Partition - the forgotten legacy of the Raj
Tuesday, 20 Nov 2007 11:21
The Simla conference in March 1947 marked the beginning of the Partition process
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This year India celebrated 60 years of independence, but the festivities remain bittersweet for some.
Along with the British withdrawal in August 1947 came the birth of Pakistan, mass migration, civil unrest and violence on an incomprehensible scale.
Bowing to pressure from authorities in London for a quick get-out after several years of protests and the emergence of a politically-aware Indian bourgeoisie, the British sent Lord Mountbatten to India in 1946 to quell rising tensions.
The fresh-faced dignitary arrived in the subcontinent armed with the task of ensuring as peaceful a withdrawal as possible. Initial plans for a united India, championed by Pandit Nehru and the India National Congress, were opposed by the leader of the Muslim League, Mohammed Ali Jinnah.
Mountbatten's original plan was to orchestrate a peaceful and staggered withdrawal by June 1948, leaving India as one united country.
However Jinnah's cause and Muslim insecurities about living in a nation governed by Hindus led to now world-famous crisis talks in Simla. The conference, which took place in March 1947, provided some of the most iconic images of 20th century Indian history and was to mark the beginning of the Partition process.
What was intended as a mediation session to please all the leaders became a stalemate. Jinnah refused to accept plans for a united secular Indian, famously claiming that the country would be "divided or destroyed" while Nehru and Gandhi still clung to the idea of one homeland for Indians of all faiths.
Mountbatten decided to go with Jinnah, hoping the decision to create two separate countries - the secular India and the Islamic nation of Pakistan - would provide damage limitation. The original withdrawal date was brought forward to August 1947 and with 36 days to go before the birth of Pakistan on August 14th, lawyer Sir Cyril Radcliff arrived in Simla to draw-up new maps for the countries.
Working from a strict set of criteria, including religious populations, transport links, irrigation systems and communication ways, he set out deciding where the line of control would fall.
His task proved difficult in two states, Bengal and Punjab. Both of these, among the most important to the Indian economy and holding major religious significance to Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims, were to be divided equally between India and Pakistan. Radcliff drew his line through towns, villages and communities, splitting the land in the fairest way possible.
With the new border dictated, the formal preparations were complete and the British prepared to withdraw. In an official capacity all seemed to have been carried out relatively pain-free. But on the streets of India, particularly in northern cities and towns where one religion was dominant, fear and tension grew.
The wealthy inhabitants of Delhi, Lahore, Calcutta and Dhaka began to pack belongings heading to Pakistan if Muslim or making their way to India if Hindu or Sikh. The fact that the division did not require this mass migration was not conveyed to ordinary Indians. Unsure of what would happen when the British handed over to the new rulers, locals panicked and fled their home towns.
All through August and into September, thousands upon thousands of people left their homes, businesses, and in some cases families, to make the journey to Pakistan or India.
Accepted figures suggest that Partition led to the displacement of some 14.5 million people, with over seven million Muslims leaving India for Pakistan and roughly the same number of Hindus and Sikhs crossing the border into India.
Though an official death toll in the rioting and violence that followed Partition has never been confirmed, it is estimated that close to a million people lost their lives as a result.
Violence burned through the Punjab from the capital of Lahore to the Sikh stronghold of Amritsar and residents of all religions were whipped into fervour. Stories are told about trains setting off from one country full of migrants only to arrive at their destinations full of dead bodies.
Women and children were raped in the violence and people who lived through the turbulent time claim that fathers killed their own daughters to protect their innocence.
The ineffability of the horrors of Partition have haunted Indian and Pakistan families for over half a century. For many it is only now, after 60 years, that what happened can be discussed over the dinner table.
Those people whose parents survived through Partition and made the arduous journey from one country to another have recently brought the subject back to public consciousness.
Writers such as Siddhartha Deb, whose 1997 novel The Point of Return explored the implications Partition has had on familiar relationships and the sense of cultural identity, are at the forefront of a new Indian consciousness.
Perhaps inspired by Attia Hossain or Saadat Hassan Manto, artists are paving the way for second and third generation Partition survivors to explore the sense of rootlessness that prevails.
Partition may have led to Indian independence, but it is important not to forget the legacy it left behind. Three wars have been fought in India and Pakistan since 1947 - the most high-profile perhaps being the 1971 conflict which resulted in East Pakistan becoming Bangladesh - and the Kashmir question still remains unanswered.
Rebecca Amir