The partition of India was set forth in the Indian Independence Act 1947 and resulted in the termination of the British Indian Empire and the end of the British Raj. It resulted in a struggle between the newly constituted states of India and Pakistan and relocated up to 12.5 million people with estimates of loss of life varying from several hundred thousand to a million. Most approximations of the number of people who crossed the boundaries between India and Pakistan in 1947 are between 10 and 12 million. The violent nature of the partition created an atmosphere of mutual aggression and suspicion between India and Pakistan that affects their relationship to this day.
The purpose BBC documentary on the partition of India and Pakistan is to show the struggle and the process of the partition. It is filmed to show how it started, the history, and how it ended.
Before watching the documentary, I already knew some things. I didn’t know the small details or the names of all the people who contributed in this partition. I knew people had to go through serious hardships, but I didn’t know how many lives were lost or how many people had to be dispersed. It is shocking that we have such less knowledge about what happened in the past and how little we know about our country. This was the most important time in our past.
The document shows how the splitting of India into Pakistan was the beginning of violence and political rivalry. The British through their ‘divide and rule’ tactics had established this hatred.
There were many reasons for the partition of India. This documentary doesn’t dig into all of these reasons; it does expand on a few though. Some of them are the divisions of the castes, the deep distrust that existed between both communities, and religious regions.
There is a lot of original footage so it made it more interesting. The historical narrative is focused on the Hindu and Muslim communities, but we also learn a lot about the Sikh community as well. Like in one village, Muslims joined their Sikh neighbors and fought off many plundering mobs successfully. Later when this village became a part of India, these Muslims were driven away to Pakistan by the Indian army. There is also a terrifying story about a Sikh family who murdered all the women between the ages of 10 and 40 to protect their honor. Women from both communities were shamelessly raped and murdered. Women clearly suffered a lot during the partition of India.
Along with the violence, the documentary should the moving people had to do from one country to another. Most did this on foot, and suffered extremely. Many children were orphaned because their parents had abandoned them. The new countries had borders drawn up in speed by a civil servant, Sir Cyril Radcliffe. Many of the districts that would be separated by the new borders did not have a majority community. The quickly drawn up border was not announced until after independence and this led to more confusion. Originally India supposed to be made independent in 1948, but Lord Mountbatten managed to postpone the official handing over of power by many months. All of this created great chaos.
Overall, this was a very interesting documentary. Although it was long, it was very informative and I learned a lot about the partition. I found some of the information to be very depressing, but if it had not happened the way it did, there wouldn’t be a Pakistan today.