Partition of India

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Map of Indian subcontinent showing areas of prevailing religions before

independence

Colonial India

Portuguese India 1510–

1961

Dutch India 1605–

1825

Danish India 1696–

1869

French India 1759–

1954

British Empire in India

East India Company 1612–

1757

Company rule in India 1757–

1857
British Raj 1858–
1947

British rule in Burma 1826–

1948

British India 1612–

1947

Princely states 1765–

1947

Partition of India 1947

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The Partition of India (Hindustani: िहनदुसतान की तक्सीम, ‫ہندوستان کی‬

‫ تقسیم‬Hindustān kī Taqsīm) was the partition of British India that led to the
creation, on August 14, 1947 and August 15, 1947, respectively, of
the sovereign states of the Dominion of Pakistan (later Islamic Republic of
Pakistan and People's Republic of Bangladesh) and the Union of
India (later Republic of India). The partition of India included the
geographical division of the Bengal province of British India into East
Pakistan and West Bengal (India), and the similar partition of thePunjab
province into West Punjab (later Punjab (Pakistan) and Islamabad Capital
Territory) and East Punjab (later Punjab (India), Haryanaand Himachal
Pradesh), and also the division of other assets, including the British Indian
Army, the Indian Civil Service and other administrative services, the Indian
railways, and the central treasury. The partition was promulgated in
the Indian Independence Act 1947and resulted in the dissolution of
the British Indian Empire.

In the aftermath of Partition, the princely states of India, which had been left
by the Indian Independence Act 1947 to choose whether to accede to India
or Pakistan or to remain outside them,[1] were all incorporated into one or
other of the new dominions. The question of the choice to be made in this
connection by Jammu and Kashmir led to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947 and
other wars and conflicts between India and Pakistan.[2]
The secession of Bangladesh from Pakistan in 1971 is not covered by the
term Partition of India, nor is the earlier separation of Burma from the
administration of British India, or the even earlier separation
of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). Ceylon, part of the Madras Presidency of British
India from 1795 until 1798, became a separate Crown Colony in 1798.
Burma, gradually annexed by the British during 1826–86 and governed as a
part of the British Indian administration until 1937, was directly administered
thereafter. [3] Burma was granted independence on January 4, 1948 and
Ceylon on February 4, 1948. (See History of Sri Lanka and History of Burma)
The Kingdom of Sikkim was established as a princely state after theAnglo-
Sikkimese Treaty of 1861, however, the issue of sovereignty was left
undefined.[4] In 1947, Sikkim became an independent kingdom under
thesuzerainty of India and remained so until 1975 when it was absorbed into
India as the 22nd state.

The remaining countries of present-day South Asia are Nepal, Bhutan, and
the Maldives. The first two, Nepal and Bhutan, having signed treaties with
the British designating them as independent states, were never a part of
British India, and therefore their borders were not affected by the partition.
[5]
The Maldives, which became a protectorate of the British crown in 1887
and gained its independence in 1965, was also unaffected by the partition.

The partition displaced up to 12.5 million people in the former British Indian
Empire with estimates of loss of life varying from several hundred thousand
to a million.[6]

Contents
[hide]

• 1 Pakistan and India

• 2 Background
o 2.1 Late 19th and early 20th century
o 2.2 1920–1932
o 2.3 1932–1942
o 2.4 1942–1946
• 3 The Partition: 1947
o 3.1 Mountbatten Plan
 o 3.2 Geography of the partition: the
Radcliffe Line
o 3.3 Independence and population
exchanges
o 3.4 Punjab
o 3.5 Bengal
o 3.6 Sindh
• 4 Perspectives
• 5 Delhi Punjabi refugees
• 6 Refugees settled in India
• 7 Refugees settled in Pakistan
• 8 Artistic depictions of the Partition
• 9 See also
• 10 References
• 11 Further reading
o 11.1 Popularizations
o 11.2 Memoir
o 11.3 Academic textbooks and
monographs
o 11.4 Articles
• 12 External links
o 12.1 Bibliographies

