which british lawyer created the india pakistan border

Who was tasked with drawing the borders to separate India from Pakistan?

Sir Syril Radcliffe, a British barrister from Scotland was tasked with drawing the borders to separate India from Pakistan. Upon landing in Delhi for the first time in his life, he was given a plain map and asked to draw a line through it with a pencil.

What is the history of the Pakistan-India border?

Tellingly, although Pakistan celebrated its independence on 14 August and India on 15 August 1947, the border between the two new states was not announced until 17 August. It was hurriedly drawn up by a British lawyer, Cyril Radcliffe, who had little knowledge of Indian conditions and with the use of out-of-date maps and census materials.

Why was India separated from Pakistan in 1947?

India was separated in August 1947 as it gained its independence, splitting into Pakistan and India. The decision to create two separate countries was sparked by the end of British rule in India. It was decided that to limit violence and bloodshed between Hindus and Muslims,...

What is the core dispute between India and Pakistan?

This “core dispute” started with a jihadi based provocation. The Maharaja of Jammu & Kashmir, Hari Singh had decided not to join either India or Pakistan in 1947. Instead of diplomacy, Pakistan decided to use terror to force Maharaja Hari Singh to capitulate and join Pakistan.

Who created the India Pakistan border?

Sir Cyril RadcliffeIndia–Pakistan borderLength3,323 kilometres (2,065 mi)HistoryEstablished17 August 1947 Creation of the Radcliffe Line by Sir Cyril Radcliffe due to the Partition of IndiaCurrent shape2 July 1972 Demarcation of the Line of Control after ratification of the Shimla Treaty5 more rows

Who was Cyril Radcliffe?

Cyril John Radcliffe, 1st Viscount Radcliffe, GBE, PC, QC, FBA (30 March 1899 – 1 April 1977) was a British lawyer and Law Lord best known for his role in the Partition of India. He served as the first chancellor of the University of Warwick from its foundation in 1965 to 1977.

Who created map of Pakistan?

Choudhry Rahmat AliChaudhry Rehmat AliBorn16 November 1897 Garhshankar, Punjab, British IndiaDied3 February 1951 (aged 53) Cambridge, EnglandNationalityBritish Pakistani7 more rows

Who created the Indian partition?

Plan for partition: 1946–1947 Vallabhbhai Patel was one of the first Congress leaders to accept the partition of India as a solution to the rising Muslim separatist movement.

Why did India split into two countries?

It was decided that to limit violence and bloodshed between Hindus and Muslims, the country would be split into two completely separate countries.

When did India split from India?

At the stroke of midnight, on the eve of August 14, 1947, it split from India. More than six million Muslims relocated from India to West Pakistan, with more than four million Hindus and Sikhs moving from West Pakistan to India.

Why did the British decide to create two separate countries?

The decision to create two separate countries was sparked by the end of British rule in India .

How many Muslims moved to West Pakistan?

More than six million Muslims relocated from India to West Pakistan, with more than four million Hindus and Sikhs moving from West Pakistan to India.

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How long did it take Radcliffe to decide on a border?

Radcliffe had never before visited India and was given just five weeks to decide on a border after his arrival in the country.

When did India and Pakistan split?

Crown rule in India. The two self-governing independent Dominions of India and Pakistan legally came into existence at midnight on 15 August 1947. The partition displaced between 10 and 20 million people along religious lines, ...

What countries were unaffected by the partition of India?

Other contemporaneous political entities in the region in 1947—the Kingdom of Sikkim, Kingdom of Bhutan, Kingdom of Nepal, and the Maldives —were unaffected by the partition. Among princely states, the violence was often highly organised with the involvement or complicity of the rulers.

Why was India partitioned?

The partition was a highly controversial arrangement, and remains a cause of much tension on the Indian subcontinent today. According to American scholar Allen McGrath, many British leaders including the British Viceroy, Mountbatten, were unhappy over the partition of India. Lord Mountbatten of Burma had not only been accused of rushing the process through but also is alleged to have influenced the Radcliffe Line in India's favor. The commission took longer to decide on a final boundary than on the partition itself. Thus the two nations were granted their independence even before there was a defined boundary between them.

How many people were displaced in Pakistan in 1951?

The 1951 Census of Pakistan identified the number of displaced persons in Pakistan at 7,226,600, presumably all Muslims who had entered Pakistan from India; the 1951 Census of India counted 7,295,870 displaced persons, apparently all Hindus and Sikhs who had moved to India from Pakistan immediately after the partition.

