An outline, era by era

India and Pakistan

independence and partition (1947); Bangladesh (1971)

20th Century · 1914 – 2000

India and Pakistan became independent states on 14 and 15 August 1947, when Britain ended its rule over the Indian subcontinent. The British Indian Empire was divided along religious lines into the Dominion of Pakistan, with a Muslim majority and two wings, East and West, and the Dominion of India, with a Hindu majority but a large Muslim minority. The partition of Punjab and Bengal caused one of the largest migrations in history, and widespread violence in which hundreds of thousands of people died.

The two countries have since fought several wars and remain rivals, especially over Kashmir. In 1971 the eastern wing of Pakistan broke away after a civil war and an Indian military intervention, and became the independent state of Bangladesh. The events of 1947 and 1971 shaped the politics, borders and memory of South Asia, which now holds around a quarter of the world's population.

Things happened, and the rest is history

  1. The Lahore Resolution and the demand for Pakistan

    Event

    What happened

    In March 1940 the All-India Muslim League, led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, meets at Lahore and passes a resolution calling for Muslim-majority areas in the north-west and east of India to be grouped as 'independent States'. The resolution does not use the word Pakistan. The name had been coined by Choudhry Rahmat Ali in a pamphlet of 1933 and was soon attached to the demand.

    The rest is history

    The League had done poorly in the 1937 provincial elections, but during the Second World War it grew rapidly, while Congress leaders resigned from office in 1939 and were jailed after the Quit India movement of 1942. In the elections of 1945 to 1946 the League won nearly all the Muslim seats. Historians still debate whether Jinnah wanted a separate state or used the demand to bargain for a weak centre in a united India. By 1946 the idea of Pakistan was a central issue in negotiations with Britain.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryLahore Resolution. Resolution of the All-India Muslim League, Lahore, 23 March 1940.
    2. BookJalal, Ayesha. The Sole Spokesman: Jinnah, the Muslim League and the Demand for Pakistan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985.

  2. The Cabinet Mission and the Direct Action Day riots

    Event

    What happened

    In 1946 a British Cabinet Mission proposes a loose union of India with strong provinces, but the plan collapses over disagreements between Congress and the Muslim League. The League then calls a Direct Action Day for 16 August 1946. In Calcutta, rioting over several days kills thousands of people, and violence later spreads to Noakhali, Bihar and other areas.

    The rest is history

    The riots hardened mistrust between the communities and made a united India far harder to hold together. An interim government formed in September 1946 was torn by quarrels between Congress and the League. Many historians see these months as the point when partition became very likely. In February 1947 the British government announced that it would leave India by June 1948.

    Sources

    1. BookKhan, Yasmin. The Great Partition: The Making of India and Pakistan. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007.
    2. BookMansergh, Nicholas, et al., eds. The Transfer of Power 1942-7. 12 vols. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1970-1983.

  3. The Mountbatten Plan and the Radcliffe Line

    Event

    What happened

    Lord Mountbatten arrives as Viceroy in March 1947 and on 3 June announces a plan to partition India, and he brings the date of British departure forward to August. The Indian Independence Act passes in July. A boundary commission under the lawyer Cyril Radcliffe, who had never been to India before, draws the borders through Punjab and Bengal in about five weeks.

    The rest is history

    The two borders were not announced until 17 August 1947, two days after independence, so millions did not know which country they lived in. Many historians criticise the speed of the British withdrawal, though some argue that the violence had deeper causes. Princely states were told to join one dominion or the other, which later left Kashmir, Hyderabad and Junagadh in dispute. The Radcliffe awards remain the basis of the borders of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryIndian Independence Act 1947. Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, 18 July 1947.
    2. BookChester, Lucy P. Borders and Conflict in South Asia: The Radcliffe Boundary Commission and the Partition of Punjab. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2009.

  4. Partition violence and mass migration

    Event

    What happened

    In the months around August 1947, Hindus and Sikhs in what becomes West Pakistan, and Muslims in the Indian Punjab and nearby areas, flee across the new border. There are massacres, abductions and sexual violence on all sides, and trains are attacked. Around 15 million people are displaced, and estimates of the dead range from several hundred thousand to around a million or more.

