In August 1947, the Indian sub-continent was divided into two independent states, India and Pakistan, following the end of British rule. The provinces of Punjab and Bengal were split; areas with a Hindu majority were included in India, those with majority of Muslims in Pakistan. The religious minority in each state fled in large numbers—some ten to twelve million people in all were involved— to the other. It was one of the largest population movements in human history, and in the course of it savage communal violence erupted. Several hundred thousand people were killed; some estimates put the death toll at over a million. The division of territory which precipitated this disaster was authorised by the British government, but with great reluctance, as Alistair Lexden pointed out in a letter published in The Times on August 18.
Sir, Professor Ansari states that the partition of India 70 years ago “should never have been allowed to happen” (letter, Aug.16).
Both the main British political parties were committed to maintaining a single state. In 1935 Stanley Baldwin faced down opposition from Churchill and the right wing of the Conservative Party to pass a far-reaching Government of India Act that made provision for a new federal constitution.
In 1947 Attlee and his Cabinet colleagues were deeply conscious of their historic links to the Indian Congress Party. They saw it as their duty to bring India to independence undivided. It was only on May 27, 1947 that an anguished Cabinet reluctantly agreed to the partition. After exhaustive discussions, the last viceroy, Lord Mountbatten, had recorded formally in April that it was only when it became apparent that the retention of any form of united India would start a civil war that he had regretfully been obliged to give up this ideal.
Lord Lexden
House of Lords