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This article is under construction. This article or section is currently in the middle of an expansion or major revamping. However, you are welcome to assist in its construction by editing it as well. Please view the edit history should you wish to contact the person who placed this template. If this article has not been edited in several days please remove this template. While actively editing, consider adding {{inuse}} to reduce edit conflicts. Britain's holdings on the Indian subcontinent were granted independence in 1947 and 1948, becoming four new independent states: India, Burma (now Myanmar), Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), and Pakistan (including East Pakistan, modern-day Bangladesh). Sikkim, then an independent country, is not shown on this map. The Partition of India was the creation on 14 August 1947 and 15 August 1947, respectively, of the sovereign states of Dominion of Pakistan (later Islamic Republic of Pakistan) and Union of India (later Republic of India) upon the granting of independence to British India from Great Britain. In particular, it refers to the partition of the Bengal province of British India into the Pakistani state of East Bengal (later East Pakistan, now Bangladesh) and the Indian state of West Bengal, as well as the similar partition of the Punjab region of British India into the Punjab province of West Pakistan and the Indian state of Punjab. Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 662 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (1500 × 1359 pixel, file size: 3. ... Image File history File links Partition_of_India. ... Image File history File links Partition_of_India. ... The flag of British India British India, circa 1860 The British Raj (Raj in Hindi meaning Rule; from Sanskrit Rajya) was the British rule between 1858 and 1947 of the Indian Subcontinent, which included the present-day India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Burma (Myanmar), whereby these lands were under the colonial... Map of South Asia (see note) This article deals with the geophysical region in Asia. ... East Pakistan was a former province of Pakistan which existed between 1955 and 1971. ... Sikkim (also Sikhim) (DevanāgarÄ«: सिक्किम  ) is a landlocked Indian state nestled in the Himalayas. ... August 14 is the 226th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (227th in leap years), with 139 days remaining. ... 1947 (MCMXLVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1947 calendar). ... August 15 is the 227th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (228th in leap years), with 138 days remaining. ... 1947 (MCMXLVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1947 calendar). ... Sovereignty is the exclusive right to exercise supreme political (e. ... A state is a political association with effective dominion over a geographic area. ... The Dominion of Pakistan was an entity that was established as a result of partition from India as a homeland for the Muslims in August 1947. ... On August 15, 1947, India became an independent Dominion within the British Commonwealth. ... The flag of British India British India, circa 1860 The British Raj (Raj in Hindi meaning Rule; from Sanskrit Rajya) was the British rule between 1858 and 1947 of the Indian Subcontinent, which included the present-day India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Burma (Myanmar), whereby these lands were under the colonial... The Partition of Bengal in 1947 divided Bengal into the two separate entities of West Bengal belonging to India, and East Bengal belonging to Pakistan. ... Bengal (Bengali: বঙ্গ Bôngo, বাংলা Bangla, বঙ্গদেশ Bôngodesh or বাংলাদেশ Bangladesh), is a historical and geographical region in the northeast of South Asia. ... East Bengal was the name used during two periods in the 20th century for a territory that roughly included the modern state of Bangladesh. ... East Pakistan was a former province of Pakistan which existed between 1955 and 1971. ... West Bengal   (Bengali: পশ্চিমবঙ্গ, Poshchimbôŋgo) is a state in eastern India. ... Punjab, 1903 Punjab Province, 1909 Punjab (Persian: ‎, meaning Land of the five Rivers) (c. ... This article is about the Pakistani province of Punjab. ... West Pakistan was the popular and sometimes official (1955–1970) name of the western wing of Pakistan until 1971, when the eastern wing (East Pakistan) became independent as Bangladesh. ... , This article is about the Indian state of Punjab. ... The secession of Bangladesh from Pakistan in the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War is not covered by the term Partition of India, nor are the earlier separations of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and Burma (now Myanmar) from the administration of British India. 