154219

What was the reason for the partition of India and Pakistan?

The partition of India and Pakistan refers to the historical events that occurred in the Indian subcontinent on August 14 and 15, 1947, the disintegration of British India under the rule of the British Empire, because the partition clause only involved the modern division of India and Pakistan. The problem is often referred to in Chinese as “Division of India and Pakistan”.

The disintegration of British India under the rule of the British Empire. In addition to the birth of two new states, the Federation of India and the Dominion of Pakistan, the agreement also includes the assets of the Indian government departments, including the Indian civil servants, the Indian Army, the Royal Indian Navy, the Indian Railways and the central finance. and other administrative services.

The First World War had a major impact on the development of Indian nationalism. The Indian elite actively supported Britain during the war in exchange for national autonomy; but they were greatly disappointed by British behavior after the war. The British government continued to enforce martial law after the war, but also enacted a new repression act (the Rowlatt Act).

On April 13, 1919, the Amritsar massacre occurred in which the British army massacred the Indian masses. These facts led Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, who had become a major figure in the Congress party, to change his attitude towards the British government and to reorganize the Congress party in 1920. The Congress Party, which led the anti-British struggle on several occasions between the two world wars, was guided by the principles of nonviolence and noncooperation advocated by Gandhi.

However, divisions between Hindus and Muslims are also deepening. Muhammad Ali Jinnah emerged as the Muslim leader of the Congress party, rivaling Gandhi, who had mastered the Hindu masses.

The Nehru Report in 1928 caused a strong backlash from Muslims because it mainly reflected the wishes of Hindus. British authorities convened three London round tables of Maharajas and political leaders of All India in 1930-32 and passed a new India Act (Government of India Act 1935) in 1935, which gave the Congress significant power while It also intensified the discord between the two factions.

During World War II, the Indian national movement continued to develop.

The meeting between Gandhi and Jinnah in 1944 ended in failure, and Indian Muslims had widely supported the establishment of an independent Islamic state. After the end of World War II, Britain’s power declined sharply, and its colonial rule in India was impossible to maintain.

In 1946, the Royal Indian Navy revolted. Immediately after the incident, the United Kingdom sent a cabinet special mission to negotiate. The main content was to discuss the contradiction between the Congress Party and the Muslim League for the transfer of power.

In 1947, the United Kingdom proposed the Mountbatten Plan. According to the plan, the two dominions of Pakistan and India were established on August 14 and August 15, 1947 respectively, and the British rule in India came to an end.

The partition of India and Pakistan allowed India and Pakistan to gain independence, but the rivalry between the two countries continues to this day.

The partition of India and Pakistan was mainly caused by a series of irreconcilable politics between Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs in the modern political environment under the premise that the British Empire declined in World War II and could not continue to maintain the colonization of British India. , ethnic and religious conflicts.

12.5 million people were displaced by the war between the two countries, and casualties are estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands to one million (most estimates put the number of people who crossed the India-Pakistan border in 1947 at around 10 million to 10 million) two million). Each state can decide whether to join India or Pakistan or choose independence.

The Partition Clause did not address the independence of Bangladesh, nor the partition of Ceylon and Burma under the administration of British India. Burma became independent on January 4, 1948, Ceylon became independent on February 4, 1948; Bangladesh became independent from Pakistan after the Bangladesh War of Independence in 1971.

Nepal and Bhutan were once British protectorates, but they were never part of British India and were not affected by the partition-related treaties.

Since the partition clauses at that time only dealt with the division of modern India and Pakistan, it is often called “India-Pakistan Partition” in Chinese.