Why do Hindus flee to India?

Due to religious persecution in Pakistan, Hindus continue to flee to India. Most of them tend to settle in the state of Rajasthan in India. According to data of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, just around 1,000 Hindu families fled to India in 2013. In May 2014, a member of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Dr. Ramesh Kumar Vankwani, revealed in the National Assembly of Pakistan that around 5,000 Hindus are migrating from Pakistan to India every year. Since India is not a signatory to the 1951 United Nations Refugee Convention , it refuses to recognise Pakistani Hindu migrants as refugees.

What is the Dominion of India?

The two states have since gone through further reorganization: the Dominion of India is today the Republic of India (since 1950); while the Dominion of Pakistan was composed of what is known today as the Islamic Republic of Pakistan (since 1956) and the People's Republic of Bangladesh (since 1971). The partition involved the division ...

What is the color of the British Indian Empire?

British Indian Empire in The Imperial Gazetteer of India, 1909. British India is shaded pink, the princely states yellow. The Partition of India was the division of British India into two independent Dominions: India and Pakistan. The two states have since gone through further reorganization: the Dominion of India is today the Republic of India ...

What happened in 1947 Pakistan?

By now, November 1947, the Pakistan Military had armed non-Kashmiri Jihadists militias who terrorized, raped and pillaged the locals while capturing territory in the name of Islam.

Why has Pakistan's narrative and position withered?

Pakistan’s narrative and position has withered because it was never legitimate.

What was the purpose of the boundary commision?

When it was clear that British rule from India will come to an end and partition of India will take place, a commision called “Boundary commision” was formed to draw border for India,East pakistan and west pakistan.

Why did Pakistan use terror?

Instead of diplomacy, Pakistan decided to use terror to force Maharaja Hari Singh to capitulate and join Pakistan. (This was also the first instance of Islamic terrorism being used as statecraft by Pakistan)

When did Jammu and Kashmir become a state?

Jammu & Kashmir became a state of India on October 26, 1947 .

What was the result of the partition of India?

The events of the partition were marked by the eruption of large scale riots and massive refugee crisis leading to the death of thousands of people and displacement of a million others in both western and eastern frontiers of the provinces of Punjab and Bengal respectively.

How long have we been fighting for our borders?

Today after almost 70 years we are still fighting for our borders.

Who was the Viceroy of India in 1947?

A crude border had already been drawn up by Lord Wavell, the Viceroy of India prior to his replacement as Viceroy, in February 1947, by Lord Louis Mountbatten. In order to determine exactly which territories to assign to each country, in June 1947, Britain appointed Sir Cyril Radcliffe to chair two boundary commissions—one for Bengal and one for Punjab.

How many members were on the Indian boundary commission?

Each boundary commission consisted of five people – a chairman ( Radcliffe ), two members nominated by the Indian National Congress and two members nominated by the Muslim League.

How long did it take Radcliffe to decide on the border?

After arriving in India on 8 July 1947, Radcliffe was given just five weeks to decide on a border. He soon met with his fellow college alumnus Mountbatten and travelled to Lahore and Calcutta to meet with commission members, chiefly Nehru from the Congress and Jinnah, president of the Muslim League. He objected to the short time frame, but all parties were insistent that the line be finished by 15 August British withdrawal from India. Mountbatten had accepted the post as Viceroy on the condition of an early deadline. The decision was completed just a couple of days before the withdrawal, but due to political manoeuvring, not published until 17 August 1947, two days after the grant of independence to India and Pakistan.

Which district did Radcliffe give the majority of the Muslim tehsils to?

In addition to Gurdaspur's Muslim majority tehsils, Radcliffe also gave the Muslim majority tehsils of Ajnala (Amritsar District), Zira, Ferozpur (in Ferozpur District), Nakodar and Jullander (in Jullander District) to India instead of Pakistan.

Why was the Punjab Award changed?

Regardless of how it transpired, the award was changed to put a salient east of the Sutlej canal within India's domain instead of Pakistan's. This area consisted of two Muslim-majority tehsils with a combined population of over half a million. There were two apparent reasons for the switch: the area housed an army arms depot, and contained the headwaters of a canal which irrigated the princely state of Bikaner, which would accede to India.

What regions were affected by the extended partition of India?

