The “Criminals”

Sr. No Name Time spent in jail 

1. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi 6 years
2. Jawaharlal Nehru 9 years
3. Abul Kalam Azad 12 years
4 Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan 15 years

Nature of “crime”:

Spearheading movement for civil liberties and freedom for their countrymen

The “Innocent”

Sr. No Name Time spent in jail

1. Mohammad Ali Jinnah None/not applicable
2. Sir Mohammad Iqbal None/not applicable
3. Sir Agha Khan III None/not applicable 4. Sahibzada Liaqat Ali Khan None/not applicable

Our Godfathers (Saudi Arabian Sheikhs)

Haj and Umrah, are major components of the Saudi tourism industry, attracting millions of Muslims who come to the Kingdom every year.

The Kingdom annually earns over SR 62.5 billion (US $16.5 billion) from Haj and Umrah.

Around two million foreign pilgrims performed Haj in 2013, including some two hundred thousand from Pakistan.

Possessing 17% of the world's proven petroleum reserves, it ranks as the largest exporter of petroleum. Saudi Arabia’s total revenues for 2012 were $326.5 billion, 80% of which comes from earnings from the petroleum sector.

While money is constantly pouring in, the Saudi royal family spends billions out of it on extravagant vacations in Europe and North America. In May 2013, Saudi prince Fahd Al-Saud son of ex-King Fahad bin Abdul Aziz spent 15 million euros ($20.41 million) for three days of fun at Disneyland near Paris to celebrate his degree.

His father, namely, Fahd bin Abdul Aziz was known for his extravagant vacations in Spain’s Costa del Sol. The posh resort town of Marbella is where he built his palace named “Mar Mar”, and each year for a month or more he would stay there. Luxury villas and hundreds of rooms in five-star hotels would be reserved for his entourage, and anywhere between ninety to three hundred million dollars would be spent by the royal family on the vacation.

Other powerful Saudi royals can be seen living it up on the French Riviera. They fly on private jets, buy the finest jewels and dine at exclusive restaurants. Saudi prince Al Walid bin Talal has summered in Cannes for the last thirty years, and owns a 281 foot yacht called the "Kingdom" that he bought from Donald Trump. The yacht comes complete with a disco studio and helicopter. Examples of extravagance include one Saudi prince buying a $1.2 million emerald and diamond necklace, while a Saudi princess purchased a $10,000 Christian Lacroix outfit with pink and purple raccoon boas. Saudi royalty has property in most countries in the world including Pakistan where they have built huge walled compounds for themselves in which they do as they please. They visit the area once a year, usually during the hunting season. Their excesses know no bounds.

Similarly, the Saudi Arabian defense industry is estimated to have the fourth largest defense budget in the world, behind the US, China, and Russia.

Valued at US$52.9 billion in 2013, the country's defense expenditure, specifically for air-power capabilities in support of Kingdom’s protection is placed seventh among the top 10 military spenders, and is expected to increase at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.92%, to reach US$77.3 billion by 2018.

While all this goes on, 20 per cent of the population of Saudi Arabia is under poverty line. Few hundred yards beyond the luxurious shopping malls and recreation centers of Riyadh, the beggars are searching for food, and a few miles farther, residents in slum houses in poor neighborhoods of southern Riyadh grapple with poverty to live.

The money obtained from pilgrims who visit to perform Haj and Umra and oil sales is also spent on sponsoring terrorism all over the world.

Saudi Arabia is said to be the world's largest source of funds for Salafi jihadist terrorist militant groups, such as al-Qaeda, the Afghan Taliban, and Lashkar-e-Taiba in South Asia, and donors in Saudi Arabia constitute the most significant source of funding to terrorist groups worldwide.

Seeds Of A Bitter Harvest (Failed Two Nations Theory Concept of Quaid e Azam)

Although the Two-Nation theory did suit the interests of some, it was a total negation of the concept of pluralism and mutual coexistence. It also stipulated that religion would determine the future character of the State and every citizen would establish his or her association with Islam the ideology and not the territory called Pakistan. Hence, for all practical purposes there was no room for Hindus, Christians and Sikhs. The effect of Jinnah’s speech of August 11, 1947 was offset by several other speeches where Islamic identity was portrayed as the basic driving force behind the creation of the State. 