o 12.2 Other links

Pakistan and India

Two self governing countries legally came into existence at the stroke of
midnight on 15 August 1947. The ceremonies for the transfer of power were
held a day earlier in Karachi, at the time the capital of the new state of
Pakistan, so that the last British Viceroy, Louis Mountbatten, could attend
both the ceremony in Karachi as well as the ceremony in Delhi. However
another reason for this arrangement was to avoid the appearance that
Pakistan was seceding from a sovereign India. Therefore Pakistan celebrates
Independence Day on August 14, while India celebrates it on August 15.
Another reason for Pakistan celebrating independence on August 14 is the
adoption of new standard time in Pakistan after partition.[citation needed] The new
standard time of West Pakistan(modern 'Pakistan') was behind Indian
standard time by 30 minutes and the new standard time of East
Pakistan (modern 'Bangladesh') was ahead of Indian standard time by 30
minutes, so technically on the stroke of midnight falling between August 14
and 15, when India "got independence", it was still 11:30 PM on 14 August in
West Pakistan.

Background
Late 19th and early 20th century

1909 Prevailing 1909 Percentage of 1909 Percentage of 1909 Percentage of

Religions, Map of Muslims, Map of Hindus, Map of British Buddhists, Sikhs, and
British Indian Empire, British Indian Empire, Indian Empire, 1909, Jains. Map of British
1909, showing the 1909, showing showing percentage of Indian Empire, 1909,
prevailing majority percentage of Muslims Hindus in different showing percentages in
religions of the in different districts. districts. different districts.
population for different
districts.

1909 Prevailing Languages (Northern Region), Map of 1901 Population Density, Map of British
British Indian Empire, 1909, showing the prevailing Indian Empire, 1909, showing the
(Aryan) languages of the population for different districts. population density in 1901.

1920–1932
Train to Pakistan being given a warm send-off. New Delhi railway station, 1947

Train to Pakistan steaming out of New Delhi Railway Station, 1947.

The All India Muslim League (AIML) was formed in Dhaka in 1906 by Muslims
who were suspicious of the Hindu-majority Indian National Congress. They
complained that they were not given same rights as a Muslim member
compared to Hindu members. A number of different scenarios were proposed
at various times. Among the first to make the demand for a separate state
was the writer/philosopher Allama Iqbal, who, in his presidential address to
the 1930 convention of the Muslim League said that he felt a separate nation
for Muslims was essential in an otherwise Hindu-dominated subcontinent.
The Sindh Assembly passed a resolution making it a demand in 1935.
Iqbal, Jouhar and others then worked hard to draft Mohammad Ali Jinnah,
who had till then worked for Hindu-Muslim unity, to lead the movement for
this new nation. By 1930, Jinnah had begun to despair of the fate of minority
communities in a united India and had begun to argue that mainstream
parties such as the Congress, of which he was once a member, were
insensitive to Muslim interests. The 1932 communal award which seemed to
threaten the position of Muslims in Hindu-majority provinces catalysed the
resurgence of the Muslim League, with Jinnah as its leader. However, the
League did not do well in the 1937 provincial elections, demonstrating the
hold of the conservative and local forces at the time.
1932–1942
In 1940, Jinnah made a statement at the Lahore conference, which seemed
to be calling for a separate Muslim 'nation'. However, the document was
ambiguous and opaque, and did not evoke a Muslim nation in a territorial
sense. This idea, though, was taken up by Muslims and particularly Hindus in
the next seven years, and given a more territorial element. All Muslim
political parties including the Khaksar Tehrik of Allama Mashriqi (Mashriqi
was arrested on March 19, 1940) opposed the partition of India[7]

Hindu organisations such as the Hindu Mahasabha, though against the

division of the country, were also insisting on the same chasm between
Hindus and Muslims. In 1937 at the 19th session of the Hindu Mahasabha
held at Ahmedabad, Veer Savarkar in his presidential address asserted:[8]

India cannot be assumed today to be Unitarian and homogeneous nation, but on

“ the contrary there are two nations in the main — the Hindus and the Muslims.
”

Rural Sikhs in a long ox-cart train headed towards India. 1947. Margaret Bourke-
White.

