Radcliffe Line

Due to the fact that Archibald Wavell could not cope with the situation in British India , in February 1947 he was succeeded as vice-king of India by Louis Mountbatten , who was authorized to do business without consulting London. Mountbatten announced in June 1947 that the independence of India and Pakistan would be proclaimed in two months. To determine which territories will be part of which state, two special commissions were created (one for the Punjab and one for Bengal) led by Cyril Radcliffe.

Radcliffe was a lawyer, had never been to India before, and did not know anyone from there - which, however, was considered by everyone as an advantage: he could not be blamed for bias against either side. In addition to Radcliffe, there were four more people in each commission: two represented the Indian National Congress , two others represented the Muslim League .

Radcliffe arrived in India on July 8th. After meeting with Mountbatten, he went first to Lahore , and then to Calcutta to meet with the members of the commissions. He quickly discovered that Congress and the League hated each other so much that their representatives were not able to agree on any issue, and that all decisions he had to make were practically single-handed. The instructions required him to draw the border so that it shared the territory with the Muslim and non-Muslim populations, while “taking into account other factors”.

What “other factors” were not explained, however, it was obvious that it was necessary to take into account the natural borders, roads, water sources and irrigation system, as well as socio-political factors. As a result, Radcliffe came to the conclusion that in the absence of time (all parties insisted that the work be completed 5 weeks before August 15, 1947) and the absence of experts, any decision would lead to someone suffering, and focused on the implementation instructions given to him.

As a result, when, for example, the problem arose of lands inhabited by Sikhs , which required the creation of an independent Sikhistan, or at least that the border line took into account temples and places sacred to them, the demarcation commission ignored these wishes and drew a line based on purely demographic data (as a result, the sacred for the Sikhs Lahore moved to Pakistan, since most of the people living in it were Muslims).

In order to avoid the delay that would have arisen as a result of disputes about the border, the results of the work of the commissions, it was decided to keep secret. Although the border line was ready two days before the independence of India and Pakistan on August 15, it was announced only on August 17. As a result, on August 15, flags of the wrong state were raised in a number of places.

Radcliffe left India on August 15, as the work was completed, and he himself could not tolerate the Indian climate. Before leaving, he destroyed all his papers, as a result of which it is now impossible to find out the reasons for many strange decisions regarding the border line.

Despite the fact that the main criterion for the division of the lands of British India was religious, in a number of places this principle was violated. However, both India and Pakistan were afraid to violate the border agreement imposed on them (for example, by supporting rebellions in neighboring areas), as this could cause interference from the UK or the UN (however, this did not prevent them from immediately getting involved in the dispute for Kashmir, since Kashmir was a principality, and not a British-controlled province, and therefore had to decide for itself which state to join).

Chittagong Highlands

97% of the population of the Chittagong Highlands were Buddhist tribes. When it became clear on August 17 that the area had gone to Pakistan, Nehru and Patlal were shocked. The only reasonable justification for this decision is that you can get there only from the port of Chittagong , departing Pakistan; by land from India it was impossible to reach the mountainous region.

Gourdaspur County

The Punjabi district of Gurdaspur withdrew to India, although more than 50% of its population is Muslim (belonging to the Ahmadiyah sect). There are various speculations about the reasons for this: it is assumed that there were some preliminary arrangements of Mountbatten with the princes of Kashmir or Bikaner , or it was somehow connected with attempts to solve the Sikh problem.

Mulda County

In the Bengal district of Mulda, more than half of the population was Muslim, but the district was divided, and most of it (with the city of Mulda ) went to India. The city remained under the administration of East Pakistan for several days after independence until maps with a border line were published.

Khulna and Murshidabad Bengal Districts

In Khulna County, 52% of the population professed Hinduism, but it went to Pakistan. 70% of the population of Murshidabad was Muslim, but he moved to India.

Karimganj

In accordance with the results of the referendum (laid down by the Indian Independence Act), Sylhet district was left to Pakistan, but its sub-district Karimganj , where the majority of the population is Muslim, was separated from Sylhet and transferred to India.

• Chester, L. "The 1947 Partition: Drawing the Indo-Pakistani Boundary." American Diplomacy, February 2002. (Well referenced article)
• Heward, E. The Great and the Good: A Life of Lord Radcliffe. Chichester: Barry Rose Publishers, 1994.
• Mansergh, N., ed. The Transfer of Power, 1942-47.
• Smitha, F. The US and Britain in Asia, to 1960. Macro History website, 2001.
• Read, A. and Fisher, D. (1997). The Proudest Day: India's Long Road to Independence. New York: Norton.