Second, if all Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Christians were to be equal citizens, what was the fun in creating a separate country for Muslims only? The same constitutional guarantees for minorities were very much there in the Government of India Act 1935 and later the Indian constitution. 

One consequence was that the subcontinent where millions of human beings with diverse culture and religion had lived together side by side with tolerance and harmony butchered each other in the name of religious ideology. As for Muslims, they were to associate themselves with the Arabian Peninsula and not the subcontinent, with Mohammad Bin Qasim and not Raja Dahir, with Mecca and Medina and not Moenjodaro and Harappa. The relationship with the soil and the soul of the subcontinent was buried forever.

As a continuation of that policy of communalism, today we are Sunnis and Shias, Deobandis and Barelvis, Christians and Ahmadis, Pathans and Mohajirs, Sindhis and Balochis. We would also find several brands of ‘True Muslims’ yet hardly a Pakistani- all turned against each other.

Soon after partition, the leader Mr. Jinnah opted to become the Governor General not accountable to anybody, unlike Jawaharlal Nehru who chose to become the Prime Minister, who is answerable to the Parliament. Several other stalwarts of the Muslim League were also engaged in a battle for the control of resources, perks, privileges and high office. The common folks were encouraged to act as ‘qabza group’ and get hold of all property left over by the Hindus and Sikhs who migrated to India. Hence, loot and plunder of material resources became a norm in the newly created State. It was patronized by the ones at the helm of affairs while acting as role models and encouraging common people to grab whatever would come in their way.

Today that attitude of loot and plunder prevails. In the parliament, in government, in judiciary, in the private sector we find people whose motto is ‘I, me, and myself’. Everything else comes thereafter. Corruption today is an accepted norm.

On August 15,1947, Mr. Jinnah took oath as Governor General of Pakistan and on August 22, just after a week, dissolved the elected government of Dr. Khan Sahib in the NWFP. On August 23 the Muslim League minority leader Khan Abdul Qayyum Khan took oath as CM who was then encouraged to create a Muslim League faction in the assembly through ‘lotacracy’.

On April 26,1948 the government of elected Chief Minister of Sindh Mr.Ayub Khuhro which enjoyed the support of majority of the members of the provincial assembly was dismissed as Mr.Jinnah ordered the Governor Mr. Hidayatullah to dispose him off.

On orders emanating from Mr. Jinnah, Baluchistan was forcibly annexed into Pakistan on March 28, 1948 when on March 27 1948; Lt.Colonel Gulzar of the 7 Baluch Regiment under GOC Major General Mohammad Akbar Khan invaded the Khanate of Kalat. General Akbar escorted the Khan of Kalat to Karachi and forced him to sign on the instrument of accession, as reported by Selig Harrison in his book ‘On the Shadows of Afghanistan’, while Pakistan Navy’s destroyers reached Pasni and Jiwani. The Khan of Kalat signed the accession papers on March 28, 1948. Mr. Jinnah signed them on March 31, 1948. The Khan was then detained, his cabinet dissolved, a large number of Baloch ‘dissidents’ arrested and the army assumed full control of the province. 

The Punjab assembly was dissolved on January 25, 1949 as Mr Liaqat Ali Khan the Prime Minister wanted Mr. Mumtaz Daultana to replace Nawab Iftekhar Mamdot whom he did not like. Individuals took precedence over institutions as we did not allow our institutions to grow and evolve. Today all our institutional structures are in tatters.

On March 7, 1949 the Constituent Assembly approved the Objectives Resolution that plunged the State into an imprecise, complex, obscure and controversial abyss of religious ideology.

Today our entire society has been engulfed by obscurantism, intolerance and religious extremism.

On March 19, 1948 ,Mr Jinnah while addressing a gathering at Ramna Race Course Dacca declared that Urdu and Urdu alone should be the State language of Pakistan and those who oppose Urdu as the State language of Pakistan were the enemies of state. In continuation thereof today we deal with domestic issues with high handedness. More than half the country is being governed through the application of force causing large scale resentment against the federation and the state apparatus.

In the first week of September 1947, Pakistan merely two weeks of coming into existence under Mr. Jinnah’s directions started infiltrating tribal warriors backed by Pakistan regulars into Kashmir. The infiltrators started looting, plundering, raping and killing.It was at a time when a deal was being negotiated with Maharaja Hari Singh of Kashmir by Sheikh Abdullah, Mian Iftekharuddin and Faiz Ahmad Faiz. That action by the tribal militants forced the Maharaja to accede to India on October 27, 1947. It is said that he in fact did not want an accession with either of the two states.

