India&Pakistan 07

Birth of Two Nations

Indian demands for an end to British colonial rule had been growing throughout the first half of the 20th century. Muslim separatism was also on the rise, leading to regular and sometimes vicious outbreaks of communal violence between Muslims and Hindus.

After the 1946 elections, when the Muslim League won most of the seats in Muslim areas, a campaign of direct action, strikes and protests were called and culminated in the Calcutta Riots, which claimed the lives of up to 6,000 people. India had become ungovernable, and with the consent of the British, partition was agreed.

Troops in Amritsar after riots in 1947

At midnight on August 15th 1947, two sovereign countries, India and Pakistan, came into legal existence. In the immediate days afterwards, mass migration occurred between the two countries and continuing violence between Hindus and Muslims (as well as Sikhs in the Punjab) is thought they resulted in a million deaths.

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Share with us your memories of India and Pakistan in 1947. If you lived there or have heard stories from your parents or grandparents, share your stories on Memoryshare.

Posted memories

Here is a selection of the memories posted already that recall the events in India and Pakistan in 1947:

Qamar Baig

"My aunt (my father’s sister) lived in Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh before the partition. Her family were fairly wealthy land owners with their own livestock.

A lot of violent attacks where taking place at the time of the partition, houses were being set alight and people were being looted. The troubles where getting to be too much for the family to handle. Their lives where in danger as well. They decided that they had to leave very quickly to save themselves.

On their way the family was attacked and murdered. The only survivors were my auntie, her two young sons and one daughter. They managed to join a large group of people who were also moving across into Pakistan and where able to get there safely.

They lost everything and it was expected that people would just have to adapt to living in a different country, but what they didn’t imagine is what became of them."

Nasreen Ali

"My family travelled from India into Pakistan at the time of the partition, on foot. It seemed as if they had been walking forever, I recall my grandmother telling me. They fled their homes with only the clothes they were wearing, their feet were sore and had blistered.

Many of the families had no money, no food and were stricken with hunger. On their way they were attacked and wells and streams where poisoned so people went without water as they were afraid for their lives.

After fifteen or so days they reached a village in the Lyallpur District now know as Faisalabad. There the family found an empty small house made from mud, it had one room and did not have any sanitation or water."

Gulnaz Ali

"My grandfather was murdered whilst he prayed at the mosque at the time of partition. A lot of Muslim men where attacked and murdered like this.

Most of the women fled the area by joining groups of people or by going into hiding on their way across into Pakistan.

To this day there is still standing a mosque where my family found refuge in Gujranwala, Pakistan."

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