Independence Day 2021: Find out the history behind partition of India and Pakistan

-

Pakistan celebrated its Independence Day on Saturday, a day ahead of India's day of liberation. The day India was liberated, it was also partitioned and our neighbouring Pakistan was carved out from it. The event witnessed millions of people being displaced and lakhs of them losing their lives as riots broke out. Among the many states, Noakhali district in West Bengal (close to Bangladesh) and Bihar witnessed large-scale violence and massacres.

Here's a brief insight into how the partition took place despite people from the countries fighting a common enemy – The British.

Sarah Ansari, a professor of history from Royal Holloway, University of London stated that the partition of India was a “last-minute” choice by which the British decided to seal an agreement over how independence in the country will take place. Moreover, Ansari also states that organisations that were representing minority interests at that time had doubts about a united India.

The Indian National Congress (INC) demanded a united India, which would be run on principles of equality and secularity. However, people from the minority groups felt that a united India would establish political dominance of the numerically stronger Hindus. So far they had been protected and supported by a system of reserved legislative seats and separate electorates created by the British.

Besides, a fear started to take root among the Muslims that they would lose the rights or protection given to them by the British. During that time, the All-India Muslim League, which was headed by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, had won a majority of Muslim votes in provincial elections held in 1945-46. This win supported the party’s claim to voice their concern for the subcontinent’s Muslims.

Later in March 1940, the Muslim League passed a resolution demanding the creation of “separate states” to accommodate Indian Muslims. Post the Second World War, the British decided to free India. Then in March 1947, Lord Louis Mountbatten, who was the new viceroy of the country, promised to process the agreement on independence by August that same year.

A new country, Pakistan, was created on 14 August, 1947 with an eastern and a western territory that was separated by 1,700 kilometres of Indian territory.

During the processing of the agreement, new borders were drawn in the country by a Boundary Commission which was led by British lawyer Cyril Radcliffe. Later, Radcliffe clarified that he had relied on outdated maps and census materials in splitting the key provinces of Punjab and Bengal.



from Firstpost India Latest News https://ift.tt/3m7pgWK
FP Trending

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Both COVID-19 vaccine doses needed for good protection against B16172 variant

-
It’s been a concerning few weeks in the UK, with the B16172 variant first taking hold and then spreading to become dominant. This more infectious form of the virus, initially identified in India, is what we’re now going to have to live with – unless it is out-competed by another variant in the future. Worryingly, experts had predicted that B16172 might be able to escape some of the effects of vaccines, which if true would threaten to derail the UK’s plans to finish lifting restrictions from the end of June. However, Public Health England (PHE) has looked at the ability of various variants to evade immunity and says that the UK’s vaccines remain effective against the variants circulating, including B16172. On the surface, this looks like good news. But delve a bit deeper, and things get more complicated, says Paul Hunter, professor of medicine at the University of East Anglia. PHE’s research found a little drop-off in protection against B16172 among people who were fully vaccinated.
Read more

New coronavirus variant emerge in India: How should our COVID response change?

-
Image
After genome sequencing of over 10,000 COVID-19 cases in India, researchers have discovered a new variant with two new mutations which may be better at evading the immune system. In 15-20 percent of samples from the Indian state of Maharashtra (the state accounting for 62 percent of cases in the country) a new, double mutation in key areas of the virus has been detected. These are now known as the E484Q and L452R mutations. What makes the variant different? Both these mutations are concerning because they are located in a key portion of the virus – the spike protein – that it uses to penetrate human cells. Spike proteins attach via a “receptor binding domain”, meaning the virus can attach to receptors in our cells. These new mutations include changes to the spike protein that make it a “better fit” for human cells. This means the virus can gain entry more easily and multiply faster. Given what we have seen with other similar mutations , it might also make it harder for our immu
Read more

Aditya L1 Mission: Spacecraft is nearing its final phase, says ISRO chief

-
Aditya L1 spacecraft is nearing its final phase, and manoeuvres to enter the L1 point are expected to be completed by January 7, 2024, according to ISRO Chairman S Somanath. “Aditya is on the way. I think it has reached almost its final phase,” the ISRO chief told PTI on the sidelines of an event organised at VSSC to commemorate the 60th year of the First Sounding Rocket Launch. Aditya L1, India’s first space-based mission to study the Sun, was successfully launched on September 2 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota. The spacecraft, after travelling about 1.5 million km from Earth over 125 days, is expected to be placed in a Halo orbit around the Lagrangian point L1, considered closest to the Sun. He said that the last preparations for the spacecraft’s entry into the L1 point are currently underway incrementally.”Possibly by January 7th, the final manoeuvres will be done for entering into the L1 point,” Somanath added. Among other tasks, it will capture and tr
Read more