On 23 March 194 7 the Progressive Muslim Association convened a meeting in Durban to commemorate the seventh anniversary of Pakistan Day. The speakers at the meeting commented on the communal strife in India at the time and articulated the views of the Muslim community in South Africa. The words of M A Mehtar ( quoted above), a guest speaker at the meeting, expressed the sentiments of Muslim leaders in South Africa, that the partition of India was necessary to the unity of Indians. Nationalism built on a fragmented worldview, was an intrinsic part of the reasoning behind this seemingly contradictory logic.