Partition of India
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[[Image:Divisions of India and Pakistan, 1950.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Map of India and Pakistan as envisaged in the Partition Plan 1947]]
{{HistoryOfSouthAsia}}
The '''Partition of India''' was the [[Partition (politics)|partition]] of the [[British Indian Empire]] which led to the creation, on [[August 14]], [[1947]] and [[August 15]], [[1947]], respectively, of the [[Sovereignty|sovereign]] [[state]]s of the [[Dominion of Pakistan]] (later [[Pakistan|Islamic Republic of Pakistan]] and [[Bangladesh|People's Republic of Bangladesh]]) and the [[History of the Republic of India|Union of India]] (later [[India|Republic of India]]). "Partition" here refers not only to the [[Partition of Bengal (1947)|division]] of the [[Bengal]] province of British India into [[East Pakistan]] and [[West Bengal]] (India), and the similar partition of the [[Punjab region|Punjab province]] into [[Punjab (Pakistan)|Punjab]] ([[West Pakistan]]) and [[Punjab (India)]], but also to the respective divisions of other assets, including the [[British Indian Army]], the [[Indian Civil Service]] and other administrative services, the [[History of rail transport in India|railways]], and the central treasury.
The [[Bangladesh Liberation War|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. <ref>[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,788006,00.html Sword For Pen], ''[[TIME Magazine]]'', April 12, 1937</ref> 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 the ''Anglo-Sikkimese Treaty'' of 1861, however, the issue of sovereignty was left undefined.<ref>[http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-46212 ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. 2008. "Sikkim."]</ref> In 1947, Sikkim became an independent kingdom under the [[suzerainty]] 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.<ref>[http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-23632 Encyclopædia Britannica. 2008. "Nepal."], [http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-25008 Encyclopædia Britannica. 2008. "Bhutan."] </ref> The Maldives, which became a [[protectorate]] of the [[British crown]] in 1887 and gained its independence in 1965, was also unaffected by the partition.
Partition was accompanied by the largest and most rapid population transfer in history, with 17.9 million people leaving their homes. Of these, only 14.5 million arrived, suggesting that 3.4 million went "missing"<ref>Bharadwaj, Prashant, Khwaja, Asim Ijaz and Mian, Atif R., "The Big March: Migratory Flows after the Partition of India" . http://ssrn.com/abstract=1124093 Available at SSRN.]</ref>.
==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 [[Dominion of Pakistan|state of Pakistan]], so that the last British [[Governor-General of India|Viceroy]], [[Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma|Louis Mountbatten]], could attend both the ceremony in Karachi as well as the ceremony in [[Delhi]]. However another reason for this arrangement was to make it not appear that Pakistan was [[secession|seceding]] from a [[sovereign]] India. Therefore Pakistan celebrates Independence Day on [[August 14]], while India celebrates it on [[August 15]].
==Background==
===Late 19th and early 20th century===
<Gallery>
Image:Brit IndianEmpireReligions3.jpg|'''1909 Prevailing Religions''', Map of British Indian Empire, 1909, showing the prevailing majority religions of the population for different districts.
Image:Muslim percent 1909.jpg|'''1909 Percentage of Muslims''', Map of British Indian Empire, 1909, showing percentage of Muslims in different districts.
Image:Hindu percent 1909.jpg |'''1909 Percentage of Hindus''', Map of British Indian Empire, 1909, showing percentage of Hindus in different districts.
Image:Sikhs buddhists jains percent1909.jpg|'''1909 Percentage of Buddhists, Sikhs, and Jains'''. Map of British Indian Empire, 1909, showing percentages in different districts.
</Gallery>
<Gallery>
Image:Prevailing languages impgazind1909.jpg|'''1909 Prevailing Languages (Northern Region)''', Map of British Indian Empire, 1909, showing the prevailing (Aryan) languages of the population for different districts.
Image:Population density impgazind1909.jpg |'''1901 Population Density''', Map of British Indian Empire, 1909, showing the population density in 1901.
</Gallery></Center>
===1920–1932===
[[Image:Send-off-delhi1947.jpg|thumb|right|Train to Pakistan being given a warm send-off. New Delhi railway station, 1947]]
[[Image:Train-to-pakistan-delhi1947.jpg|thumb|right|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 mainstream, secular but Hindu-majority [[Indian National Congress]]. 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, [[Maulana Mohammad Ali|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.