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. Burma was granted independence on January 4, 1948 and Ceylon on February 4, 1948. (See History of Sri Lanka and History of Burma.) Combatants Mukti Bahini India Aided By  Soviet Union Pakistan Aided By United States People’s Republic of China Commanders • General M A G Osmani • General Jagjit Singh Aurora • General Sam Manekshaw • General A. A. K. Niazi • General Tikka Khan Strength India: 500,000+ Mukti Bahini: 100,000[1][2] Pakistan... Madras Presidency, also known as Madras Province and known officially as Presidency of Fort St. ... A United Kingdom overseas territory (formerly known as a dependent territory or earlier as a crown colony) is a territory that is under the sovereignty and formal control of the United Kingdom but is not part of the United Kingdom proper (Great Britain and Northern Ireland). ... The oldest surviving photograph, Nicéphore Niépce, circa 1826 1826 (MDCCCXXVI) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Year 1886 (MDCCCLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Sunday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... January 4 is the 4th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1948 (MCMXLVIII) was a leap year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1948 calendar). ... February 4 is the 35th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1948 (MCMXLVIII) was a leap year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1948 calendar). ... The recorded History of Sri Lanka boasts of 25 chronicled centuries. ... The History of Burma (Myanmar) is long and complex. ... The remaining countries of present-day South Asia—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. Map of South Asia (see note on Kashmir). ... Contents 1 Pakistan and India 2 Background of the partition 2.1 Late 19th and early 20th century 2.2 1920–1932 2.3 1932–1937 2.4 1937–1942 2.5 1942–1946 3 The partition: 1947 3.1 The Mountbatten Plan 3.2 The geography of the partition: the Radcliffe Line 3.3 Independence and population exchanges 3.4 Punjab 3.5 Bengal 3.6 Sindh 4 Perspectives 4.1 British perspective 4.2 Indian perspective 4.3 Pakistani perspective 5 Demographics of the partition 1947–1965 6 History of settlement of partition refugees 6.1 Refugees settled in India 6.2 Refugees settled in Pakistan 7 Artistic depictions of the Partition 8 See also 9 Notes 10 Further reading 10.1 Popularizations 10.2 Memoir 10.3 Academic monographs 10.4 Articles 11 External links 11.1 Bibliographies 11.2 Other links [edit] Pakistan and India Two self governing countries legally came into existence at the stroke of midnight on August 15, 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, to allow the last British Viceroy, Louis Mountbatten, to attend both the ceremony in Karachi and the ceremony in Delhi. Pakistan celebrates Independence Day on August 14, while India celebrates it on August 15. August 15 is the 227th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (228th in leap years), with 138 days remaining. ... 1947 (MCMXLVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1947 calendar). ... Karachi (Urdu: كراچى, Sindhi: ڪراچي) is the capital of the province of Sindh, and the most populated city in Pakistan. ... The Dominion of Pakistan was an entity that was established as a result of partition from India as a homeland for the Muslims in August 1947. ... The Governor-Generals Flag (1885–1947) depicted the Star of India on a Union Flag. ... Admiral of the Fleet Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, KG, GCB, OM, GCSI, GCIE, GCVO, DSO, PC (25 June 1900 – 27 August 1979) was a British admiral and statesman and an uncle of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. ... , Delhi (Hindi: , Urdu: , Punjabi: ), sometimes referred to as Dilli, is the second-largest metropolis in India after Mumbai with a population of 13 million. ... August 14 is the 226th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (227th in leap years), with 139 days remaining. ... August 15 is the 227th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (228th in leap years), with 138 days remaining. ... [edit] Background of the partition [edit] Late 19th and early 20th century 1909 Prevailing Religions, Map of British Indian Empire, 1909, showing the prevailing majority religions of the population for different districts. Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 776 × 600 pixel Image in higher resolution (1650 × 1275 pixel, file size: 330 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Map Prevailing Religions of the British Indian Empire, 1909 from the Imperial Gazetteer of India, Oxford University Press, 1909. ... 1909 Percentage of Muslims, Map of British of Indian Empire, 1909, showing percentage of Muslims in different districts. Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 710 × 600 pixel Image in higher resolution (1452 × 1227 pixel, file size: 438 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Map Prevailing Religions of the British Indian Empire, 1909: Muslims from the Imperial Gazetteer of India, Oxford University Press, 1909. ... 1909 Percentage of Hindus, Map of British of Indian Empire, 1909, showing percentage of Hindus in different districts. Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 714 × 599 pixel Image in higher resolution (1462 × 1227 pixel, file size: 443 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Map Prevailing Religions of the British Indian Empire, 1909: Hindus from the Imperial Gazetteer of India, Oxford University Press, 1909. ... 1909 Percentage of Buddhists, Sikhs, and Jains. Map of British of Indian Empire, 1909, showing percentages in different districts. Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 709 × 600 pixel Image in higher resolution (1460 × 1235 pixel, file size: 468 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Map Prevailing Religions of the British Indian Empire, 1909: Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains from the Imperial Gazetteer of India, Oxford University Press, 1909. ... 1909 Prevailing Languages (Northern Region), Map of British Indian Empire, 1909, showing the prevailing (Aryan) languages of the population for different districts. Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 726 × 600 pixel Image in higher resolution (1455 × 1202 pixel, file size: 498 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Map Prevailing Languages of the British Indian Empire, 1909, Upper Region, Aryan Languages from the Imperial Gazetteer of India, Oxford University Press, 1909. ... 1909 Population Density, Map of British of Indian Empire, 1909, showing the population density. Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 727 × 599 pixel Image in higher resolution (1462 × 1205 pixel, file size: 491 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Map Population Density of the British Indian Empire, 1909 from the Imperial Gazetteer of India, Oxford University Press, 1909. ... The seeds of partition were sown long before independence. Shirin Keen claims that the British, still fearful of the potential threat from the Muslims who had ruled the subcontinent for over 300 years under the Mughal Empire, followed a divide and rule policy.[1] Organization of citizens into religious communities was also a feature of Mughal rule. When the Indians under British rule started to organize for independence, two main communal factions of the Indian nationalist movement, and especially of the Indian National Congress, struggled for control of the movement and eventual control of the country. Muslims felt threatened by Hindu majorities. The Hindus, in their turn, felt that the nationalist leaders were coddling the minority Muslims and slighting the majority Hindus. It has been suggested that Mughal Era be merged into this article or section. ... In politics and sociology, divide and rule (also known as divide and conquer) is a strategy of gaining and maintaining power by breaking up larger concentrations of power into chunks that individually have less power than the one implementing the strategy. ... ... Indian National Congress (also known as the Congress Party and abbreviated INC) is a major political party in India. ... [edit] 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 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, 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. At the 1940 AIML conference in Lahore, Jinnah made clear his commitment to two separate states, a position from which the League never again wavered: Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Muhammed Ali Jinnah, the Great Leader of the Muslim League The All India Muslim League was a political party in British India was the driving force behind the creation of a Muslim state on the Indian subcontinent. ... Dhaka (previously Dacca; Bengali: Đhaka; IPA: ) is the capital of Bangladesh and the principal city of Dhaka District. ... 1906 (MCMVI) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Indian National Congress (also known as the Congress Party and abbreviated INC) is a major political party in India. ... Allama Dr. Sir Muhammad Iqbal Allama Dr. Sir Muhammad Iqbal (November 9, 1877-April 21, 1938) was an important Indian Muslim poet from the colonial era, a philosopher and thinker of Kashmiri origin. ... This article discusses the adherents of Hinduism. ... Note : Do not confuse with Ahmadi Maulana Muhammad Ali , Muhammad Ali ,the Muslim boxer or any other people named Muhammad Ali : Muhammad Ali (disambiguation) Muhammad Ali Jouhar Maulana Mohammad Ali (1878 - 1931), also addressed with the suffix Jauhar, which was his pen name, was an Indian Muslim nationalist and leader... office: 1st Governor-General of Pakistan Term of office: August 14, 1947 – September 11, 1948 Succeeded by: Khawaja Nazimuddin Date of birth: December 25, 1876 Place of birth: Wazir Mansion, Karachi Wives: Emibai 1892–1893, Rattanbai Petit 1918–1929 Children: daughter Dina Wadia Date of Death: September 11, 1948 Place... Lahore (Urdu: لاہور, Punjabi: لہور, pronounced ) is the capital of the province of Punjab, and is the second most densely populated city in Pakistan. ... “ The Hindus and the Muslims belong to two different religions, philosophies, social customs and literature… To yoke together two such nations under a single state, one as a numerical minority and the other as a majority, must lead to growing discontent and final destruction of any fabric that may be so built up for the government of such a state. ” [edit] 1932–1937 However, 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:[2] Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha, a Hindu nationalist organization originally founded in 1915 to counter the Muslim League and the secular Indian National Congress. ... , Ahmedabad (Gujarati: , Hindi: अहमदाबाद ) is the largest city in the state of Gujarat and the seventh-largest urban agglomeration in India, with a population of almost 51 lakhs (5. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... “ 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. ” [edit] 1937–1942 Rural Sikhs in a long oxcart 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 was both religious and irenic, believing that Hindus and Muslims could and should live in amity. He opposed the partition, saying, Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (October 2, 1869 – January 30, 1948) (Devanagari: मोहनदास करमचन्द गांधी), called Mahatma Gandhi, was the charismatic leader who brought the cause of Indias independence from British colonial rule to... “ 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 and Muslim extremists. (Gandhi was assassinated soon after Partition by a Hindu extremist 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. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Nathuram Vinayak Godse (Hindi: ) (May 19, 1910 – November 15, 1949), born at Baramati, Pune District, was the assassin of Mahatma Gandhi, making him very mean. ... Direct Action Day, also known as the Affirmative Action Plan, the Calcutta Riots, the Great Calcutta killings, and The Week of the Long Knives [1][2], started on August 16, 1946. ... [edit] 1942–1946 Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Cover Time Magazine, April 22, 1946. Viceroy Louis Mountbatten with a countdown calender 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. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Some historians believe Jinnah (whose catch-phrase was that India would be "divided or destroyed") 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.[3] 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, 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 and Junagadh Hindu-majority states with Muslim rulers.[citation needed] Punjab, 1903 Punjab Province, 1909 Punjab (Persian: ‎, meaning Land of the five Rivers) (c. ... Bengal (Bengali: বঙ্গ Bôngo, বাংলা Bangla, বঙ্গদেশ Bôngodesh or বাংলাদেশ Bangladesh), is a historical and geographical region in the northeast of South Asia. ... Assam   (Assamese: অসম Ôxôm) is a north eastern state of India with its capital at Dispur, a part of Guwahati. ... Kashmir (or Cashmere) may refer to: Kashmir region, the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent India, Kashmir conflict, the territorial dispute between India, Pakistan, and the China over the Kashmir region. ... Flag of the State of Hyderabad. ... Junagadh is a city, in Junagadh District, in the Indian state of Gujarat. ... 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. A princely state or native state was a feudal monarchy in British India ruled by a hereditary ruler, who was nominally sovereign. ... 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 Congress, and the Unionist Muslim League (mainly in the Punjab). The flag of British India British India, circa 1860 The British Raj (Raj in Hindi meaning Rule; from Sanskrit Rajya) was the British rule between 1858 and 1947 of the Indian Subcontinent, which included the present-day India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Burma (Myanmar), whereby these lands were under the colonial... The office of Secretary of State for India or India Secretary was created in 1858 when India was brought under direct British rule (British Raj). ... The India Office was the British government department responsible for the government of British India. ... The Governor-Generals Flag (1885–1947) depicted the Star of India on a Union Flag. ... Indian Civil Service, popularly known by its acronym ICS, was the elite civil service of the Indian Government. ... Muhammed Ali Jinnah, the Great Leader of the Muslim League The All India Muslim League was a political party in British India was the driving force behind the creation of a Muslim state on the Indian subcontinent. ... The Communist Party of India (CPI) is a political party in India. ... Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha, a Hindu nationalist organization originally founded in 1915 to counter the Muslim League and the secular Indian National Congress. ... Indian National Congress (also known as the Congress Party and abbreviated INC) is a major political party in India. ... The Unionist Muslim League, also known simply as the Unionist party was a political party based in the province of Punjab during British Raj in India. ... [edit] The partition: 1947 An aged and abandoned Muslim couple and their grand children sitting by the the roadside on this arduous journey. "The old man is dying of exhaustion. The caravan has gone on," wrote Bourke-White. Two Muslim men (in a rural refugee train headed towards Pakistan) carrying an old woman in a makeshift doli or palanquin. 