Most of the Congress leaders were secularists and resolutely opposed the
division of India on the lines of religion. Mohandas Gandhi and Allama
Mashriqi believed that Hindus and Muslims could and should live in amity.
Gandhi opposed the partition, saying,

My whole soul rebels against the idea that Hinduism and Islam represent two
“ antagonistic cultures and doctrines. To assent to such a doctrine is for me a denial
of God. ”
An old Sikh man carrying his wife. Over 10 million people were uprooted from their
homeland and travelled on foot, bullock carts and trains to their promised new
home.

For years, Gandhi and his adherents struggled to keep Muslims in the
Congress Party (a major exit of many Muslim activists began in the 1930s), in
the process enraging both Hindu Nationalists and Indian Muslim Nationalists.
(Gandhi was assassinated soon after Partition by Hindu NationalistNathuram
Godse, who believed that Gandhi was appeasing Muslims at the cost of
Hindus.) Politicians and community leaders on both sides whipped up mutual
suspicion and fear, culminating in dreadful events such as the riots during
the Muslim League's Direct Action Day of August 1946 in Calcutta, in which
more than 5,000 people were killed and many more injured. As public order
broke down all across northern India and Bengal, the pressure increased to
seek a political partition of territories as a way to avoid a full-scale civil war.
1942–1946

Viceroy Louis Mountbatten with a countdown calendar to the Transfer of Power in

the background

Until 1946, the definition of Pakistan as demanded by the League was so

flexible that it could have been interpreted as a sovereign nation Pakistan, or
as a member of a confederated India.

Some historians believe Jinnah intended to use the threat of partition as a

bargaining chip in order to gain more independence for the Muslim
dominated provinces in the west from the Hindu dominated center.[9]
Other historians claim that Jinnah's real vision was for a Pakistan that
extended into Hindu-majority areas of India, by demanding the inclusion of
the East of Punjab and West of Bengal, including Assam, a Hindu-majority
country. Jinnah also fought hard for the annexation of Kashmir, a Muslim
majority state with Hindu ruler; and the accession
of Hyderabad and Junagadh, Hindu-majority states with Muslim rulers.[citation
needed]

The British colonial administration did not directly rule all of "India". There
were several different political arrangements in existence: Provinces were
ruled directly and the Princely States with varying legal arrangements,
like paramountcy.
The British Colonial Administration consisted of Secretary of State for India,
the India Office, the Governor-General of India, and the Indian Civil Service.

The Indian Political Parties were (alphabetically) All India Muslim

League, Communist Party of India, Hindu Mahasabha, Indian National
CongressKhaksar Tehrik, and the Unionist Muslim League (mainly in the
Punjab).

The Partition: 1947

Mountbatten Plan

TIME Magazine October 27, 1947 cover depicting the partition of India. The caption
says: “INDIA: Liberty and death.”
The actual division between the two new dominions was done according to
what has come to be known as the 3 June Plan or Mountbatten Plan.

The border between India and Pakistan was determined by a British

Government-commissioned report usually referred to as the Radcliffe
Line after the London lawyer, Sir Cyril Radcliffe, who wrote it. Pakistan came
into being with two non-contiguous enclaves, East Pakistan (today
Bangladesh) and West Pakistan, separated geographically by India. India was
formed out of the majority Hindu regions of the colony, and Pakistan from
the majority Muslim areas.

Countries of Modern Indian subcontinent

On July 18, 1947, the British Parliament passed the Indian Independence
Act that finalized the partition arrangement. The Government of India Act
1935 was adapted to provide a legal framework for the two new dominions.
Following partition, Pakistan was added as a new member of the United
Nations. The union formed from the combination of the Hindu states
assumed the name India which automatically granted it the seat of British
India (a UN member since 1945) as a successor state.[10]

The 625 Princely States were given a choice of which country to join.
Geography of the partition: the Radcliffe Line
An aged and abandoned Muslim couple and their grand children sitting by the
roadside on this arduous journey. "The old man is dying of exhaustion. The caravan
has gone on," wrote Bourke-White.

