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The partition of India in August 1947 resulted in the creation of two independent nations, India and Pakistan, following nearly 200 years of British rule. This event was marked by widespread violence, mass migrations, and significant loss of life, as communities were divided along religious lines. The partition was formalized in the Indian Independence Act 1947, leading to a chaotic and tragic reshaping of borders and populations.

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45 views4 pages

Chapter - 1

The partition of India in August 1947 resulted in the creation of two independent nations, India and Pakistan, following nearly 200 years of British rule. This event was marked by widespread violence, mass migrations, and significant loss of life, as communities were divided along religious lines. The partition was formalized in the Indian Independence Act 1947, leading to a chaotic and tragic reshaping of borders and populations.

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CHAPTER-1

PARTITION AND IT’S HISTORY


The partition of India into two independent nations as India and Pakistan.

Partition was a bloody phenomenon and was marked with communal murders ,

mass abduction, lootings, forced marriages and rapes. India had been the largest

possession of the British and a subject of the British crown since 1858,when the

East India company’s region had been bought to an end in the wake of the

uprising and Revolt of 1857 against company rule.

The partition of British India occurred in August 1947 when the British

Government withdrew from India after almost two hundred years of British rule.

People in British India has called for independence for decades. But until the

early 1940s, very few people in Britain or India would have thought that this

independence would take the form of dividing up land.

A very important reason for British rule in India was military resources,

particularly soldiers. In 1943, appoint of uncertainty in the war of Britain and

growing India after the war. There were many different political leaders and

groups who disagreed about how to make everyone feel represented after

Britain left. Muslims only made up a quarter of the population ,but these
communities were not spread evenly, Ther were a few areas where Muslim

leaders for these regions to have greater independence and division grew.

By the late 1946 British officials had given up on finding a solution in which

many different groups could be represented with in a single state. In February

1947 Lord Mountbatten was sent to oversee Britain’s with drawl. Cyril Radcliff,

who as the joint chairman for the two provinces, had the ultimate responsibility

to equitably divide the territory with 88 millions people. On the 3rd June Lord

Mountbatten stunned everyone by announcing with leaders Jawaharlal Nehru

and Muhammad Ali Jinnah that Britain would give power to not one but two

new governments- the government of India and the government of Pakistan , a

year earlier than previously planned.

Officials from Britain and British India were given just five weeks workout

how British India would be divided. The final borders split the eastern and

western areas of British India and ran through the province of Punjab and

Bengal, important areas economically and politically with a roughly 50:50 split

of Indian and Muslim population. Independence was declared on 14th and 15th

August 1947 but the borders of these two new nations were announced 2 days
later on the 17th of August . This meant that people celebrated independence

without knowing for sure quit where the line between these two countries

would be drawn.

People living in the regions affected by partition felt scared and uncertain

about their future , not wanting to end on the ‘wrong side’ of the borders. In the

months around August 1947 over 15 million people are thought to have

migrated across the new borders . In Punjab in particular this huge human

migration was accompanied by brutal violence- some of which we can see as are

flection of the fear and uncertainty of what was going on. Of the future .

However , it is important to stress that muck of the violence was not random

but orchestrated by militias connected to various political parties who wanted

to secure the best possible outcome after the British left India.

The partition was outlined in the Indian independence Act 1947 . The

change of political borders notably included the divisions of two provinces of

British India, Bengal and Punjab. The majority Muslim districts in these province

were awarded to Pakistan and the majority of non- Muslim to India. The other

estates that were divided included the British Indian Army, the Royal Indian
Navy, the Royal Indian Airforce, the Indian civil services, the railways and the

central treasury provisions for self governing and independent Pakistan and

India legally come into existence at midnight on 14 and 15 August 1945

respectively.

The partition caused large scale loss of life and an unprecedented

migration between the two dominions. Among refugees who survived , it

solidified the belief that safely lay among co-religionists . In the instance of

Pakistan , it made palpable a hitherto only-imagine refuge for the Muslim of

British India . The migration took place hastily and with little warning . It is

thought that between 14 million and 18 million people moved, and perhaps

more. Excess morality during the period of partition is usually estimated to have

been around one millions.

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