In continuation of policy of interference in neighboring countries today, Iran, Afghanistan, and India justifiably accuse us of interference while China has strong reservations over our clandestine activities in Xinxiang province.

In August 1947, Mr.Jinnah requested the United States to extend monetary assistance to Pakistan worth two billion dollars.

Today we feel no shame in acting like beggars when we seek dollars from World Bank, IMF and the US Government. The character and conduct of those who played the pivotal role in the creation of this State 66 years ago laid the foundations of our present degeneration of the whole society. This society of ours is seen today by others as an untrustworthy, dishonest, immoral, intolerant and corrupt crowd of individuals who are not only a threat to each other but also to the entire civilized world.

Who Is Abdus Salam? A Role Model :)

One was the son of a head clerk in the education department; the other, daughter of a small contractor, orphaned at 7, both from the Indo-Pak subcontinent won the Nobel Prize in 1979- Abdus Salam and Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu (a.k.a Mother Teresa).

Prof Dr. Abdus Salam was from the Ahmaddiya community which was declared ‘non-Muslim’ in 1974 through a constitutional amendment. Dr. Salam, the first and probably the last Pakistani to receive a Nobel Prize, preferred to remain a Pakistani national all his life, whereas a scholar of his stature could have honored any country of the world by adopting its citizenship. He remained the citizen of a state which ensured that he be dishonored posthumously. In November 1996 when the great scientist was buried at Rabwah (renamed Chenab Nagar through a Punjab Assembly resolution passed in 1998) his tombstone read ‘Abdus Salam the First Muslim Nobel Laureate’. Needless to say, the police arrived with a magistrate and rubbed off the ‘Muslim’ part of the inscription. Now the tombstone says the nonsensical: Abdus Salam the First Nobel Laureate. Unfortunately the State, in this part of the world decides as to who is and who is not a Muslim.

The other recipient, the frail, short-statured lady, looking after the leprous of Calcutta, who adopted the Indian nationality in 1948, was a catholic. Mother Teresa received a State burial. The gun carriage that carried Mahatma Gandhi and Pandit Nehru’s bodies’ was used to carry Mother Teresa to a service in Netaji Stadium. Tens of thousands of people lined the streets, for she was an internationally acclaimed Indian citizen and not an infidel.

When in 1952 Dr. Salam came to Government College Lahore as head of the Mathematics department, he was refused an official residence. When in an interview, he requested the Education Minister Sardar Abdul Hameed Dasti, to look into this problem; the Minister categorically told him that if the job did not suit him, he could leave. Later Professor Sirajuddin, the Principal asked him to take charge of the college football team, an assignment he always resented as it was against his temperament and sheer wastage of time for a person who would spend 14 hours a day in academic work at Cambridge. During Christmas holidays he was invited by Professor Wolfgang Pauli, the 1945 Nobel laureate in physics, who was visiting India, to come to Bombay. He went to India for a week and on his return was chargesheeted for not seeking prior approval before leaving. This shocked him as he was used to European freedom of movement. However, later the Director Public Instruction intervened and the period of his visit was treated as leave without pay.

After receiving the Nobel Prize, Dr. Salam came to Pakistan. In December 1979, on his arrival in Lahore, Peshawar and Islamabad, he was received by junior army officers who were military secretaries to the provincial governors and the ‘President’. The convocation at the Quaid-i-Azam University in Islamabad summoned to bestow upon him the honorary doctorate of science was cancelled because of the warning from the students belonging to the right-wing Jamaat-i-Islami to disrupt the function, and the venue was shifted to the hall of National Assembly. In Lahore, his lecture arranged to be held at the campus of the Punjab University, had to be moved to the senate hall in the city because certain groups had demonstrated earlier and threatened to murder Dr. Salam. The University of Punjab refused to honor him with a degree. The Government College did not even invite him to visit its precinct.

Although it was embarrassing for General Zia, he had to welcome the great scientist and had to be seen with him on TV. However, those sections of Dr. Salam’s speech were clipped where he had said the kalima or used an Islamic expression. It was Dr. Salam’s good luck that one of the believers did not go to the court under Zia’s own laws to get the country’s only Nobel laureate sent to prison for six months of rigorous imprisonment.