The Punjab — the region of the five rivers east

of Indus: Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej — consists of
interfluvial doabs, or tracts of land lying between two confluent rivers. These
are the Sind-Sagar doab (between Indus and Jhelum), the Jech doab
(Jhelum/Chenab), the Rechna doab (Chenab/Ravi), the Bari doab (Ravi/Beas),
and the Bist doab (Beas/Sutlej) (see map). In early 1947, in the months
leading up to the deliberations of the Punjab Boundary Commission, the main
disputed areas appeared to be in the Bari and Bist doabs, although some
areas in the Rechna doab were claimed by the Congress and Sikhs. In
the Bari doab, the districts of Gurdaspur, Amritsar, Lahore, and Montgomery
were all disputed.[11] All districts (other than Amritsar, which was 46.5%
Muslim) had Muslim majorities; albeit, in Gurdaspur, the Muslim majority, at
51.1%, was slender. At a smaller area-scale, only three tehsils (sub-units of a
district) in the Bari doab had non-Muslim majorities. These were: Pathankot
(in the extreme north of Gurdaspur, which was not in dispute), and Amritsar
and Tarn Taran in Amritsar district. In addition, there were four Muslim-
majority tehsils east of Beas-Sutlej (with two where Muslims outnumbered
Hindus and Sikhs together).[11]

Two Muslim men (in a rural refugee train headed towards Pakistan) carrying an old
woman in a makeshift doli or palanquin. 1947.
A map of the Punjab region ca.1947

The claims (Congress/Sikh and Muslim) and the Boundary Commission Award in the
Punjab in relation to Muslim percentage by Tehsils. The unshaded regions are the
princely states.

Before the Boundary Commission began formal hearings, governments were

set up for the East and the West Punjab regions. Their territories were
provisionally divided by "notional division" based on simple district
majorities. In both the Punjab and Bengal, the Boundary Commission
consisted of two Muslim and two non-Muslim judges with Sir Cyril Radcliffe as
a common chairman.[11] The mission of the Punjab commission was worded
generally as: "To demarcate the boundaries of the two parts of the Punjab,
on the basis of ascertaining the contiguous majority areas of Muslims and
non-Muslims. In doing so, it will take into account other factors." Each side
(the Muslims and the Congress/Sikhs) presented its claim through counsel
with no liberty to bargain. The judges too had no mandate to compromise
and on all major issues they "divided two and two, leaving Sir Cyril Radcliffe
the invidious task of making the actual decisions."[11]

The communities in the disputed regions of the Upper Bari Doab in 1947.
Independence and population exchanges
Massive population exchanges occurred between the two newly-formed
states in the months immediately following Partition. Once the lines were
established, about 14.5 million people crossed the borders to what they
hoped was the relative safety of religious majority. Based on 1951 Census of
displaced persons, 7,226,000 Muslims went to Pakistan from India while
7,249,000 Hindus and Sikhs moved to India from Pakistan immediately after
partition. About 11.2 million or 78% of the population transfer took place in
the west, with Punjab accounting for most of it; 5.3 million Muslims moved
from India to West Punjab in Pakistan, 3.4 million Hindus and Sikhs moved
from Pakistan to East Punjab in India; elsewhere in the west 1.2 million
moved in each direction to and from Sind.[citation needed]

"With the tragic legacy of an uncertain future, a young refugee sits on the walls of
Purana Qila, transformed into a vast refugee camp in Delhi." Margaret Bourke-
White, 1947

A crowd of Muslims at the Old Fort (Purana Qila) in Delhi, which had been converted
into a vast camp for Muslim refugees waiting to be transported to
Pakistan.Manchester Guardian, 27 September 1947.
The newly formed governments were completely unequipped to deal with
migrations of such staggering magnitude, and massive violence and
slaughter occurred on both sides of the border. Estimates of the number of
deaths range around roughly 500,000, with low estimates at 200,000 and
high estimates at 1,000,000.[12]
Punjab
This section requires expansion.