1947. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... [edit] The Mountbatten Plan 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 Award 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. The Radcliffe line was the line which drew borders between newly created India and Pakistan. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... Viscount Cyril John Radcliffe KBE GBE PC (1899 - 1977) was a British lawyer and law lord most famous for his partitioning of the British Imperial territory of India. ... East Pakistan was a former province of Pakistan which existed between 1955 and 1971. ... West Pakistan was the popular and sometimes official (1955–1970) name of the western wing of Pakistan until 1971, when the eastern wing (East Pakistan) became independent as Bangladesh. ... This article discusses the adherents of Hinduism. ... There is also a collection of Hadith called Sahih Muslim A Muslim (Arabic: مسلم, Persian: Mosalman or Mosalmon Urdu: مسلمان, Turkish: Müslüman, Albanian: Mysliman, Bosnian: Musliman) is an adherent of the religion of Islam. ... 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, while the Republic of India assumed the seat of British India as a successor state.[4] July 18 is the 199th day (200th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar, with 166 days remaining. ... 1947 (MCMXLVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1947 calendar). ... The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative institution in the United Kingdom and British overseas territories (it alone has parliamentary sovereignty). ... 1. ... 24. ... The foundation of the U.N. The United Nations (UN) is an international organization whose stated aims are to facilitate co-operation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress and human rights issues. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Succession of states. ... The 565 Princely States were given a choice of which country to join. Those states whose princes failed to accede to either country or chose a country at odds with their majority religion, such as Junagadh, Hyderabad, and especially Kashmir, became the subject of much dispute. A princely state or native state was a feudal monarchy in British India ruled by a hereditary ruler, who was nominally sovereign. ... Junagadh is a city, in Junagadh District, in the Indian state of Gujarat. ... Flag of the State of Hyderabad. ... Kashmir (or Cashmere) may refer to: Kashmir region, the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent India, Kashmir conflict, the territorial dispute between India, Pakistan, and the China over the Kashmir region. ... [edit] The geography of the partition: the Radcliffe Line A map of the Punjab region from 1947 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 on the right). 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.[5] 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).[5] Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 × 574 pixels Full resolution (1108 × 795 pixel, file size: 348 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg)The map is taken from the article: Partition of the Punjab and of Bengal, by O. H. G. Spate, The Geographical Journal, 110(4-6... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 × 574 pixels Full resolution (1108 × 795 pixel, file size: 348 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg)The map is taken from the article: Partition of the Punjab and of Bengal, by O. H. G. Spate, The Geographical Journal, 110(4-6... The Indus is a river; the Indus River. ... Jhelum or Jehlum may mean: Jhelum River in India and Pakistan Jhelum City in Punjab, Pakistan Jhelum District in Punjab, Pakistan This is a disambiguation page: a list of articles associated with the same title. ... The Chenab River rises in the Himalayan ranges of Kashmir and flows through the plains of the Punjab, forming the boundary between the Rechna and the Jech Doabs. ... Ravi may refer to: Ravi, a Hindu solar deity. ... Beas is a small town in the Punjab state of India, located between the cities of Amritsar and Jalandhar along the banks of the river Beas. ... The Sutlej, also known as Satluj, is the longest of the five rivers of Punjab (five waters) that flows through Northern India, with its source in Tibet near Mount Kailash. ... A Doab, meaning two waters in Persian, is a term used in India and Pakistan for a tract of land between two confluent rivers. ... The equivalent terms tehsil, tahsil, tahasil, taluka, taluk, and taluq refer to a unit of government in some countries of the Indian subcontinent. ... 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.[5] 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."[5] Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 759 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (899 × 710 pixel, file size: 138 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg)The map is taken from the article: Partition of the Punjab and of Bengal, by O. H. G. Spate, The Geographical Journal, 110(4-6):201... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 759 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (899 × 710 pixel, file size: 138 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg)The map is taken from the article: Partition of the Punjab and of Bengal, by O. H. G. Spate, The Geographical Journal, 110(4-6):201... Viscount Cyril John Radcliffe KBE GBE PC (1899 - 1977) was a British lawyer and law lord most famous for his partitioning of the British Imperial territory of India. ... The communities in the disputed regions of the Upper Bari Doab in 1947. Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 610 × 600 pixels Full resolution (759 × 746 pixel, file size: 87 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg)The map is taken from the article: Partition of the Punjab and of Bengal, by O. H. G. Spate, The Geographical Journal, 110(4-6... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 610 × 600 pixels Full resolution (759 × 746 pixel, file size: 87 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg)The map is taken from the article: Partition of the Punjab and of Bengal, by O. H. G. Spate, The Geographical Journal, 110(4-6... [edit] Independence and population exchanges Massive population exchanges occurred between the two newly-formed nations 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] Population transfer is a term referring to a policy by which a state, or international authority, forces the movement of a large group of people out of a region, most frequently on the basis of their ethnicity or religion. ... A Muslim is a believer in or follower of Islam. ... This article is about the Hindu religion; for other meanings of the word, see Hindu (disambiguation). ... A Sikh man wearing a turban The adherents of Sikhism are called Sikhs. ... Look up Punjab in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... "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.[6] On the Pakistani side, numerous Hindus and Sikhs were forcefully evicted out of their lands, especially in the regions of Sindh and Punjab, with fear of death if they did not leave.[7][8][9] Mahatma Gandhi, however, used his influence within the Congress to ensure that Muslims could remain within India if they so wished.[10] Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Sindh (SindhÄ«: سنڌ, UrdÅ«: سندھ) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan and is home to the Sindhis, and Muhajirs and various other groups. ... Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (Gujarati: , Hindi: , IAST: mohandās karamcand gāndhÄ«, IPA: ) (October 2, 1869 – January 30, 1948), was a major political and spiritual leader of India and the Indian independence movement. ... [edit] Punjab [edit] 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, and later became the independent nation of Bangladesh after the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971. Bengal (Bengali: বঙ্গ Bôngo, বাংলা Bangla, বঙ্গদেশ Bôngodesh or বাংলাদেশ Bangladesh), is a historical and geographical region in the northeast of South Asia. ... West Bengal   (Bengali: পশ্চিমবঙ্গ, Poshchimbôŋgo) is a state in eastern India. ... East Bengal was the name used during two periods in the 20th century for a territory that roughly included the modern state of Bangladesh. ... East Pakistan was a former province of Pakistan which existed between 1955 and 1971. ... Combatants Mukti Bahini India Aided By  Soviet Union Pakistan Aided By United States People’s Republic of China Commanders • General M A G Osmani • General Jagjit Singh Aurora • General Sam Manekshaw • General A. A. K. Niazi • General Tikka Khan Strength India: 500,000+ Mukti Bahini: 100,000[1][2] Pakistan... [edit] Sindh Hindu Sindhis would have remained in Sindh following the Partition, if it were not for the violence that erupted when massive amounts of Urdu speaking Muslims started pouring into Sindh. They began attacking the Hindu population. Before the announcement of the Partition, there were 1,400,000 Hindu Sindhis in their ancestral land Sindh. However, in a space of less than a year approximately 1,200,000 Hindus Sindhis fled their homes, most of them leaving with little more than the clothes on their bodies. Historically, there had been some minor clashes from time to time, but, by and large, both Hindu and Muslim Sindhis co-existed without too much tension. While some Muslim Sindhis rejoiced at the departure of their rich Hindu neighbours because they felt they would gain from their departure, many Muslim Sindhis, in fact, helped Hindu Sindhis escape to India and saved them from non-Sindhi Muslim mobs. The fate of Hindu Sindhis was tragic. While most of them had been prosperous in their homeland, now they became stateless and took refuge in others parts of India, living in penury and deprivation. [edit] Perspectives [edit] British perspective [edit] Indian perspective [edit] Pakistani perspective 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 Awards in India's favor.