Of course the situation might’ve been different. You wouldn’t have dumb needless animosity on sectarian lines as they do today. Understand that by saying dumb shit like “The fighting would’ve happened anyway!” serves two purposes: a) to minimize the depravity of the British, the British Raj and colonialism in general and b) assumes that clashes on the basis of sectarianism is an inevitable pathway. Btw, partitioning is a tried-and-tested, colonial “divide and conquer” tactic.

Point is, a lot more lives could’ve been spared had it not been for colonialism that plagued the area, this is indisputable.