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:<ref>V.D.Savarkar, Samagra Savarkar Wangmaya Hindu Rasthra Darshan (Collected works of V.D.Savarkar) Vol VI, Maharashtra Prantik Hindusabha, Poona, 1963, p 296</ref>
{{cquote|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.}}
[[Image:Oxcart-train1947.jpg|thumb|left|Rural Sikhs in a long ox-cart train headed towards India. 1947. Margaret Bourke-White.]]
Most of the Congress leaders were [[secularism|secularists]] and resolutely opposed the division of India on the lines of religion. [[Mohandas Gandhi]] was both religious and [[wikt:irenic|irenic]], believing that Hindus and Muslims could and should live in amity. He opposed the partition, saying,
{{cquote|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.}}
[[Image:Old-sikh-man-carrying-wife1947.jpg|thumb|left|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 Nationalist [[Nathuram 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===
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[Image:Jinnah-time-magazine-cover-april1946.jpg|thumb|right|Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Cover Time Magazine, April 22, 1946.]] -->
[[Image:Mountbatten 4 august 1947.jpg|thumb|right|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.<ref>{{cite book|last=Jalal|first=Ayesha Jalal|year=1985|title=The Sole Spokesman: Jinnah, The Muslim League and the Demand Pakistan|publisher=Cambridge University Press}}</ref>
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 region|Punjab]] and West of [[Bengal]], including [[Assam]], all Hindu-majority country. Jinnah also fought hard for the annexation of [[Kashmir]], a Muslim majority state with Hindu ruler; and the accession of [[Hyderabad state|Hyderabad]] and [[Junagadh]], Hindu-majority states with Muslim rulers.{{Fact|date=February 2007}}
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 Raj|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 Congress]], and the [[Unionist Muslim League]] (mainly in the Punjab).
==The Partition: 1947==
===Mountbatten Plan===
[[Image:TIME Magazine October 27 1947 cover.jpg|thumb|200px|left|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 ''3rd 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.
[[Image:Modern india.png|right|thumb|Countries of Modern [[Indian subcontinent]]]]
On [[July 18]], [[1947]], the [[British Parliament]] passed the [[Indian Independence Act 1947|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]].<ref>Thomas RGC, Nations, States, and Secession: Lessons from the Former Yugoslavia, Mediterranean Quarterly, Volume 5 Number 4 Fall 1994, pp. 40–65, Duke University Press</ref>
The 625 [[Princely States]] were given a choice of which country to join.
===Geography of the partition: the Radcliffe Line===
[[Image:Old-muslim-couple1947.jpg|thumb|right|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 River|Jhelum]], [[Chenab River|Chenab]], [[Ravi River|Ravi]], [[Beas]], and [[Sutlej]] — consists of interfluvial ''[[doab]]s'', 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.<ref name=spate>{{Harv|Spate|1947|pp=126-137}}</ref> 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 ''[[tehsil]]s'' (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).<ref name=spate/>
[[Image:Two-men-carrying-woman1947.jpg|thumb|right|Two Muslim men (in a rural refugee train headed towards Pakistan) carrying an old woman in a makeshift ''doli'' or palanquin. 1947.]]
[[Image:Map-punjab-spate4.jpg|thumb|left|A map of the Punjab region from 1947]]
[[Image:Partition-punjab-spate.jpg|thumb|left|The claims (Congress/Sikh and Muslim) and the Bounday 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.<ref name=spate/> 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."<ref name=spate/>
[[Image:Upper-bari-doab-prevailing-religions1947a.jpg|thumb|right|The communities in the disputed regions of the Upper ''Bari'' Doab in 1947.]]
===Independence and population exchanges===
[[Population transfer|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 region|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. {{Fact|date=February 2007}}
[[Image:Young-refugee-delhi1947.jpg|thumb|right|"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]]
[[Image:Manchester guardian purana-qila1947.jpg|thumb|right|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.<ref>[http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/warstat3.htm#India Death toll in the partition]</ref>
===Punjab===
{{Expand-section|date=June 2008}}
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 Pakistan, however, due to lack of control and regulation for the border [[Amritsar]] became part of India whilst [[Lahore]] became part of Pakistan.
