THE PARTITION

1947

When the British relinquished its Indian empire in 1947, it led to the area being carved into two new nations along religious lines. The Partition had incited the biggest mass migration in human history, displacing approximately twelve million people and creating overwhelming refugee crises in the newly independent countries—India and Pakistan, the former being mostly Hindu and the latter Muslim. Indian Muslims were dispersed, while Sikhs and Hindus were scattered in Pakistan—both trying to make it to the other side of the border.

A wave of violence unleashed with neighbors turning on each other. The brutality was so severe that many women and children were "saved" by their own fathers and brothers by being slaughtered to prevent their capture, abduction, rape, and conversion during raids. 

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Brass, P. R. (2003). The partition of India and retributive genocide in the Punjab, 1946-47: means, methods, and purposes. Journal of Genocide Research, 5(1), 71–101. https://doi.org/info:doi/

Chao, S. (2017, August 15). Remembering partition: ‘It was like a slaughterhouse’. Al Jazeera News. https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2017/8/15/remembering-partition-it-was-like-a-slaughterhouse

Doshi, V., & Mehdi, N. (2017, August 14). 70 years later, survivors recall the horrors of India-Pakistan partition. Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia-pacific/70-years-later-survivors-recall-the-horrors-of-india-pakistan-partition/2017/08/14/3b8c58e4-7de9-11e7-9026-4a0a64977c92_story.html

Perkins, C. R., & Bhalla, G. S. (2010). The 1947 partition archive: Survivors and their memories [Data set]. Stanford Libraries. https://exhibits.stanford.edu/1947-partition

Singh, A. G, Waheed, A., Bhalla, G. S., Muhammad, H., Bellamy-Dagneau, K., Ghuman, M., Ganguly, R., & Chundusu, S. (2010). 1947 Partition archive [Data set]. https://www.1947partitionarchive.org/

The partition of India: What happened? (2022, August 16). BBC. https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/46428985