Mohammed Ali Jinnah’s (secret) medical report could have saved India from getting partitioned


Lord and Lady Mountbatten meet Mr. Mohammed Ali Jinnah

Viceroy of India: Lord and Lady Mountbatten meet Mr. Mohammed Ali Jinnah. Image Credit: No 9 Army Film & Photographic Unit via Wikipedia

Freedom at Midnight, a book by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre, delves into the partition of India. According to them, the partition could have been avoided if “the most closely guarded secret in India” had been known. The secret was that Jinnah was suffering from tuberculosis and had just a year or two to live.

How would that knowledge have stopped the partition? If the people opposing the partition would have had knowledge of Jinnah’s approaching demise, then they would have definitely stalled the process until he was too ill to make decisions or had passed away. Jinnah knew this and kept his secret well-guarded. He died 11 months after the formation of Pakistan.

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