The great divide of India is a piece of history we may not hear as much about as other historically challenging times. However as time goes on it is increasingly important to understand some of the facts about what took place in divided India 74 years ago. Welcome back to another blog of indiasonet and today I’m going to be exploring a little bit about Pakistan and India partition for those of you who may not know in august 1947. After 300 years of British rule, India was divided into two independent nations now known as India and Pakistan and many of you have sent in several requests for us to do a Blog-post about this so I’m definitely happy to bring you a collection of facts and information coming right up.

 

10 Surprising Facts About PAKISTAN & INDIA Partition 


10.  The border of pakisthan were drawn up in 1947

The borders of Pakistan were drawn up two days after the partition on august 17th 1947. About five weeks before the British departed the Indian subcontinent sir Cyril Radcliffe who was a British lawyer was sent and commissioned to draw the borders that would divide British India into two distinct countries so the Muslim majority was Pakistan and the Hindu majority became India. H e was asked to draw the line based on the population of Muslims and Hindus along with some other factors that was never really officially defined but are believed to have included economic factors, as well as resources, are known as the Radcliffe line it was officially announced on August 17th 1947 and once this line was declared it resulted in the beginnings of the mass migration across the Indian.


9.  Community Clashing

Subcontinent communities that had co-existed for almost a millennia were suddenly set against each other in an alarming outbreak of clashes with Hindus and Sikhs on one side and the Muslims on the other side and it's believed that 14 million people were displaced and more than one million people lost their lives during these clashes. learning about this alarming piece of history is pretty hard for a lot of people to digest it's definitely hard to believe that something like this ever took place for.

 

8.  Louis Mountbatten & Indepence

 Louis Mountbatten who was the appointed viceroy of India and oversaw the partition of British India into India and Pakistan he at the time served as the first governor-general of India until June 1948. Now he wanted to personally attend both Pakistan’s and India’s independence ceremonies and if they happened on the same day then that was going to be completely impossible to do that. so Pakistan officially got its independence on the 14th of august and India got its independence on the 15th of august spoke of midnight on the 15th of august Nehru delivers his historic speech- ''long years ago we made it fifth with destiny and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge when the world sleeps India will awake to life and freedom''.


7.  Kingsway Camp

Now The next fact is about Kingsway camp this was Delhi’s largest refugee camp at that time and it was home to 300 000 people when it was at its maximum size. Now the Kingsway a refugee camp is one of the largest and well-known refugee camps in all of history the grounds where the camp was stretched about 25 square miles. In modern day India though the land is home to upscale homes and housing for students at the university of Delhi.


6.  First Capital Of Indipendent Pakistan

Now guys did you know that the first capital of independent Pakistan was Karachi. Karachi became the provincial capital of Sindh before the separation and then in 1947 it became the capital of new Pakistan. Karachi was not only a capital city but a premier port of the new country and a center for industry business and administration but of course now the current capital of Pakistan is Islamabad. 

 

5.  Karachi, had a 46.7 % hindu  population

In number five we continue with some facts relating to Karachi so back in the year, 1941 Karachi had a 46.7 Hindu population. and these people fled the city during and following the partition nearly half of the population of the city was Hindu. as you can imagine the migration that occurred after the borderlines shifted were immense. could you imagine fleeing a city you called home for your entire life this is something that I personally find really hard to wrap my mind around. 


4.  After The Partition

after the partition Pakistan got a third of the Indian army two out of six major metropolitan cities and forty percent of the Indian railway lines the divide of the two countries were anything but fair on both sides not only were the borders determined by a man from England who knew very little about the region the religions or the people but instead determined by more or less economic factors.  so very little consideration into the human beings of these countries were taken into account and that's just the sad reality of this


3.  British India & Present Day India

You were wondering what British India looked like before the partition well the country was made up of 17 provinces and present-day India is the seventh-largest country in the world. so as you can imagine British India was quite a large country. no wonder the British couldn't keep it afloat after the second world war, it was far too much to handle economically.


2.  Astrologers Were Consulted

Okay so  A pretty interesting fact comes in at number two astrologers were actually consulted to take out an appropriate date for the event of separation. now the separation was an incredibly big deal that they called in some spiritual people but unfortunately, though these astrologers could not decide on the best date for this to happen either way though the midnight of August 15th was eventually decided.


1.  Pakistan Used Indian Currency Bank Notes

The last fact for this episode until the year 1948 Pakistan used the Indian currency banknotes over stamped with Pakistan on the notes new coins and banknotes of Pakistani rupees though were circulated in 1948. and this was another point of contention between the people it was a constant reminder of the divide between the two countries. just imagine having to use a currency that was a painful memory of such a difficult experience for you and your people.