How it Started

The seeds of partition were sown long before Independence. Rifts between religious groups were encouraged by local leaders and were further strengthened when the British started defining communities by religion, for political representation.

The rift grew more evident during World War II when the Muslim League political party aligned with the British while the Indian National Congress (INC) political party leaders were imprisoned. The Muslim League on their part had concerns about Hindu dominance and marginalization of Muslims in a country led by the INC.

After WW II, Britain could no longer control India and would need to hand over the administration to one or both of the major political parties.

The INC and Muslim League were unable to recommend a unified Federal structure for India that represented Hindus and other religious minorities and rejected Viceroy Mountbatten Cabinet Mission Plan of May 16, 1946.

DIRECT ACTION AND CALCUTTA RIOTS
 The Muslim League called for a 'Direct Action' day demanding a separate homeland for Muslims. Waves of communal violence spread through India in August 1946. as a result of this. Communal riots in Calcutta killed 4,000 people and made another 100,000 homeless. The riots forced the INC and the English to accept the Muslim League's demand for partition.

PLAN BALKAN
Mountbatten's 'Plan Balkan', recommended separate dominions for Pakistan, the Princely states and the rest of British India with certain key areas of administration run by a central Government.

The British Prime Minister Atlee announced that Britain would leave India by June 30th, 1948 to force INC and the Muslim League to agree on specifics regarding the partition.  Atlee's declaration intensified sectarian violence in Punjab, Bihar, Bengal and Rajasthan.
Most of the Princely States merged with India while some others went with Pakistan. Punjab, a Muslim-majority State was inhabited by Sikhs and any degree of partition of the province would divide the Sikhs. Two tehsils (administrative units) of Punjab's Gurdaspur were included in Pakistan. Chittagong was also included in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh).

RADCLIFFE LINE
The British lawyer and Law-Lord, Cyril Radcliffe defined the international boundaries for India and Pakistan in 5 weeks. The Radcliffe Line was announced on August 17th, 1947 after India and Pakistan's independence.

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Newspaper image source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/Time-travel-with-The-Times/toi175yrsarticleshow/19681737.cms

Published March 2016