The Indian state of Punjab was created in 1947, when the Partition of India
split the former Raj province of Punjab between India and Pakistan. The
mostly Muslim western part of the province became Pakistan's Punjab
Province; the mostly Sikh and Hindu eastern part became India's Punjab
state. Many Hindus and Sikhs lived in the west, and many Muslims lived in
the east, and so the partition saw many people displaced and much
intercommunal violence.Lahore and Amritsar were at the center of the
problem, the British were not sure where to place them - make them part of
India or Pakistan. The British did make a decision to hand both cities to India,
but due to lack of control and regulation for the border Amritsar became part
of India whilst Lahore became part of Pakistan. Areas in west Punjab such as
Lahore, Rawalpindi, Multan, Gujart, had a large Sikh population and many of
the resident were either attacked or killed by radical Muslims.[citation needed] On
the other side in East Punjab cities such as Amritsar, Ludhiana,
and Gurdaspur had a majority Muslim population in which many of them
were wiped out by Sikh guerrillas who launched an all out war against the
Muslims.
Bengal
The province of Bengal was divided into the two separate entities of West
Bengal belonging to India, and East Bengal belonging to Pakistan. East
Bengal was renamed East Pakistan in 1955, and later became the
independent nation of Bangladesh after the Bangladesh Liberation War of
1971.
Sindh
Please help improve this article or section by expanding it. Further information might
be found on thetalk page. (November 2007)
Hindu Sindhis were expected to stay in Sindh following Partition, as there
were good relations between Hindu and Muslim Sindhis. At the time of
Partition there were 1,400,000 Hindu Sindhis, though most were
concentrated in the cities such as Hyderabad, Karachi, Shikarpur,
and Sukkur. However, due to an uncertain future in a Muslim country, a
sense of better opportunities in India, and most of all a sudden influx of
Muslim refugees fromGujarat, UP, Bihar, Rajputana (Rajasthan) and other
parts of India, many Sindhi Hindus decided to leave for India. Problems were
further aggravated when incidents of violence instigated by Indian Muslim
refugees broke out in Karachi and Hyderabad. As per the census of India
1951, nearly 776,000 Sindhi Hindus had poured into India.[13] Unlike
the Punjabi Hindus and Sikhs, Sindhi Hindus did not have to witness any
massive scale rioting; however, their entire province had gone to Pakistan
thus they felt like a homeless community. Despite this migration, a
significant Sindhi Hindu population still resides in Pakistan's Sindh province
where they number at around 2.28 million as per Pakistan's 1998 census
while the Sindhi Hindus in India as per 2001 census of India were at 2.57
million.[citation needed]

Perspectives

A refugee train on its way to Punjab, Pakistan

The Partition was a highly controversial arrangement, and remains a cause

of much tension on the subcontinent today. British Viceroy Louis
Mountbatten has not only been accused of rushing the process through, but
also is alleged to have influenced the Radcliffe Line in India's favour since
everyone agreed India would be a more desirable country for most.
[14] [15]
However, the commission took so long to decide on a final boundary
that the two nations were granted their independence even before there was
a defined boundary between them. Even then, the members were so
distraught at their handiwork (and its results) that they refused
compensation for their time on the commission.[citation needed]

Some critics allege that British haste led to the cruelties of the Partition.
[16]
Because independence was declared prior to the actual Partition, it was
up to the new governments of India and Pakistan to keep public order. No
large population movements were contemplated; the plan called for
safeguards for minorities on both sides of the new state line. It was an
impossible task, at which both states failed. There was a complete
breakdown of law and order; many died in riots, massacre, or just from the
hardships of their flight to safety. What ensued was one of the largest
population movements in recorded history. According to Richard Symonds[17]

at the lowest estimate, half a million people perished and twelve million became
“ homeless
”
However, some argue that the British were forced to expedite the Partition
by events on the ground.[18] Law and order had broken down many times
before Partition, with much bloodshed on both sides. A massive civil war was
looming by the time Mountbatten became Viceroy. After World War II, Britain
had limited resources, [19] perhaps insufficient to the task of keeping order.
Another view point is that while Mountbatten may have been too hasty he
had no real options left and achieved the best he could under difficult
circumstances.[20] Historian Lawrence James concurs that in 1947
Mountbatten was left with no option but to cut and run. The alternative
seemed to be involvement in a potentially bloody civil war from which it
would be difficult to get out.[21]

Conservative elements in England consider the partition of India to be the

moment that the British Empire ceased to be a world power,
following Curzon's dictum that "While we hold on to India, we are a first-rate
power. If we lose India, we will decline to a third-rate power." The 'flick' of
the pen with which Clement Atlee signed the independence treaty is, where
remembered, considered sadly; not for the loss of India, but for the loss of
what holding India meant.

