Mohammed All Jinnah and his Muslim Leaguers had foreseen this fate. They were anxious and had therefore made the exchange of population an integral part of their demand for Pakistan to pull together all the Muslims of undivided India. The territorial vivisection was to provide exclusive space for their homeland or a Dar-ul-Islam for the entire Muslim population to flourish under the writ of the sharia

The demand for the new state was led by men who resided in the provinces of Bihar, Bombay and United Provinces (UP). M.A. Jinnah was a Gujarati where asNawabzada Liaquat All Khan hailed from what is now Haryana. To accommodate the expected mohajirs. the Muslim League governments encouraged ethnic cleansing whereby non-Muslims were forced to move to Hindustan. The cleansing was thorough in the western wing of Pakistan and less thorough in east Pakistan.

However, not many Muslims migrated or undertook hijrat. Punjab was the only province where there was an exchange of population. For the rest, whether Baluchistan, North West Frontier Province, Sindh or Bengal, the exodus was largely one way into India by the Hindus. There was no exchange. Overwhelmingly, the Muslims resident in the rest of Hindustan stayed put. Some who had migrated even came back. Assurances by Hindu leaders made all the difference. The Constitution of India was also attractive for Muslims Articles 29 and 30 offered several special privileges to them. As a result, Jinnah's dream remained unfulfilled, which explains why the agenda of partition is still unfinished.

On the other hand, Hindustan's single biggest obsession since Independence has been its minority which is an euphemism for Muslims. A separate civil code, based on the sharia, continues to be followed for them although it is violative of Article 44, a directive principle of policy in the Constitution.

The ugliest symptom of minority obsession is the frequency of communal riots, which is again an euphemism for Hindu Muslim riots. Or else, occasionally there should be a Hindu Christian riot, at least in Kerala and Tamilnadu, where Christians are in greater numbers than Muslims. Yet there has only been Muslims rioting whether in Coimbatore or in Kochi.

Why? The author tried to find out. His clue came from the Muslim League leaders especially Sir Feroze Khan Noon who rose to become the Prime Minister of Pakistan. He had threatened that unless Hindu leaders agreed to an exchange or a transfer of population, India would witness a re-enactment of the violent orgies of Chengez Khan and Halaqu Khan. The Muslim League showed that it meant business, first by directaction begun with the Great Calcutta Killings of August 1946 and then with the riots during partition and the subsequent ethnic cleansing.

In the absence of a Dar-ul-Islam or a land where the writ of the sharia runs, many Muslims feel they cannot fulfu lthemselves as momins or faithfuls.