Independence & Partition
The British Raj came to an end on the midnight of 14 August 1947. Pakistan was born on the same day which was carved out of Punjab and Bengal. The person who was responsible for this carving was Sir Cyril Radcliffe, and the demarcation on the map came to be known as Radcliffe Boundary Award. A record number of populations was transferred and rendered ten million people homeless. As much as 20 million Hindus left western Punjab and east Bengal, and around eighteen million Muslims shifted to Pakistan. During the entire period of these mass movement more than half a million people lost their lives; 22000 rape and kidnapping cases of women was reported; the number of people missing rose up to 220,000. However the data given above is official and the actual numbers were much more.
At the stroke of midnight on 14-15 August two legal self governing countries came into existence. The ceremony for the transfer of power was held a day earlier in Karachi which was the capital of the new state of Pakistan at that time. Louis Mountbatten, the last British viceroy attended both the ceremony in Karachi and the ceremony in Delhi. The independence day of Pakistan is celebrated on 14th August, whereas the independence day of India is celebrated on the 15th August. This division of the two dominions was actually done accordingly to what later came to be known as the 3rd June plan or the Mountbatten Plan.
The British government decided the border line between India and Pakistan. A London Lawyer, Sir Cyril Radcliffe wrote the commissioned report usually referred to as the Radcliffe Award that determined the borderline. Pakistan came into being with two non-contiguous communities, East Pakistan (today Bangladesh) and West Pakistan that were geographically separated by India. India was created from the majority Hindu regions of the colony, and Pakistan from the Muslims majority area.
The Indian independence Act was passed by the British Parliament on July 18th 1947 that finalised the partition activities. To provide a legal framework for the two new dominions the Government of India Act 1935 was adapted. After the partition process was over, Pakistan was included as a new member of the United Nations. The combination of the Hindu States assumed the name India that automatically granted it the seat of British India as a successor state. There were 565 Princely States that were given the choice to join whichever country they wanted to join.
The whole idea of partition was a very controversial arrangement and a lot of tension on the subcontinent still prevails. British viceroy Louis Mountbatten was blamed of rushing the process through and influencing the Radcliffe Awards in India’s favour since everyone knew that India was a better choice for most of the people. The commission took a long time to decide the final borderline that the two nations were granted independence even before boundary was finally defined between them. The members of the commission were very frustrated by their work that they even refused to take commission for their time.
Independence was declared even before the actual partition and it was on India and Pakistan to keep public order. This British rapidity led the cruelties of the Partition. There were no plans to safeguard minorities on the both sides. Complete breakdown of law and order was witnessed, thus leading thousands dead in riots and massacre and this ensued one of the largest population movements in recorded history.
There are some people who believe that the British were forced to speed up the Partition by the proceedings on the ground. Law and Order broke down even before Partition and led to bloodshed on both sides. After lord Mountbatten became viceroy, there was resentment among the masses due to his policies. After the 2nd World War, British lacked resources to maintain law and order. Some people believe that Mountbatten have been too hasty and had no options left and he achieved the best he could under those circumstances. Some people blamed the Indian nationalist such as Gandhi and Jinnah for the massacres.
As India completes 61 years of Independence, it can look back with a considerable degree of pride at the shaping of a political system in the country.
