Which of the following statements is not correct regarding challenges of partition?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → Two of the Muslim majority provinces of British India, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, had large areas where non-Muslims were in majority.
Option (1) There was no single belt of Muslim-majority areas in British India. True. There were two areas of concentration, one in the west and one in the east.
Option (2) There were ‘minorities’ on both sides of the border. True. This was the fourth and the most intractable problem of partition: lakhs of Hindus and Sikhs in the areas now in Pakistan, and an equally large number of Muslims on the Indian side of Punjab and Bengal, found themselves trapped.
Option (3) Not all Muslim majority areas wanted to be in Pakistan. True. Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan of the NWFP opposed the two-nation theory.
Option (4) Two of the Muslim majority provinces of British India, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, had large areas where non-Muslims were in majority. False. The two provinces were Punjab and Bengal, not Uttar Pradesh; these two provinces were later bifurcated.
NCERT (2025-26): “Process of partition … The idea might appear simple, but it presented all kinds of difficulties. First of all, there was no single belt of Muslim majority areas in British India. There were two areas of concentration, one in the west and one in the east. There was no way these two parts could be joined. So it was decided that the new country, Pakistan, will comprise two territories, West and East Pakistan separated by a long expanse of Indian territory. Secondly, not all Muslim majority areas wanted to be in Pakistan. Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan, the undisputed leader of the North Western Frontier Province and known as ‘Frontier Gandhi’, was staunchly opposed to the two-nation theory. Eventually, his voice was simply ignored and the NWFP was made to merge with Pakistan. Process of partition … The third problem was that two of the Muslim majority provinces of British India, Punjab and Bengal, had very large areas where the non-Muslims were in majority. Eventually it was decided that these two provinces would be bifurcated according to the religious majority at the district or even lower level.…” |