[11] 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. Image File history File links Refugeetrain1. ... Image File history File links Refugeetrain1. ... A viceroy is a royal official who governs a country or province in the name of and as representative of the monarch. ... Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (June 25, 1900 – August 27, 1979) was a British admiral and statesman and an uncle of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. ... The Radcliffe line was the line which drew borders between newly created India and Pakistan. ... Some critics allege that British haste led to the cruelties of the Partition.[12] 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 movement in recorded history. According to Richard Symonds[13] “ 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.[citation needed] 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, perhaps insufficient to the task of keeping order. A hasty exit may have been seen as preferable, and perhaps less bloody than the slow disintegration of the Raj.[citation needed] [edit] Demographics of the partition 1947–1965 [edit] History of settlement of partition refugees [edit] 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. The Indies, on the display globe of the Field Museum, Chicago The Indies or East Indies (or East India) is a term used to describe lands of South and South-East Asia, occupying all of the former British India, the present Indian Union, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Maldives, and... North-East India is the easternmost region of India consisting of the following states: Nagaland Arunachal Pradesh Mizoram Manipur Meghalaya Tripura Sikkim Assam Sikkim became an Indian protectorate in 1947 and a full state in 1975. ... West Bengal   (Bengali: পশ্চিমবঙ্গ, Poshchimbôŋgo) is a state in eastern India. ... Assam   (Assamese: অসম Ôxôm) is a north eastern state of India with its capital at Dispur, a part of Guwahati. ... Tripura   (Bengali: ত্রিপুরা, Hindi: त्रिपुरा) is a state in North East India. ... Andaman could mean: Andaman Islands Andaman Sea The book The Andaman Islanders by Alfred Radcliffe-Brown. ... Hindu Sindhis found themselves without a homeland. The responsibility of rehabilitating Hindu Sindhis was borne by all the states in Indian Union, but most Sindhis settled in the western states of Gujarat and Maharashtra. Refugee camps were set up for Hindu Sindhis. Many refugees did consider returning to Sindh once the violence settled down, but it was found that this was not possible, as they found their homes, businesses and other property had been seized by looters and the State. Sindhis (सिन्धी, سنڌي) are an Indo-Aryan language speaking socio-ethnic group of people originating in Sindh which is part of present day Pakistan. ... , Gujarāt (GujarātÄ«: , IPA:  ) is a state in the Republic of India. ... , Maharashtra (Marathi: महाराष्ट्र , IPA:  , English: ) is Indias third largest state in terms of area and second largest in terms of population after Uttar Pradesh. ... Photo of a railway station in Punjab. Many people abandoned their fixed assets and crossed newly formed borders. Many Hindu Sindhis overcame the trauma of poverty. The loss of a homeland has had a deeper and lasting effect on Sindhi culture which is in decline. The Sindhi language usage is dropping amongst younger Sindhis as they adopt the language, culture and tradition of their host state. The lack of spoken Sindhi on television and radio programmes has been a contributing factor in decline. The Sindhi language does remain in use in Sindh, but the dialect used by Hindus is different. Image File history File linksMetadata Partion1. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Partion1. ... 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 the partition) on the grounds that it infringed upon the sovereignty of Pakistan. Sindhis (सिन्धी, سنڌي) are an Indo-Aryan language speaking socio-ethnic group of people originating in Sindh which is part of present day Pakistan. ... Public interest litigation means litigation for the protection of public interest. ... The Supreme Court of India is the highest court of the land as established by Part V, Chapter IV of the Constitution of India. ... The Government of India (Hindi: भारत सरकार Bhārat Sarkār), officially referred to as the Union Government, and commonly as Central Government, was established by the Constitution of India, and is the governing authority of a federal union of 28 states and 7 union territories, collectively called the Republic of India. ... Sindh (SindhÄ«: سنڌ, UrdÅ«: سندھ) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan and is home to the Sindhis, and Muhajirs and various other groups. ... Sheet music for Jana Gana Mana. ... (Bengali: , IPA: ) (7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941), also known by the sobriquet Gurudev, was a Bengali poet, Brahmo Samaj philosopher, visual artist, playwright, novelist, and composer whose works reshaped Bengali literature and music in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. ... [edit] Refugees settled in Pakistan Refugees or 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 refugees to Pakistan did not