Afew bloody months in South Asia during the summer of explainthe world that troubles us today Nobody expected the liberation of India and birth of Pakistan to be so bloody mdash it was supposed to be an answer to the dreams of Muslims and Hindus who had been ruled by the British for centuries Jawaharlal Nehru Gandhirsquos proteacutegeacute and the political leader of India believed Indians were an inherently nonviolent peaceful people Pakistanrsquos founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah was a secular lawyer not a firebrand But in August exactly a year before Independence Calcutta erupted in street-gang fighting A cycle of riots mdash targeting Hindus then Muslims then Sikhs mdash spiraled out of control As the summer of approached all three groups were heavily armed and on edge and the British rushed to leave Hell let loose Trains carried Muslims west and Hindus east to their slaughter Some of the most brutal and widespread ethnic cleansing in modern history erupted on both sides of the new border searing a divide between India and Pakistan that remains a root cause of many evils From jihadi terrorism to nuclear proliferation the searing tale told in Midnightrsquos Furies explains all too many of the headlines we read today.
