Radcliffe Line

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Radcliffe Line.

17th August 1947 is a landmark in the history of India and Pakistan.

The Radcliffe Line was declared as the boundaries between India and Pakistan, following the Partition of India on this day.
The line is named after Sir Cyril Radcliffe, a British lawyer, who was commissioned by the British government to equitably divide 4,50,000 km sq of territory with 88 million people of undivided India, into the two newly independent countries of India and Pakistan.

The idea behind the Radcliffe Line was to create a boundary which would divide India along religious demographics, under which Muslim majority provinces would become part of the new nation of Pakistan and Hindu and Sikh majority provinces would remain in India.

The Indian Independence Act 1947 of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which came into force on 15 July 1947, stated that India would be free from British rule from 15 August 1947.
The act also agreed on the Partition of the provinces of British India into the two new nations of the Union of India and the Dominion of Pakistan (which would in the course of history, be further divided into the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the People’s Republic of Bangladesh).
Pakistan was to be a homeland for the Muslims who wanted a separate State independent of India with a Hindu majority. The Constitution makers of independent India decided that the new India would be a secular, democratic republic.

Before Partition, 40% of India was covered by princely states which were not British possessions and hence were not considered part of British India. Hence, the British government said they could neither give them independence, nor partition them. The rulers of these states were therefore, fully independent and could choose which of the two nations they wanted to join (or even whether they wanted to remain independent). Most of the rulers decided to join India or Pakistan. Only very few kingdoms like Travancore , Kashmir and Hyderabad wanted to be independent. Travancore joined the Indian Union thanks to the efforts of VP Menon. Kashmir acceded to India following the attack by tribal forces backed by Pakistan. Hyderabad was forced to join following the police action ordered by Dy PM and Home minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.

Since the Partition of India was done on the basis of religious demographics, Muslim majority regions in the north of India were to become part of Pakistan. Baluchistan and Sindh (which had a clear Muslim majority) automatically became part of Pakistan.
The challenge however, lay in the two provinces of Punjab (55.7% Muslims) and Bengal (54.4% Muslims) which did not have an overpowering majority of Hindus or Muslims.
Eventually, Radcliffe created an artificial boundary whereby the Western part of Punjab became part of West Pakistan and the Eastern part became part of India (Eastern Punjab was later divided into three other Indian states, Punhab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh). The state of Bengal was also partitioned into East Bengal (which became part of Pakistan and later became an independent nation called Bangladesh) and West Bengal, which remained in India.
After Independence, the North West Frontier Province (located near Afghanistan) voted to join Pakistan.

Since the population of Punjab was scattered, it was difficult to draw a line which would clearly divide Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs. The Muslim League headed by Jinnah, or the Congress headed by Nehru and Sardar Patel could come to an agreement regarding the boundaries of the two nations.
Hence, it was decided that the boundaries would be determined by a clear line which would reduce the separation of farmers from their fields, while also minimising the number of people who would have to relocate, thereby reducing the feeling of alienation, which a new place would bring to the relocated people.

A rough border line had already been determined by Lord Wavell, the Viceroy of India, before he was replaced by Lord Mountbatten in February 1947.

In June 1947, the British government commissioned Sir Cyril Radcliffe to head the two Boundary Commissions (one for Punjab and the other for Bengal), to determine which territories could be assigned to each new nation. The Boundary Commission was asked to demarcate areas in Punjab based on religious majority. While defining the boundary, Radcliffe also took into consideration “natural boundaries, communications, watercourses and irrigation systems”, while paying heed to socio-political realities. Each Boundary Commission had four representatives, two from the Congress and two from the Muslim League. Given the tension between the Congress and the Muslim League, the final decision regarding the boundaries ultimately lay with Sir Radcliffe.

Radcliffe arrived in India on 8 July 1947, and was given just five weeks to finalise the new boundaries.
After meeting with the Viceroy, Lord Mountbatten, Radcliffe travelled to Lahore and Kolkata to meet his Boundary Commission members. However Jawaharlal Nehru representing the Congress and Muhammad Ali Jinnah representing the Muslim League were the ultimate decision makers. Both parties were keen that the boundaries be finalised by 15th August 1947, in time for the Independence Day, after which the British had to leave India.
As requested by both Nehru and Jinnah, Radcliffe completed the boundary line a few days before Independence, but due to political reasons, the Radcilffe Line was only formally revealed on 17th August 1947, two days after Independence.
– Joy Kallivayalil.

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