Partition and Independence, summer 1947-- and beyond
	The end of the Raj is finally at hand: seemingly endless rounds of prior negotiations culminate in Simla
*PARTI- TION*	The boundary line is traced out in July and early August 1947 by an English lawyer, Sir Cyril Radcliffe, who had never been to India before
	The boundary line in the west runs right through the heart of the Punjab, swerving a bit in order to keep Amritsar within India
	Amidst fears of violence, the leaders announce the news to the two newly-created nations
	"Dawn of Independence over the Red Fort" (bazaar art); "Liberty and Death" (Time Magazine)
	Murderous communal riots, and attacks by armed bands on unarmed people, leave hundreds of thousands dead
	Refugees flee in both directions, in the midst of widespread panic, mass looting, and sometimes terrible slaughter
	Emergency trains run in both directions, crowded with desperate refugees; sometimes the trains are halted enroute and their passangers massacred
	Refugee camps are opened on both sides of the border; in India refugees assimilate quickly, in Pakistan they become the "Muhajir" community
	Dr. Zakir Husain, future President of India, barely escapes being killed during the riots: *his story*
	The Mahatma's assassination by a Hindu, for being "soft on Muslims," is a direct result of the stresses of the partition process
	The Qaid-e Azam's death from cancer is hastened by the tension and exhaustion of the partition process
	Jinnah becomes the national symbol of Pakistan, while *Gandhi's picture* similarly appears on rupee notes in India
	The first Indian Governor General, C. R. Rajagopalachari, has a benevolent Gandhian air and is very popular
	Meanwhile, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the "Iron Man of India," negotiates with (financial) carrots and (military) sticks to achieve the integration of more than 500 princely states
	Nehru presides over the early years of independent India, while after Jinnah's death Pakistan's politics veer toward military dictatorship

	With political feelings aggravated by tensions over Kashmir, border conflicts between India and Pakistan (*1965*) are always simmering
	Then a major war (*1971*), and one more partition: Pakistan's two halves split bloodily apart, and East Pakistan becomes Bangladesh

 

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