===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===
{{Expand|date=November 2007}}
At the time of Partition there were 1,400,000 Hindu Sindhis; in a space of less than a year approximately 1,200,000 of them had left for India, leaving their property behind{{Fact|date=November 2007}}.
==Perspectives==
[[Image:Refugeetrain1.jpg|thumb|right|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]] [[Lord Mountbatten|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 favor since everyone agreed India would be a more desirable country for most.<ref>[http://www.weeklyholiday.net/150202/inret.html K. Z. Islam, 2002, The Punjab Boundary Award, ''Inretrospect'']</ref> <ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6926464.stm Partitioning India over lunch, Memoirs of a British civil servant Christopher Beaumont]</ref> 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.
Some critics allege that British haste led to the cruelties of the Partition.<ref>Stanley Wolpert, 2006, Shameful Flight: The Last Years of the British Empire in India, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-515198-4</ref> 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<ref>Richard Symonds, 1950, The Making of Pakistan, London, ASIN B0000CHMB1, p 74</ref> {{cquote|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.<ref>"Once in office, Mountbatten quickly became aware if Britain were to avoid involvement in a civil war, which seemed increasingly likely, there was no alternative to partition and a hasty exit from India" Lawrence J. Butler, 2002, ''Britain and Empire: Adjusting to a Post-Imperial World'', p 72</ref>, 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<ref>Lawrence J. Butler, 2002, ''Britain and Empire: Adjusting to a Post-Imperial World'', p 72</ref>, 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 he achieved the best he could under difficult circumstances<ref>Ronald Hyam, ''Britain's Declining Empire: The Road to Decolonisation, 1918-1968'', page 113; Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0521866499, 2007</ref>. Historian Lawrence James concurs that in 1947 Mounbatten was left with no option but to cut and run. The alternative being getting involved in a potentially bloody civil war from which it would be difficult to get out<ref> Lawrence James, ''Rise and Fall of the British Empire''</ref>
Some have argued that much of the blame for the massacres lies with Pakistani nationalists such as Jinnah<ref> Dennis Judd, in ''The Lion and the Tiger: The Rise and Fall of the British Raj, 1600-1947'' notes some of the ways Jinnah exacerbated the situation</ref>.
Conservative elements in [[England]] consider the partition of India to be the moment that the [[British Empire]] ceased to be a world power, following [[George Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston|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 20 million people - Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs - 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, able to make use of these facilities much better than their counterparts elsewhere. <ref>[See an ethnographic account of Delhi refugees in Since 1947: Partition Narratives among Punjabi Migrants of Delhi" http://oup.co.in/search_detail.php?id=144071]</ref>
==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 [[East India|Eastern India]] and [[Northeast India|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 had very little help from the Government of India and many never received compensation of any sort from the Indian Government.
[[Image:Partion1.jpg|thumb|left|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. The loss of a homeland has had a deeper and lasting effect on their Sindhi culture,it may be in decline in India.
In late 2004, the [[Sindhi people|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 the partition) on the grounds that it infringed upon the sovereignty of Pakistan.
==Refugees settled in Pakistan==
Refugees or [[Muhajir Urdu|Muhajirs]] in Pakistan came from various parts of India. There was a large influx of Punjabi Muslims from East Punjab fleeing the riots. Despite severe physical and economic hardships, East [[Punjabi people|Punjabi]] refugees to Pakistan did not face problems of cultural and linguistic assimilation after partition. However, there were many Muslim refugees who migrated to Pakistan from other Indian states. These [[refugee]]s came from many different ethnic groups and regions in India, including [[Rajasthan]] [[Uttar Pradesh]] (then known as "United Provinces of Agra and Awadh", or UP), [[Madhya Pradesh]] (then Central Province or "CP"), [[Gujarat]], [[Bihar]], what was then the [[princely state]] of [[Hyderabad (state)|Hyderabad]] and so on. The descendants of these non-Punjabi refugees in Pakistan often refer to themselves as [[Muhajir Urdu|Muhajir]] whereas the assimilated Punjabi refugees no longer make that political distinction. Large numbers of non-Punjabi refugees settled in Sindh, particularly in the cities of [[Karachi]] and [[Hyderabad, Sindh|Hyderabad]]. They are united by their refugee status and their native [[Urdu]] language and are a strong political force in Sindh.
