Analyze Two Nation Theory in context of art. Give review of International Scholars.

Two Nation Theory

Two-Nation theory is the basis of creation of Pakistan. It states that Muslims and Hindus are two
separate nations from every definition; therefore Muslims should have a separate homeland in
the Muslim majority areas of India, where they can spend their lives according to the glorious
teachings of Islam.

Two Nation Theory in Context of Art

The two nation theory clearly states that Hindus and Muslims cannot live together and even after
British quit, they should divide the sub-continent into two different nations. But Hindus wanted
British to quit India and they were not interested in the partition of the India. They were trying to
rule alone and didn’t want to share power with any other nation living in the sub-continent.
Now in the context of art, the drama “Dastaan” clearly portrays the difficulties of different
nations living together before partition. The drama shows one character, Saleem, who is Muslim
but he is in favor of Indian National Congress as he has many Hindu friends too and he is against
partition and thinks that creation of Pakistan will lead to weakening of Muslims as a nation and
so creation of Pakistan is not needed, then there is another character, Hassan, who is also a
Muslim but he is the supporter of All India Muslim League and strongly believes in the
establishment of Pakistan, which sometimes made both of them argue on the establishment of
Pakistan and that the Muslims can live with Hindus and there is no need of a new state.
Now what this really portray is the religious conflicts between Hindus and Muslims and Sikhs
too, and these issues started rising rapidly. Tensions arose between Hindus and Muslims and
Muslims were being killed on daily basis and they were not safe anywhere.
Upon seeing this massacre of Muslims Saleem realized the change and coldness in his Hindu
friends during this period where he needed support for Muslims from his Hindu friends but the
response he got, made him realized that the establishment of Pakistan is the only thing he should
be supporting or working for.
The fact that Hindus didn’t care about the Muslims and killing or torturing them made it more
clear that these two nations are far different from each other and they would never get along and
Pakistan is the only solution to stop this bloodshed and have a separate homeland for an entirely
different nation.
Even at the time of migration, Muslims were killed brutally, the trains were attacked and only a
little group of people were able to made it to Pakistan. Just on the basis of religion the hatred
grew more and more and partition was the only solution, and that’s what this piece of art shows.
International Scholars view on Two Nation theory
Tarek Fatah who is a Pakistani-Canadian journalist, writer, broadcaster, secularist and liberal
activist. Fatah is a founder of the Muslim Canadian Congress and served as its communications
officer and spokesperson. According to him the two nation theory is a fraud and the creation of
Pakistan is nothing more than a mistake and as Bengalis realized this mistake in 1971, Ahmadis
and Mohajirs in Pakistan will soon realize that too. He also said that religion could never form a
nationality and this idea that nation can be made on the basis of religion has just caused
destruction of the identity and culture of people residing in current day Pakistan.
Which basically means that this creation of nation is just a fraud and it created backwardness, a
hypocrite and intolerant nation and this false theory has destroyed the identity of Pakistanis.

Ian Talbot
Ian Talbot who is a historian and he has written many books on the sub-continent. According to
him the partition of the sub-continent was necessary when tension arose between two nations and
it was the only solution. He further said in some case religion provides you the unity, strength
and could be the basis of forming a nation, it is not possible for entirely different nations to get
mixed together when they have major religious differences and has caused problems many times
because of it, because living of two entirely different nations together peacefully is only possible
if they have an agreement on living peacefully other than that it’s not possible.
Name:
Hafsa Aijaz
Major:
Political Science
Submitted To:
Ma’am Zoya Ashraf
Pre Mid Assignment 1
Semester 5
Submission Date:
5th Sep, 2019