A year later in January 1981, when he was in India, five universities gave him honorary degrees, including the Guru Dev Nanak University of Amritsar where he delivered the convocation address on 25 January 1981 in Punjabi, and the university, on his request brought to Amritsar four of his old teachers who had taught him in Jhang and Lahore. The Prime Minister, Mrs. Indira Gandhi, invited him to her residence, made coffee for him with her own hands, and sat on the carpet throughout the meeting near Salam’s feet saying that was her way of honoring a great guest. Later in his tour of several Latin American countries including Brazil, he was received everywhere at the airport by the head of the state. (K.K. Aziz, 2007)

In 1986, the Director Generalship of UNESCO fell vacant and nominations were solicited. Salam wanted to be considered and everyone was sure that he would be elected. But the rule was that a candidate must be nominated by his own country. Pakistan nominated Lt. General Yaqub Khan, a retired army officer. Both Britain and Italy offered to nominate Salam if he agreed to become their national. He refused. The Pakistani general received only one vote. A French member, when pressed by her Government to vote for the Pakistani candidate, resisted, protested and then resigned, saying ‘An Army General will run the UNESCO over my dead body’ (K.K. Aziz, 2007).

Salam died, full of honors and laurels from across the world, on 21 November 1996, in Oxford. His brother, who lived in Lahore, asked the government if it would like to provide protocol on the arrival of the coffin. There was no response. He was buried in Rabwah, at the foot of his mother’s grave.

The scientist Dr. Salam had a vision. He wanted to bring about a change in the social and educational sectors of an impoverished society. He wanted to change the culture of backward areas like Jhang by creating opportunities for the downtrodden yet intelligent children of the area. He endowed the schools and madrasahs of Jhang with hefty grants and scholarships. He envisioned these to act as centers of learning, peace and harmony. Perhaps the late Dr. Salam wanted to begin with Jhang as a model district.

However, this was not to be. The self-destructive trends in our society patronized by the state of which Dr. Salam himself was a victim engulfed us. Jhang, today is the epicenter of sectarian violence in Pakistan. The militant organizations Sipah-e-Sahaba and its offshoot Lashkar-e-Jhangvi are centered here. According to the Jhang police, the Taliban and al-Qaeda network is also expanding in Jhang.

We never realized that the vacuum created by lack of education and enlightenment is always filled by ignorance and extremism. Can we still prioritize the power of discourse over the discourse of power? A proposition which Dr. Salam advocated throughout his life!

Ajj aakhaa’n Waris Shah Nu

They were not Hindus, Sikhs or Muslims! They were all human beings like we are, made of flesh and bone! 

And yet they were ethnically cleansed! And not in hundreds or thousands! In millions! 

Why?

And they were not criminals! They were innocent people! And a region where people from all communities lived in peace and harmony for centuries and yet one of the worst genocides in history took place in this part of the world! 

Why?

10 million unwanted Punjabis crossed the border; some 500,000 were killed!

Why?

The following images were captured by Margaret Bourke-White (1904-1971). A great photographer of all time,she was Time-Life’s photo-correspondent in India and Pakistan in 1946-7.

Flashpoint: Women Rights

On October 19, 2010, 75 women on an “Islamic” airliner (Gulf Air) traveling to perform Hajj were off boarded at Quaid-e-Azam International Airport Karachi, as they were not having a “mehram” or a male companion. Well, every woman needs a companion while going for Hajj! An educated, healthy and mature lady is required to have a “mehram” even if he is frail, uneducated, maybe mentally retarded as there should be somebody to guard her as she is highly susceptible to molestation. And if not, she has the potential to seduce other males, especially during Hajj when the gathering is mix and opportunities in abundance. Hence, it is all the more important for her and others that she remains in the company of a male companion. Even if she is 80 years of age, she is highly vulnerable to molestation and seduction. Therefore, every woman who exits her house should have a male accompanying her.

Since women are also less brainy and forgetful, it is important that one male witness should equal two female witnesses before a Qazi in a court, so that if one forgets, the other corroborates her. Two Harvard educated females’ testimony is thus equal to the same of an illiterate male. Well, some say that this condition of 2 to 1 applies only in financial matters. Yes, maybe it is true, as women do not know arithmetic. To be more precise: accounting. How it is possible that someone made for love and romance can understand those diabolical debit/credit entries. So let that be the domain of the masculine.