<!--The current [[President of Pakistan]], General [[Pervez Musharraf]], was born in the ''Nagar Vali Haveli'' in [[Daryaganj]], [[Delhi]], India. Several previous Pakistani leaders were also born in regions that are in India. Pakistan's first prime minister, [[Liaquat Ali Khan]] was born in [[Karnal]] (now in [[Haryana]]). The 7-year longest-serving Governor and [[martial law administrator]] of Pakistan's largest province, [[Balochistan]], General [[Rahimuddin Khan]], was born in the pre-dominantly [[Pathan]] city of [[Kaimganj]], which now lies in [[Uttar Pradesh]]. General [[Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq]], who came to power in a [[military coup]] in 1977, was born in [[Jalandhar]], [[East Punjab]]. The families of all four men opted for Pakistan at the time of Partition.-->
<!--==Aftermath==
===International===
Since Partition, with the riots and killings between the two religious communities, India and Pakistan have struggled to maintain relations. One of the biggest debates occur over the disputed region of [[Kashmir]], over which there have been 3 wars and the reasons for the wars have related only to the confusion over partition. There have been four Indo-Pakistani wars:
[[Indo-Pakistani War of 1947]] : Pakistani backed tribals and troops invade Kashmir which had been earlier given to India by the ruler of the Princely State, Hari Singh, despite the fact it had a Muslim majority. The United Nations established a stalemate.
[[Indo-Pakistani War of 1965]] : Pakistani backed guerrillas invaded Indian administered Kashmir. India is generally believed to have had the upper hand when a ceasefire was called.<ref>[http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-47067/India The 1965 war with Pakistan] - [[Encyclopædia Britannica]]</ref>
[[Indo-Pakistani War of 1971]] : After India announced support for the Bengalis in [[East Pakistan]], Pakistan launched air strikes against India. India eventually captured 13,000 square kilometres of Pakistan's territory (which it later returned as a gesture of good will) and partitioned Pakistan through the creation of [[Bangladesh]].
[[1999 Kargil Conflict]] : Pakistani troops and militants invade Indian administered Kashmir during the winter when high mountain posts were unoccupied. India recaptures all territory lost.<ref>[http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/asiapcf/9907/02/kashmir.pakistan/ India encircles rebels on Kashmir mountaintop], [[CNN]]</ref>
India and Pakistan have also engaged in a [[nuclear arms|nuclear]] [[arms race]] which has in recent times threatened to erupt into [[nuclear war]].
The British-Tibetan border, winding as it did through the Himalayas, had never been definitively surveyed or marked. India, as the inheritor of a long stretch of the British borders, and the [[People's Republic of China]], which invaded Tibet, eventually clashed leading to the 1962 [[Sino-Indian War]].
===Intranational===
Violence between Hindus and Muslims did not end with the Partition. Bengali Hindus and Muslims alike were massacred in the [[1971 Bangladesh atrocities]]. Hindus remaining in Pakistan have been persecuted<ref>[http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2006/71443.htm US Congress religious freedom report on Pakistan, 2006]</ref><ref>[http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2004/35519.htm US Congress religious freedom report on Pakistan, 2004]</ref> (see [[Hinduism in Pakistan]], [[2006 Lahore temple demolition]] and [[Persecution of Hindus#Contemporary persecution|Communal violence in Pakistan]]). Similarly, Muslims in India have experienced repeated episodes of communal violence,<ref>[http://www.countercurrents.org/comm-sherwani260906.htm Hashimpura Muslim Massacre Trial Reopens: Can Justice Be Expected?], Azim A.K. Sherwani, 26 September, 2006</ref> such as the [[2002 Gujarat violence]] (see [[Persecution of Muslims#Communal violence in India|Communal Violence in India]]).
Integration of refugee populations with their new countries did not always go smoothly. Some Urdu speaking Muslims who migrated to Pakistan have complained that they are discriminated against in government employment. Municipal political conflict in [[Karachi]], Pakistan's largest city, often pitted native [[Sindhi people|Sindhis]] against immigrants. [[Sindhi]], [[Bengali people|Bengalis]], and [[Punjabi people|Punjabi]] refugees in India also experienced poverty as they largely came empty handed. However, 50 years after Partition, almost all ex-refugees have managed to rebuild their lives.
