It is interesting that most scholars today (and contemporaries then) do not refer to the "division of South Asia" or the "division of the sub-continent" or even the "break-up of the sub-continent," but it is usually referred to as the "partition" of "India."
- England had been the great power controller of the area since the eighteenth century
- "India," the "crown jewel" of the British Empire, was a very complicated area with a mixture of legal, territorial and dynastic arrangements--some regions were directly controlled by the British; others were independent princely states allied by treaty with England; others were friendly to the British, etc.
- From a religious perspective, the region was a complicated inter-mixture of Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, and others
- With the end of World War II, it quickly became apparent that the British were unwilling/unable to maintain their presence on the sub-continent.
"A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance." -Jawarhalal Nehru
Timeline leading to Partition
1858- The India Act: power transferred to British Government.
1885- Indian National Congress founded by Allen. O. Hume to unite all Indians and strengthen bonds with Britain.
1905- First Partition of Bengal for administrative purposes. Gives the Muslims a majority in that state.
1906- All India Muslim League founded to promote Muslim political interests.
1909-Revocation of Partition of Bengal. Creates anti-British and anti-Hindu sentiments among Muslims as they lose their majority in East Bengal.
1916-Lucknow Pact. The Congress and the League unite in demand for greater self-government. It is denied by the British.
1919- Amritsar Massacre. General Dyer opens fire on 20,000 unarmed Indian civilians at a political demonstration Congress and the League lose faith in the British.
1919-Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms (implemented in 1921). Communal representation institutionalised for the first timeas reserved legislative seats are allocated for significant minorities.
1920-Gandhi launches a non-violent, non-cooperation movement, or Satyagraha, against the British for a free India.
1929-Congress calls for full independence.
1930-Dr. Allama Iqbal, a poet-politician, calls for a separate homeland for the Muslims at the Allahabad session of the Muslim League. Gandhi starts Civil Disobedience Movement against the Salt Laws by which the British had a monopoly over production and sale of salt.
1930-31-The Round Table conferences, set up to consider Dominion status for India. They fail because of non-attendance by the Congress and because Gandhi, who does attend, claims he is the only representative of all of India.
1931- Irwin-Gandhi Pact, which concedes to Gandhi's demands at the Round Table conferences and further isolates Muslim League from the Congress and the British.
1935-Government of India Act: proposes a federal India of political provinces with elected local governments but British control over foreign policy and defence.
1937-Elections. Congress gains majority.
1940- Jinnah calls for establishment of Pakistan in an independent and partitioned India.
1942-Cripps Mission o India, to conduct negotiations between all political parties and to set up a cabinet government. Congress adopts Quit India Resolution, to rid India of British rule. Congress leaders arrested for obstructing war effort.
1942-43-Muslim League gains more power: ministries formed in Sind, Bengal and North-West Frontier Province and greater influence in the Punjab.
1944-Gandhi released from prison. Unsuccessful Gandhi-Jinnah talks, but Muslims see this as an acknowledgment that Jinnah represents all Indian Muslims.
1946-Muslim League participates in Interim Government that is set up according to the Cabinet Mission Plan.
1947-Announcement of Lord Mountbatten's plan for partition of India, 3 June. Partition of India and Pakistan, 15 August. Radcliffe Award of boundaries of the nations, 16 August.
14 August, 1947, saw the birth of the new Islamic Republic of Pakistan. At midnight the next day India won its freedom from colonial rule, ending nearly 350 years of British presence in India. During the struggle for freedom, Gandhi had written an appeal "To Every Briton" to free their possessions in Asia and Africa, especially India (Philips and Wainwright, 567). The British left India divided in two. The two countries were founded on the basis of religion, with Pakistan as an Islamic state and India as a secular one.
Whether the partition of these countries was wise and whether it was done too soon is still under debate. Even the imposition of an official boundary has not stopped conflict between them. Boundary issues, left unresolved by the British, have caused two wars and continuing strife between India and Pakistan.
The Partition was accompanied by one of the largest and most rapid population transfers in world history, with 17.9 million people leaving their homes. Of these, only 14.5 million arrived, suggesting that 3.4 million went missing or they were dead.
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