Britain not to blame for India, Pakistan partition

Prasan Stianrapapong is clearly no fan of “the West”, but in hoping that it will be rendered obsolete by Asian economic expansion, he has obviously allowed his prejudices to colour his judgement and common sense. The continued economic progress in India and China in particular can only be a good thing for those countries and for the rest of the world, but in order for those economies to thrive, the major economies in the West need to remain healthy too.
The normalisation of relations between India and Pakistan would also be a welcome development, but the writer is wrong to claim that their separate existence is due to a colonial “divide and rule” policy. In fact, the creation of Pakistan was demanded by Mohammed Ali Jinnah and his Muslim League. The British authorities tried desperately to avoid a split, but Jinnah and his supporters were resolute in their demands.
Instead of nurturing his resentment of western colonialism, Prasan might be better advised to contemplate the situation in his own country, where productivity remains low by international standards, educational standards are lamentable, and corruption continues to permeate all sectors of society.
Robin Grant