All of the four nations resulting from the Partition of the India have had to deal with endemic civil conflicts. Inside India, these have been largely due to inter-religious unrest and disruptive [[far left]] forces. Civil unrest inside India includes:
*Civil conflict in the [[Seven Sister States]] of northeastern India
*[[Naxal]]ite unrest in [[Andhra Pradesh]] ([[India]])
*The [[Sikh]] separatist movement of the 1980s which has since become almost nonexistent.<ref>Kumar, Ram Narayan, et al., ''Reduced to Ashes: The Insurgency and Human Rights in Punjab'', p. IV.</ref>
*[[Terrorism in Kashmir|Islamist separatist]] movement in [[Jammu & Kashmir]] resulting in the [[ethnic cleansing]]<ref>[http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/kpsgill/2003/chapter9.htm The Kashmiri Pandits: An Ethnic Cleansing the World Forgot],''South Asia Terrorism Portal''</ref><ref>[http://www.rediff.com/news/2006/dec/11koul.htm Back to roots: Kashmiri Pandit youth fight back],''Rediff.com''</ref><ref>[http://www.windsofchange.net/archives/007678.php Kashmir's Ethnic Cleansing & the Strangling of Tolerant Islam]</ref><ref name="SAsian">[http://www.the-south-asian.com/Nov2001/Kashmiri_Pandits.htm The South Asian] ''Overlooked and ignored - Kashmiri Hindus''</ref><ref name="Panun">[http://www.panunkashmir.org/ Panun Kashmir]</ref><ref name="Rediff">[http://in.rediff.com/news/2005/sep/21ram.htm Rediff] ''Has the peace process forgotten the Pandits''</ref> of Kashmiri [[Hindu]]s and massacres against Hindus such as the ones in [[Wandhama Massacre|Wandhama]] and [[Kaluchak massacre|Kaluchak]]. It has been found with enough evidence that the Pakistani government and its intermediaries have tacitly backed and armed these militants<ref>http://www.cfr.org/publication/11644/</ref><ref>http://www.fas.org/news/pakistan/1994/940622-pak.htm</ref><ref>http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_14-6-2005_pg1_4</ref>
The last example of unrest, the terrorism in Kashmir, is related to the ongoing [[Kashmir conflict]] and relates to the both India and Pakistan. Within Pakistan, unrest is mainly because of ethnicities, with Bengalis, Balochis and Pashtun people all vying for more representation within Pakistan and in some cases the creation of an independent state.
*In 1971, '''[[Bangladesh Liberation War]]''' and the subsequent [[Indo-Pakistani War of 1971]] which led to further partition of Pakistan.
*The [[Mohajir]] movement in [[Pakistan]] and riots in [[Karachi]]
*The [[Balochistan conflict]] in Pakistan
*The [[Pashtunistan]] movement in Pakistan
*The [[2004-2006 Waziristan conflict|Waziristan conflict]] in Pakistan
===Current religious demographics of India proper and former East and West Pakistan===
Despite the huge [[migration]]s during and after Partition, [[secular]] and [[Federation|federal]] India is still home to the third largest Muslim population in the world (after Indonesia and Pakistan). The current estimates for India (see [[Demographics of India]]) are as shown below. [[Islamic]] Pakistan, the former West Pakistan, by contrast, has a much smaller minority population. Its religious distribution is below (see [[Demographics of Pakistan]]). As for Bangladesh, the former East Pakistan, the non-Muslim share is somewhat larger (see [[Demographics of Bangladesh]]):
India (2006 Est. 1,095 million vs. 1951 Census 361 million)
*80.5% Hindus ''(839 million)''
*13.10% Muslims ''(143 million)''
*2.31% Christians ''(25 million)''
*2.00% Sikhs ''(21 million)''
*1.94% Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and others ''(20 million)''
Pakistan (2005 Est. 162 million vs. 1951 Census 34 million)
*98.0% Muslims ''(159 million)''
*1.0% Christians ''(1.62 million)''
*1.0% Hindus, Sikhs and others ''(1.62 million)''
Bangladesh (2005 Est. 144 million vs. 1951 Census 42 million)
*86% Muslims ''(124 million)''
*13% Hindus ''(18 million)''
*1% Christians, Buddhists and Animists ''(1.44 million)''
Both nations have to a great extent assimilated the refugees.-->
==Artistic depictions of the Partition==
{{main|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.
