August 13, 2022
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Since 1959, the border guards of both countries have held flag-lowering ceremonies at the Wagah post on the India-Pakistan border at the same time every night. The Waga Post is near Amritsar.
In August 1947, Britain agreed to India’s independence.
British India was divided into India and the new state of Pakistan (East Pakistan later became Bangladesh). This situation has led to increased violence, with approximately 15 million people displaced and an estimated 1 million killed.
India and Pakistan have been hostile ever since.
Why divide and conquer?
In 1946, Britain announced that it would agree to India’s independence. He can no longer afford to rule the country and wants to leave as soon as possible.
The last Governor, Lord Louis Mountbatten, set the date as 15 August 1947.
At the time, about 25% of India’s population was Muslim, with the remainder predominantly Hindu, with additional inclusion of Sikhs, Buddhists and members of other minority religions.
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Indian independence movement leaders Gandhi (right) and Nehru hope that post-independence India will be a pluralistic, inclusive, multi-religious, multi-ethnic, centralized state. The picture shows Nehru and Gandhi talking in the 1940s
“Britain used religion as a way of dividing Indians into categories,” says Professor Navtej Purewal, a fellow at the Indian Arts and Humanities Research Council.
“For example, they have separate lists of Muslim and Hindu voters for local elections. The parliament has seats reserved for Muslim politicians and seats reserved for Hindus. Religion comes is a factor in political life.”
Dr Gareth Price, of the Chatham House Foreign Policy Institute, a think tank in London, said: “When India looked likely to gain independence, many Indian Muslims were very worried about living in a Hindu majority country.
“They feel like they’re going to be overwhelmed and overwhelmed,” he said. “They began to support political leaders who were fighting to create an independent Muslim homeland.”
Congress independence movement leaders Mohandas Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru said they wanted a united India including all faiths.
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Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the holder of the cigarette, strongly opposed Gandhi’s vision of Indian independence and statehood. Gandhi and Jinnah arguing outside the latter’s home in 1939.
However, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the leader of the All-India Muslim League, has called for partition to be included in a solution for Indian independence.
“It will take a long time to agree on how a united India will work,” said Dr Price.
Divide and conquer seems to be a “quick and easy fix”.
image source,Huw Evans photo agency
A violent clash between Hindus and Muslims in Kolkata in 1946 is believed to have killed 2,000 people in a brawl
What pain did the parting cause?
The new border between India and Pakistan was drawn in 1947 by a British civil servant, Sir Cyril Radcliffe.
He roughly divided the Indian subcontinent into the Hindu-majority central and southern parts, and the Muslim-majority north-western and north-eastern parts.
However, there were Hindu and Muslim communities throughout British India. That means some 15 million people will have to travel long distances – often hundreds of miles – across the new border after the partition of India and Pakistan.
In many cases, people have been driven from their homes by local violence. The first such case was the Calcutta massacre in 1946, when around 2,000 people were killed.
“The Muslim League has formed a militia, and right-wing Hindu groups have formed a militia,” said Dr Eleanor Newbigin, senior lecturer in South Asian history at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London.
“Radical terrorist groups are driving people out of villages and expanding their control,” he said.
An estimated 200,000 to 1 million people were killed or died of disease in the camps, and tens of thousands of Hindu and Muslim women were raped, kidnapped or mutilated.
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Sikh refugees in the Amritsar refugee camp. The partition led to 12 to 20 million people being uprooted and displaced.
What are the consequences of division?
India and Pakistan have fought over control of Kashmir since partition.
The two countries fought two wars over this (1947-8 and 1965), and the 1999 Kashmir Kargil crisis also broke out between the two sides.
Both India and Pakistan claim Kashmir as their own. Both sides currently control different parts of the site.
India went to war against Pakistan in 1971. At that time, East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) was fighting for independence from Pakistan, and India intervened in that war.
Today, less than 2% of Pakistan’s population is Hindu.
Dr Price said: “Pakistan has become increasingly Islamic, partly because Pakistan now has a large Muslim population and very few Hindus.
“India is now more influenced by Hindu nationalism.”
“The historical legacy of partition is painful,” said Dr Newbigin.
“It has created strong religious majorities in both countries. Minorities are smaller and more vulnerable than before.”
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The process of partition of India and Pakistan was full of violence and bloodshed, towns were destroyed and people were displaced
In fact, it is possible to avoid divide and conquer, says Professor Prival.
“It was entirely possible in 1947 to create a united India. It could be a loose federation, including states with a Muslim majority,” he said.
But Gandhi and Nehru insisted on a unified, centralized state. They didn’t really think how Muslims as a minority would live in a country like that.
