LAHORE, Jan 8: “The creation of Pakistan cannot be explained entirely in terms of Two Nation Theory or Divide and Rule Policy of the Britishers, there is an environmental aspect of this history too,” said Prof David Gilmartin of North Carolina State University.

Prof Gilmartin, an eminent historian, was delivering his special lecture arranged at Punjab University’s Pakistan Study Centre, according to a news release issued here on Tuesday.

He said Indus basin, the heartland of present-day Pakistan, had witnessed one of the most dramatic environmental transformations of the modern colonial era with the massive, unprecedented irrigation works that led to the empowering of the local masses that gave birth to ‘biradari’ system paving way for strings of nationalism. “That was also a product of, and an impetus for, the creation of unusually highly bureaucratised forms of rule in this region,” he added.

Prof Gilmartin said this region, marked by unusual localism, tribalism, and cultural fragmentation, had shaped significantly the nature of the movement for Pakistan. “This is not to argue that the partition can be explained entirely in terms of such issues, but that this environmental story represents an important element in Pakistan’s creation as an Indus basin state,” he said.

The lecture was followed by a question-answer session.

PU faculty of social and behavioural sciences dean Prof Dr Zakria Zakir, Pakistan Study Centre director Prof Dr Massarrat Abid also spoke on the occasion. The seminar was participated by a large number of students and faculty members.