Delhi Punjabi refugees

An estimated 25 million people - Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs -(1947-present)
crossed the newly carved borders to reach their new homelands. These
estimates are based on comparisons of decadal censuses from 1941 and
1951 with adjustments for normal population growth in the areas of
migration. In northern India - undivided Punjab and North Western Frontier
Province (NWFP) - nearly 12 million were forced to move from as early as
March 1947 following the Rawalpindi violence. Delhi received the highest
number of refugees for a single city - the population of Delhi grew rapidly in
1947 from under 1 million (917.939) to a little less than 2 million (1.744.072)
between the period 1941-1951.(Census of India, 1941 and 1951). The
refugees were housed in various historical and military locations such as the
Old Fort Purana Qila), Red Fort (Red Fort), and military barracks in Kingsway
(around the present Delhi university). The latter became the site of one of
the largest refugee camps in northern India with more than 35,000 refugees
at any given time besides Kurukshetra camp near Panipat. The camp sites
were later converted into permanent housing through extensive building
projects undertaken by the Government of India from 1948 onwards. A
number of housing colonies in Delhi came up around this period like Lajpat
Nagar, Rajinder Nagar, Nizamuddin, Punjabi Bagh, Rehgar Pura, Jungpura
and Kingsway. A number of schemes such as provision of education,
employment opportunities, easy loans to start businesses etc. were provided
for the refugees at all-India level. The Delhi refugees, however, were able to
make use of these facilities much better than their counterparts elsewhere.
[22]

Refugees settled in India

Many Sikhs and Hindu Punjabis settled in the Indian parts of Punjab and
Delhi. Hindus migrating from East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) settled
across Eastern India and Northeastern India, many ending up in close-by
states like West Bengal, Assam, and Tripura. Some migrants were sent to
the Andaman islands.

Hindu Sindhis found themselves without a homeland. The responsibility of

rehabilitating them was borne by their government. Refugee camps were set
up for Hindu Sindhis. However, non-Sindhi Hindus received little help from
the Government of India, and many never received compensation of any sort
from the Indian Government.

Photo of a railway station in Punjab. Many people abandoned their fixed assets and
crossed newly formed borders.

Many refugees overcame the trauma of poverty, though the loss of a

homeland has had a deeper and lasting effect on their Sindhi culture.

In late 2004, the Sindhi diaspora vociferously opposed a Public Interest

Litigation in the Supreme Court of India which asked the government of
India to delete the word "Sindh" from the Indian National Anthem (written
by Rabindranath Tagore prior to the partition) on the grounds that it
infringed upon the sovereignty of Pakistan.

Refugees settled in Pakistan

In the aftermath of partition, a huge population exchange occurred between
the two newly-formed states. About 14.5 million people crossed the borders,
including 7,226,000 Muslims came to Pakistan from India while
7,249,000 Hindus and Sikhs moved to India from Pakistan. About 5.5 millions
settled inPunjab Pakistan and around 1.5 millions settled in Sindh.

Most of those refugees who settled in Punjab Pakistan they came

from Punjab (India), Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and
Kashmir andRajasthan. Most of those refugees who arrived in Sindh came
from northern and central urban centers of India, Uttar
Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh,Gujarat and Rajasthan via Wahga
and Munabao border, however a limited number of muhajirs also arrived by
air and on ships.

The majority of urdu speaking refugess who migrated after the

independence were settled in the port city of Karachi in southern Sindh and
in the cities of Hyderabad, Sukkur, Nawabshahand Mirpurkhas. As well the
above many Urdu-speakers settled in the cities of Punjab mainly
in Lahore, Multan, Bahawalpur and Rawalpindi. the number of migrants in
Sindh was placed at over 540,000 of whom two-third were urban. In case of
Karachi, from a population of around 400,000 in 1947, it turned into more
than 1.3 millions in 1953.

Artistic depictions of the Partition

Main article: Artistic depictions of the partition of India
In addition to the enormous historical literature on the Partition, there is also
an extensive body of artistic work (novels, short stories, poetry, films, plays,
paintings, etc.) that deals imaginatively with the pain and horror of the
event.