The regions affected by the extended Partition of India: green regions were all part of Pakistan by 1948, and orange part of India. The darker-shaded regions represent the Punjab and Bengal provinces partitioned by the Radcliffe Line.

Where did the Radcliffe Line dispute?

There were disputes regarding the Radcliffe Line's award of the Chittagong Hill Tracts and the Gurdaspur district. Disputes also evolved around the districts of Malda, Khulna, and Murshidabad in Bengal and the sub-division of Karimganj of Assam.

Who was the British lawyer who was called upon to draw up the borders between the two countries?

A British lawyer named Cyril Radcliffe, who had never set foot in Asia, was called upon to draw up the borders between the two countries. Arriving in India just days before the partition, Radcliffe drew up a quick plan that was kept secret for fear that the British would be blamed for the violence that would surely ensue.

Which country gave the 650 princely states the choice of joining India, joining Pakistan or becoming independent?

The British had given the 650 princely states the choice of joining India, joining Pakistan or becoming independent and, in the majority of cases, the respective geographic location became a determining factor.

Why did India need to be partitioned?

Due to the political unrest in the country, Britain decided that India would need to be partitioned to carve out a separate homeland for Indian Muslims, but it wasn’t immediately clear which provinces would join which country. Some were given the right to choose, while others were divided up – the provinces of Assam, Bengal and Punjab were each split in half, with one half going to India and the other to the new Pakistan. The remaining princely states could pick a side. After the partition, Jinnah became the first Governor-General of Pakistan, and Jawaharlal Nehru became India’s first president. Gandhi, who remained the strongest advocate for a unified country, was shot by a Hindu religious fanatic in 1948, just a month before the last of the British troops finally left India.

When did the violence between Hindus and Muslims start?

However, widespread violence between Hindus and Muslims started in Calcutta in August 1946 and spread later throughout North India. During Direct Action Day, also known as the Great Calcutta Killings, Muslims in Calcutta went on hartal (strike) to press for the new nation of Pakistan.

What happened to India during the 19th century?

During the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, Britain took control of India’s resources and, while investing heavily in infrastructure, channeled Indian wealth back to Britain and its global colonial projects. As a consequence, India suffered a series of famines that killed tens of millions of people.

What was the Indian Mutiny of 1857?

This meant that the company was able to take advantage of local fractures and tensions and employ a ‘divide and rule’ approach that saw it take control of most of India by 1850. In 1857, Indian soldiers employed by the company revolted en masse. What became known as the Indian Mutiny of 1857 (or “the First War of Independence” in India) ...

When did India gain independence?

At the height of the Mughal Empire in the late 17th century, India was the largest economic power in the world. When India regained its independence in 1947, it was significantly poorer than it had been before British interference.

Who was the British lawyer who created the Indian census?

It was hurriedly drawn up by a British lawyer, Cyril Radcliffe, who had little knowledge of Indian conditions and with the use of out-of-date maps and census materials.

Why did the British and Indian leaders not delay until a better deal over borders could have been agreed?

One explanation is that in the months and years immediately following World War Two, leaders on all sides were losing control and were keen to strike a deal before the country descended into chaos.

Why did India split into two states?

The agreement to divide colonial India into two separate states - one with a Muslim majority (Pakistan) and the other with a Hindu majority (India) is commonly seen as the outcome of conflict between the nations' elites. This explanation, however, renders the mass violence that accompanied partition difficult to explain.

How has India maintained its cohesion?

India has maintained remarkable cohesion since independence, especially considering it is nearly the size of Europe. At independence, in India and in Pakistan, civil unrest as well as ethnic and religious discord threatened the stability of the new country. However, the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi on 30 January 1948 by a Hindu fanatic ...

How many battalions were deployed in the Quit India campaign?

The resulting discontent was expressed in widespread violence accompanying the Congress party's 'Quit India' campaign of 1942 - a violence only contained by the deployment of 55 army battalions.

When did India gain independence?

India and Pakistan won independence in August 1947, following a nationalist struggle lasting nearly three decades. It set a vital precedent for the negotiated winding up of European empires elsewhere. Unfortunately, it was accompanied by the largest mass migration in human history of some 10 million. As many as one million civilians died in the ...

When did the Labour Party win the British election?

This was announced soon after the victory of the Labour Party in the British general election of July 1945, amid the realisation that the British state, devastated by war, could not afford to hold on to its over-extended empire. Top.