in the subcontinent.
He laid stress on learning more about ‘The New History of Partition’, which focuses on the human dimension of the partition.
Tahir Kamran, who teaches at the Beaconhouse National University, argued that both, the Indian political leadership and the British government were responsible for the unprecedented turbulence and communal chasm experienced by Punjab just before the partition. British Punjab was not conducive to the partition, however, the communal polarisation made it imperative to draw a dividing line.
Sarah Ansari, from Royal Holloway, University of London, discussed how the physical movement of people during the partition helped to shape the meaning of everyday citizenship on both sides of the new border. She suggested that the ideas about citizenship were intimately tied to the politics of movements in Sindh and the understandings of emerging citizenship in both places were often shaped by material predicaments of refugees and minorities.
Nayyer Abbas from the Institute of History explained how the partition and the refugee settlement affected each region differently because of factors such as family bonding, and irrigated lands.
Lubna Akram, who teaches at the Institute of History, discussed the women’s experiences of violence and trauma as reflected in the literary works in Pakistan and India. The pain and suffering of the women unveiled the evils of society towards them.