==See also==
*[[British East India Company]]
*[[British Empire]]
*[[British India]]
*[[List of Indian Princely States]]
*[[Indian independence movement]]
*[[Pakistan Movement]]
*[[East Bengal]]
*[[History of Bangladesh]]
*[[History of India]]
*[[History of Pakistan]]
*[[Indo-Pakistani War of 1947]]
*[[Artistic depictions of the partition of India]]
*[[India (disambiguation)]]
==References==
{{reflist}}
==Further reading==
===Popularizations===
*Collins, Larry and Dominique Lapierre: ''Freedom at Midnight''. London: Collins, 1975. ISBN 0-00-638851-5
*Zubrzycki, John. (2006) ''The Last Nizam: An Indian Prince in the Australian Outback''. Pan Macmillan, Australia. ISBN 978-0-3304-2321-2.
===Memoir===
*[[Maulana Abul Kalam Azad|Azad, Maulana Abul Kalam]]: ''India Wins Freedom'', Orient Longman, 1988. ISBN 81-250-0514-5
===Academic monographs===
*Ansari, Sarah. 2005. ''Life after Partition: Migration, Community and Strife in Sindh: 1947—1962''. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. 256 pages. ISBN 019597834X.
*Butalia, Urvashi. 1998. ''The Other Side of Silence: Voices from the Partition of India''. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. 308 pages. ISBN 0822324946
*Chatterji, Joya. 2002. ''Bengal Divided: Hindu Communalism and Partition, 1932—1947''. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press. 323 pages. ISBN 0521523281.
*Gilmartin, David. 1988. ''Empire and Islam: Punjab and the Making of Pakistan''. Berkeley: University of California Press. 258 pages. ISBN 0520062493.
*Gossman, Partricia. 1999. ''Riots and Victims: Violence and the Construction of Communal Identity Among Bengali Muslims, 1905-1947''. Westview Press. 224 pages. ISBN 0813336252
*Hansen, Anders Bjørn. 2004. "Partition and Genocide: Manifestation of Violence in Punjab 1937-1947", India Research Press. ISBN 9788187943259.
http://www.ipgbook.com/showbook.cfm?bookid=8187943254&userid=34B857EC-803F-2B7A-0AB0EB5C597EBC4
*{{Harvard reference
|last=Hasan
|first=Mushirul
|date=2001
|year=2001
|title=India's Partition: Process, Strategy and Mobilization
|place=Oxford and Delhi
|publisher=Oxford University Press, 444 pages
|publication-year=2001
|isbn=0195635043
}}.
*Ikram, S. M. 1995. ''Indian Muslims and Partition of India''. Delhi: Atlantic. ISBN 8171563740
*{{Harvard reference
|last=Jalal
|first=Ayesha
|date=1993
|year=1993
|title=The Sole Spokesman: Jinnah, the Muslim League and the Demand for Pakistan
|place=Cambridge, UK
|publisher=Cambridge University Press, 334 pages
|publication-year=1993
|isbn=0521458501
}}
*Kaur, Ravinder. 2007. "Since 1947: Partition Narratives among Punjabi Migrants of Delhi". Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195683776. http://oup.co.in/search_detail.php?id=144071
*{{Harvard reference
|last=Khan
|first=Yasmin
|date=[[September 18]] [[2007]]
|year=2007
|title=The Great Partition: The Making of India and Pakistan
|place=New Haven and London
|publisher=Yale University Press, 250 pages
|publication-year=2007
|isbn=0300120788
}}
*Page, David, Anita Inder Singh, Penderel Moon, G. D. Khosla, and Mushirul Hasan. 2001. ''The Partition Omnibus: Prelude to Partition/the Origins of the Partition of India 1936-1947/Divide and Quit/Stern Reckoning''. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195658507
*Pandey, Gyanendra. 2002. ''Remembering Partition:: Violence, Nationalism and History in India''. Cambride, UK: Cambridge University Press. 232 pages. ISBN 0521002508
*Raza, Hashim S. 1989. ''Mountbatten and the partition of India''. New Delhi: Atlantic. ISBN 81-7156-059-8
*Shaikh, Farzana. 1989. ''Community and Consensus in Islam: Muslim Representation in Colonial India, 1860—1947''. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. 272 pages. ISBN 0521363284.
*Talbot, Ian and Gurharpal Singh (eds). 1999. ''Region and Partition: Bengal, Punjab and the Partition of the Subcontinent''. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. 420 pages. ISBN 0195790510.