    The rest is history

    The Punjab was almost emptied of Hindus and Sikhs on the Pakistani side and Muslims on the Indian side within a few months. Thousands of abducted women were later recovered under an agreement between the two governments, sometimes against their own wishes. Both states had to settle millions of refugees, and the memory of these months shaped national identity and distrust on both sides. Bengal saw a slower and less violent movement of people that continued for decades.

    Sources

    1. BookZamindar, Vazira Fazila-Yacoobali. The Long Partition and the Making of Modern South Asia. New York: Columbia University Press, 2007.
    2. BookButalia, Urvashi. The Other Side of Silence: Voices from the Partition of India. London: Hurst, 1998.

  5. Kashmir and the first war, 1947 to 1949

    Event

    What happened

    In October 1947 armed tribesmen from Pakistan's north-west enter Jammu and Kashmir, whose Hindu ruler Maharaja Hari Singh governs a mainly Muslim population. He signs an Instrument of Accession to India, and Indian troops are flown to Srinagar. Fighting between Indian and Pakistani forces continues until a United Nations-brokered ceasefire takes effect on 1 January 1949.

    The rest is history

    The ceasefire line divided Kashmir between Indian and Pakistani control, and became the Line of Control after 1972. A UN resolution called for a plebiscite, which was never held. India and Pakistan have since disputed the legitimacy of the accession and fought further wars in 1965 and 1999 and a smaller one in 1971. Kashmir remains the main source of conflict between them.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryInstrument of Accession of Jammu and Kashmir State. Signed by Maharaja Hari Singh, 26 October 1947.
    2. BookSchofield, Victoria. Kashmir in Conflict: India, Pakistan and the Unending War. London: I.B. Tauris, 2000.

  6. The language movement in East Pakistan

    Event

    What happened

    Pakistan's two wings are over 1,000 kilometres apart, with India between them. In 1948 Jinnah declares in Dhaka that Urdu alone will be the state language, though most Pakistanis speak Bengali. Protests grow, and on 21 February 1952 police fire on demonstrators in Dhaka, killing several students and others.

    The rest is history

    Bengali was recognised as an official language in 1956. The movement fed a Bengali national identity, and the 21st of February is now commemorated as International Mother Language Day by UNESCO. Resentment grew over the army's dominance, the capital's location in the west and the unequal sharing of resources. The Awami League of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman put forward a Six Point programme for autonomy in 1966.

    Sources

    1. BookJahan, Rounaq. Pakistan: Failure in National Integration. New York: Columbia University Press, 1972.
    2. BookAhmed, Ishtiaq. The Punjab Bloodied, Partitioned and Cleansed. Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2012.

  7. The 1970 election and Operation Searchlight

    Event

    What happened

    In the December 1970 general election the Awami League wins almost all the seats in East Pakistan and so a majority in the national assembly. Talks with the military ruler Yahya Khan and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto fail. On the night of 25 March 1971 the army begins Operation Searchlight in Dhaka, and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman is arrested.

    The rest is history

    A Bengali resistance, the Mukti Bahini, took up arms, and the army's campaign brought large-scale killings and displacement. About ten million refugees crossed into India. The number of dead is disputed, with Bangladeshi figures of around three million and much lower scholarly estimates, but all agree it was very large. Pakistan's government of the time rejected the charge of atrocities, and the debates remain sensitive.

    Sources

    1. BookRaghavan, Srinath. 1971: A Global History of the Creation of Bangladesh. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2013.
    2. BookSisson, Richard, and Leo E. Rose. War and Secession: Pakistan, India, and the Creation of Bangladesh. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990.

  8. The 1971 war and the birth of Bangladesh

    Event

    What happened

    On 3 December 1971 Pakistan launches air strikes on Indian airfields, and India, which had been supporting the Bengali resistance, enters the war in the east and west. Indian and Mukti Bahini forces advance on Dhaka. On 16 December 1971 Pakistani commander General A. A. K. Niazi signs the instrument of surrender in Dhaka.

