Confronting each other in every village

The Indian nationalists would not participate in World War II merely to perpetuate British rule over India.  Edward John Thompson (1886-1946) wrote "Enlist India for Freedom!"(1940) to argue for something different.  But:

In my talk with Mr. Jinnah last October, there was this exchange: there is no harm in quoting it, since it is what he has said so often and so often.

"Two nations, Mr. Jinnah!  Confronting each other in every province? every town? every village?"

"Two nations.  Confronting each other in every province.  Every town.  Every village.  That is the only solution."

"That is a very terrible solution, Mr. Jinnah!"

"It is a terrible solution.  But it is the only one".

A comparison of Muslims and Hindus

This note, below the fold, is by Chowdhury Mubarak Hossain, dated April 3, 1946, and is included in the Jinnah Papers (edited by Z.H. Zaid, Volume XIII, item #7).

It is not clear to me whether the perceptions recorded in this note are a cause for demanding partition, or merely a rationalization of that demand. 

I don't know anything about the author, but the note was written in Calcutta, so it is not like the author lived far away from any significant number of Hindus.

Also, today, Indians tend to think that Pakistanis have some fatal flaws; maybe they are just as mistaken?

Jinnah: Bengali Muslims are from outside

In Dhaka (Dacca), addressing a public meeting, March 21, 1948, Jinnah tried to calm the apprehensions of the East Pakistanis about the official language, Urdu.  He blamed the "certain amount of excitement over the question of whether Bengali or Urdu shall be the State language of this Province and of Pakistan" on the enemies of Pakistan, who were seeking to foment provincialism.

As long as you do not throw off this poison [of provincialism] in our body politic, you will never be able to weld yourself, mould yourself, galvanize yourself into a real true nation.   What we want is not to talk about Bengali, Punjabi, Sindhi, Baluchi, Pathan and so on.  They are of course units.  But I ask you: have you forgotten the lesson that was taught to us thirteen hundred years ago? [i.e., Islam]  If I may point out, you are all outsiders here.  Who were the original inhabitants of Bengal—not those who are now living.  So what is the use of saying "we are Bengalis, or Sindhis, or Pathans, or Punjabis". No we are Muslims.

[emphasis added.  Quote from Speeches, Statements & Messages of the Quaid-e-Azam, Volume IV, collected and edited by Khurshid Ahmad Khan Yusufi.]