*Talbot, Ian. 2002. ''Khizr Tiwana: The Punjab Unionist Party and the Partition of India''. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. 216 pages. ISBN 0195795512.
*Talbot, Ian. 2006. ''Divided Cities: Partition and Its Aftermath in Lahore and Amritsar''. Oxford and Karachi: Oxford University Press. 350 pages. ISBN 0195472268.
*Wolpert, Stanley. 2006. ''Shameful Flight: The Last Years of the British Empire in India''. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. 272 pages. ISBN 0195151984.
*J. Butler, Lawrence. 2002. ''Britain and Empire: Adjusting to a Post-Imperial World''. London: I.B.Tauris. 256 pages. ISBN 186064449X
*Khosla, G. D. ''Stern reckoning : a survey of the events leading up to and following the partition of India'' New Delhi: Oxford University Press:358 pages Published: February 1990 ISBN 0195624173
===Articles===
*[http://www.marxist.com/Asia/partition_review.html Review by Chudhry Manzoor Ahmed Marxist MP in Pakistani Parliament book by Lal Khan 'Partition can it be undone?']
*Gilmartin, David. 1998. "Partition, Pakistan, and South Asian History: In Search of a Narrative." ''The Journal of Asian Studies'', 57(4):1068-1095.
*Jeffrey, Robin. 1974. [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0026-749X(1974)8%3A4%3C491%3ATPBFAT%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Z "The Punjab Boundary Force and the Problem of Order, August 1947"] - ''Modern Asian Studies'' 8(4):491-520.
*Kaur Ravinder. 2007. "India and Pakistan: Partition Lessons". Open Democracy. [http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/conflicts/india_pakistan/partition]
*Kaur, Ravinder. 2006. "The Last Journey: Social Class in the Partition of India". Economic and Political Weekly, June 2006. www.epw.org.in
*Mookerjea-Leonard, Debali. 2005. "Divided Homelands, Hostile Homes: Partition, Women and Homelessness". ''Journal of Commonwealth Literature'', 40(2):141-154.
*Morris-Jones. 1983. "Thirty-Six Years Later: The Mixed Legacies of Mountbatten's Transfer of Power". ''International Affairs (Royal Institute of International Affairs)'', 59(4):621-628.
*{{Harvard reference
|last=Spate
|first=O. H. K.
|authorlink = Oskar Spate
|title=The Partition of the Punjab and of Bengal
|journal=The Geographical Journal
|volume=110
|issue=4/6
|year=1947
|pages=201-218
|url=
}}
*Spear, Percival. 1958. "Britain's Transfer of Power in India." ''Pacific Affairs'', 31(2):173-180.
*Talbot, Ian. 1994. "Planning for Pakistan: The Planning Committee of the All-India Muslim League, 1943-46". ''Modern Asian Studies'', 28(4):875-889.
*Visaria, Pravin M. 1969. "Migration Between India and Pakistan, 1951-61" ''Demography'', 6(3):323-334.
==External links==
{{commons|Partition of British India}}
===Bibliographies===
*[http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/History/Independent/partition_bibliography.html Select Research Bibliography on the Partition of India, Compiled by Vinay Lal, Department of History, UCLA; [[University of California at Los Angeles]] list]
*[http://www.lib.virginia.edu/area-studies/SouthAsia/Lib/man08par97.html A select list of Indian Publications on the Partition of India (Punjab & Bengal); [[University of Virginia]] list]
*[http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/SSEAL/SouthAsia/india_colonial.html South Asian History: Colonial India] — [[University of California, Berkeley]] Collection of documents on colonial India, Independence, and Partition]
*[http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/india/indiasbook.html#Indian%20Nationalism Indian Nationalism] — [[Fordham University]] archive of relevant public-domain documents]
===Other links===
*[http://www.epw.org.in/uploads/articles/11694.pdf Can Partition be undone? Economic and Political Review India] by Ranabir Sammadar
*[http://www.frontlineonnet.com/fl1826/18260810.htm Partition of India] by A. G. Noorani.
*[http://www.harappa.com/wall/india.html Clip from 1947 newsreel showing Indian independence ceremony]
*[http://banglapedia.search.com.bd/HT/P_0101.htm Partition of Bengal, 1947, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh]
[[Category:British Empire]]
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[[Category:Partition of India]]
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