    The rest is history

    Bangladesh became independent, and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman returned from prison in Pakistan in January 1972. Large numbers of Pakistani soldiers were held as prisoners in India until an agreement in 1973 to 1974. India and Pakistan signed the Simla Agreement in July 1972, and Pakistan recognised Bangladesh in 1974. The war left Pakistan with only its western territory and confirmed India as the leading power of South Asia.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryInstrument of Surrender, Dhaka, 16 December 1971. Signed by Lt. Gen. A. A. K. Niazi and Lt. Gen. J. S. Aurora.
    2. BookRaghavan, Srinath. 1971: A Global History of the Creation of Bangladesh. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2013.

  9. Gandhi's fast and the 'Father of the Nation' story

    Popular belief

    The legend

    In a popular telling, Mahatma Gandhi single-handedly won India's independence through nonviolence alone, and fasted to stop the violence of partition. He is called the Father of the Nation.

    The rest is history

    Gandhi's campaigns, including the Salt March of 1930 and Quit India in 1942, were important in building a mass movement. But independence also came from many other factors, such as the weakened position of Britain after the Second World War, the role of other leaders such as Nehru, Patel and Ambedkar, and political negotiations. Gandhi opposed partition and was not present at the independence celebrations. He spent the day in Calcutta fasting and trying to calm communal violence. He fasted in January 1948 to press for peace in Delhi and for payment of funds owed to Pakistan, and he was assassinated on 30 January 1948 by Nathuram Godse.

    Sources

    1. BookGuha, Ramachandra. Gandhi: The Years That Changed the World, 1914-1948. New York: Knopf, 2018.
    2. BookBrown, Judith M. Gandhi: Prisoner of Hope. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1989.

  10. Britain divided and ruled, and partition was its plan

    Popular belief

    The legend

    It is often said that partition was a long-held British plan to divide Hindus and Muslims so that the empire could rule them, and that the British then left a ruined country behind.

    The rest is history

    The British did use religious categories in the census and in separate electorates, introduced in 1909, which helped harden communal identities. But historians generally do not find a single plan to partition India. In 1946 the Cabinet Mission tried to keep India united, and the final partition was a hurried response to political deadlock and violence. The roles of Congress, the Muslim League and local politics were also decisive. The timetable was shortened by Mountbatten from June 1948 to August 1947.

    Sources

    1. BookJalal, Ayesha. The Sole Spokesman: Jinnah, the Muslim League and the Demand for Pakistan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985.
    2. BookKhan, Yasmin. The Great Partition: The Making of India and Pakistan. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007.

  11. Jinnah as the sole creator of Pakistan, or its sole villain

    Popular belief

    The legend

    In popular memory Jinnah is either the great Quaid-e-Azam who singlehandedly created Pakistan, or the villain who broke up India out of personal ambition.

    The rest is history

    Jinnah was a leading figure. He had begun as a member of Congress and an advocate of Hindu-Muslim unity, and later led the League. Historians such as Ayesha Jalal argue that his aims were more complex, and that the final partition was not what he first sought. Many others also shaped events, including Congress leaders, the British government and provincial politicians in Punjab and Bengal. Jinnah became Pakistan's first Governor-General and died on 11 September 1948.

    Sources

    1. BookJalal, Ayesha. The Sole Spokesman: Jinnah, the Muslim League and the Demand for Pakistan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985.
    2. BookWolpert, Stanley. Jinnah of Pakistan. New York: Oxford University Press, 1984.

  12. Radcliffe drew the line without knowing the land

    Popular belief

    The legend

    It is often told that Cyril Radcliffe, who had never visited India, drew the border in a few weeks, working alone with outdated maps, and then fled the country, burning his papers.

    The rest is history

    Part of this is true. Radcliffe had never been to India, and he had about five weeks in the summer of 1947. He worked with two commissions of Indian judges for each province, who split along communal lines, so he made the final decisions. He used census data and had few reliable maps. He did leave soon after the awards, and reportedly did not keep his papers, but the main records survive in the British archives. The award was published on 17 August 1947.

    Sources

    1. BookChester, Lucy P. Borders and Conflict in South Asia: The Radcliffe Boundary Commission and the Partition of Punjab. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2009.
    2. BookMansergh, Nicholas, et al., eds. The Transfer of Power 1942-7. 12 vols. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1970-1983.

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