One cause of much of the Middle East turmoil seems to be nations were "carved out" of the Ottoman Empire without respect to Sunni vs. Shia splits. Wouldn't that mean that the India partition made sense (splitting into states by religious splits)? Is there a case that the "colonial powers" got that one "more" right than the Middle East approach?
Actually most of the problems with parting the middle east had less to do with Sunni/Shi'a (Iraq is the only former Ottoman state with a strong Shi'a population) and more to do with cultural identities. Think around the lines of making France and Germany one nation. Also the European influence lead to an increase in conservatism which in turn made many of the radical Islamists today. Really parting India and Pakistan just gave both of them an enemy to bomb and forced millions from their homes.