Females have also been referred to as “ploughing fields” (khaitian) so they stand at your disposal. Without any fear of marital rape (what an obnoxious concept invented by the West), you do not even have to ask them. They are your property. Well if you get bored by one you can have another and another and yet another. And if you fancy some additional entertainment, you can have concubines or “laundis”. And the saving grace is that having fun with a “laundi” is not even considered “zina”, it is all sanctified. You can have several, can even share them with your friends, and can even rotate them to have some variety. However, woe unto a woman if she even has a single love affair with another man; nothing less than death by stoning is her “just” punishment!

On October 18, 2010, the Supreme Court of United Arab Emirates ruled that a man has the right to punish his wife under Islamic law to discipline her. That includes beating her, after he has tried other options, such as admonition and then abstaining from sleeping with her. So beating is allowed but it should leave no scars. Well there can be difference of opinion among various “makatib-e-fikr”. For example the scar should not be black, if it is red its fine. Another school might believe that the size of the scar should not be bigger than the size of the male fist. Well it can be below the neck and above the navel, some would believe. Another school of Islamic thought would consider beating above the navel “haram” but below it as “halal”. Another one might consider beating the frontal area of a women's body as “halal” and the rear area as “makrooh” but not “haram”.

“Ulema- e- deen” differ on what area of her body should be visible to a “namehram”. Does she have to conceal all her body except the eyes or even the eyes should be invisible to her male counterpart?Does she have to cover the head and not the face? Should she cover both the face and the head .What about covering the area below the neck and the hips? How should she behave on her wedding night being a true Muslim and an obedient wife .Well many of the details are given in “behashti zever” and “maut ka manzar” by Khawaja Mohammad Islam, the rest are available in “suhaag ki pehli raat” while Premshastra and Kamshastra are completely un-Islamic.

Women also enjoy the right to knowledge but religious knowledge in the first place. What would she do with the worldly knowledge, as her main base is her home?

A woman cannot divorce her husband even if he does every wrong to her, yet he can divorce her anytime, especially if she gets old and loses the bloom of youth. A divorcee is also not entitled to any maintenance by her ex-husband under the “sharia” as we see in the famous Shah Bano case wherein even utterly destitute Muslim divorcees are denied the right to alimony from their former husbands. Under extremely unbearable circumstances, the wife can seek “khula” and after years of litigation can get divorce but then would lose her right to “haqmehr”. And her share in inheritance is generally half that of her male counterpart, perhaps the male is more deserving?

And if, in a fit of rage the husband divorces her (triple talaq or single, whichever is convenient), she is rendered “haram” for the ex-husband. And if both want reconciliation and remarriage, even in that case she has to suffer “halala” where she would get married to another man who would consummate marriage and then divorce her at his pleasure and only then she would be available for remarriage with the ex-husband. Meanwhile the previous husband is free to have fun with his concubines until the time she is back in his wedlock or even afterwards.

Males play a very important role in the household affairs and generally are the main breadwinners. Therefore, they should inherit the major share in property, as a woman has already received dower from her husband and has no responsibility to maintain anybody. Well if she has to take care of young children in case she is widowed, they can be conveniently sent to an orphanage. Women should get one-half of the share vis-à-vis their male counterparts as males are more powerful and the powerful should have the major share.

Hence, we are being bombarded in the 21st century with this stuff. And not in Taliban religious schools but in gatherings of an elite middle class in posh areas of Gulburg, F-8, Defense, purification centers of Al-Huda and Dar-e-Arqam .On TV talk shows and Aalims Online Inc. Zaid Hamid & Co, M/s Farhat Hashmi & Amera Ehsan, books and brochures, CDs and DVD’s. To our total disadvantage, the “maulvi” has entered not only into our TV lounge, but also in our bedrooms.

There are eight Islamic countries in the world, which have adopted Islam as an ideological foundation for their state institutions. Let us see the status of women in these countries. On May 22, 2011 Manal al-Sharif, a Saudi woman with an international driving license was arrested for driving a car as official “fatwas” issued by government clerics debar women from driving.

In August 2008, the “Global Campaign to Stop Killing and Stoning Women” announced that there were at least eight women sentenced to die in Iran by stoning for convictions of prostitution and adultery.

