THE PUNJAB: BLOODIED, PARTITIONED AND CLEANSED Paperback – September 21, 2022

I like Prof Ishtiaq Ahmed's books a lot however I have to say that as far as his writings are concerned, on an intellectual level, he is one notch of level below other writers such as Ayesha Jalal, William Dalrymple and other well known authors. Prof Ahmed's books are rich in detail but when it comes to conclusions he is not on such firm grounds. The present book describes in details the horrible incidents of the partition - sometimes the details are too gory to be comfortable. In a way it is good to write about these incidents so that one can repeat the moral of the holocaust: "Never again". The case studies are a living testament to the atmosphere existing in those tragic times and need to be told in a non-passionate manner unlike by partisan writers such as G.D. Khosla and others. Where I am in disagreement is about the reasons of the partition. It was an extremely complicated event unlike any other event in world history and there were several factors that conspired to produce the catastrophic events. There have been attempts to explain away the Partition of the subcontinent by some very capable researchers. However in my opinion not a single one of them has come up with a very clear solution of an unfathomable tragedy. There are always some incidents which still require clear explanation. Prof Ahmed's book is an admirable addition to the literature of the ghastly tragedy of Partition of the subcontinent.