During the Taliban’s rule (1996-2001), women in Afghanistan were essentially put under house arrest and women who once held respectable positions were forced to wander the streets in their “burqas” selling everything they owned and begging in order to survive. Presently it is common among low-income families in most areas of the country for the groom to pay a bride price to the bride's family. The price is negotiated among the heads of the family; the bride herself is not included in the negotiation process.

Every year, numerous women in Pakistan are subjected to domestic violence, marriage with the Quran, child marriage to settle blood feuds, acid throwing, and honor killing.

Yemen has one of the worst records of child marriage in the world, with UNICEF recording in 2005 that 48.4% of Yemeni women currently aged 20–24 had been married before they were 18 and 14% before the age of 15. In Oman and Bahrain women rights are severely restricted in regard to inheritance, marriage, divorce, and child custody and according to the most recent internationally sponsored study (2001), in Mauritania three-fourths of all women between the ages of 15 and 49 had been subjected to Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).

Can we not do away with all these crimes, cruelties and nonsense and let conventional human wisdom prevail, which is the cornerstone of human culture and civilization? And how precisely this wisdom reflects in articles 1 & 2 of Universal Declaration of Human Rights:

Article 1.

• All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of goodwill.

Article 2.

• Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made based on the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it is independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.

Can’t we treat women as human beings? (RJ I hope you 'll like this post and have your unbiased opinion, waiting for discussion and your intellectual feedback :)

The Real PUNJAB

The Punjab region has a historical and cultural link to Indo-Aryan heritage identity as well as partially to the Dravidic indigenous communities. As a result of numerous invasions, many ethnic groups and religions make up the cultural heritage of Punjab.

Largest cities

Lahore, Chandigarh, Rawalpindi, Amritsar, Faisalabad, Ludhiana,

Languages:

Punjabi, Urdu, Hindi, English

Area: 

355705 square kilometers

Population: 

200,000,000

Religions: 

Sikhism, Islam, Hinduism, Christianity

Demonym:

Punjabi

History:

In prehistoric times, one of the earliest known cultures of South Asia, the Harappa civilization, was located in Punjab. The epic battles described in the Mahabharata were fought in modern-day Harayana and historic Punjab.

In 326 BCE, Alexander the Great invaded the tip of Punjab from the north (modern-day Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan) and defeated King Porus. His armies entered the region via the Hindu Kush in northwest Pakistan and his rule extended up to the city of Sagala (modern-day Sialkot in northeast Pakistan). In 305 BCE the area was ruled by the Maurya Empire. In a long line of succeeding rulers of the area, Chandragupta Maurya and Ashoka the Great stand out as the most renowned. 

In 711–713 CE, 17-year-old Arab Sultan Muhammad bin Qasim of Taif, a city in Saudi Arabia, came by way of the Arabian Sea with Arab troops to defeat Raja Dahir. The Sultan then led his troops to conquer Sindh and Punjab regions for the Islamic Umayyad Caliphate. Qasim was the first to bring Islam to the region.

During the establishment and consolidation of the Muslim Turkic Mughal Empire prosperity, growth, and relative peace were established. Muslim empires ruled Punjab for approximately 1000 years. The period was also notable for the emergence of Guru Nanak Dev (1469–1539), the founder of Sikhism.

In 1758, Punjab came under the rule of Marathas who captured the region by defeating Afghan forces of Ahmad Shah Abdali. Abdali's Indian invasion weakened the Maratha influence, but he could not defeat the Sikhs. At the formation of the Dal Khalsa in 1748 at Amritsar, the Punjab had been divided into 36 areas and 12 separate Sikh principalities, called misl.

From this point onward, the beginnings of a Punjabi Sikh Empire emerged. Out of the 36 areas, 22 were united by Maharaja Ranjit Singh. The other 14 accepted British sovereignty. Ten years after Ranjit Singh's death, the empire broke up and the British were then able to defeat Punjab while the Sikh State of Punjab was the only Indian state which was not under European rule at that time.

At the time of partition in 1947, the province was split into East and West Punjab. East Punjab (about 35%) became part of India, while West Punjab (65%) became part of Pakistan. 

The Punjab bore the brunt of the civil unrest following the end of the British Raj, with casualties estimated in the millions, while the green fields of Punjab stand divided today with one of the world's most heavily fortified border.