Laurent Kretz

By Dave Raw Lin Son

Two weeks ago, I won an photo contest from my company (Air France KLM) with this picture, and the prize was 2 return tickets anywhere in the world. After a few discussions about where we could go (Iran, back to Burma, Philippines, Uzbekistan were discussed) we eventually settled to do what every backpacker has to do at some point, India. And where to “start” in India if not in the Rajasthan (wiki).

The decision was motivated by a recent gift: I am reading an amazing book about India, a best seller from 1975 written by Dominique Lapierre and Larry Collins: Freedom at Midnight (amazon).

Freedom at Midnight is a detailed and novelized account of all events that occurred in 1947 and 1948 in India and in the UK that led to India’s independence and partition. It’s a fascinating stack of 800 or 900 pages that flew in just a few weeks. But especially, it made me realize how little I knew about India recent history, and how much there was to know !

I’m not going to pour out on the subject, as I only know very little about it. I will just lay down - and share - a few thoughts about it.

The sun rises on 400 million subjects

At the beginning of the 20th century, Queen Victoria wakes up as the British Empire Empress ruling over more than 400 million subjects. At this time, London is the capital of the world: the British Empire is the world police and a global super-power. At the beginning of last century, one out of four humans on earth obeyed - or had to obey in some way - to the British crown. 1 out of 4 in the world. Never in human history (am I right ? please comment !) has a single human being been so powerful. It took a few centuries (and many wars) to reach that level of power, and it would take less than 50 years to end it.

Le Roy Le Veult

“Le Roy Le Veult” (lit. The King desires it): those four old Norman French words marked George VI’s royal assent to the Indian Independence Act of June 1947. By this assent, George VI would end his reign as an Emperor, to remain “only” a King. He would also cut 300 million subjects of his ruling. By this act, he approved Lord Mountbatten’sIndia’s Independence Plan.

Mountbatten arrived in India as its last Viceroy on February 21st 1947. Independence was approved August 15th of the same year, with approval in June by the House of Lords. It took Mountbatten less than 4 months to fulfill the mission Clement Attlee, UK Prime Minister from 1945 to 1951, had entrusted to him. Mountbatten’s work is very debatable and he has been harshly criticized and hold responsible for the carnage that fired Punjab in the summer and fall of 1947.

Partition

Independence was one step. The second was the Partition into India and Pakistan. Last summer was the 60th anniversary of that Partition of India, which occurred in August 1947. Mountbatten’s work was also to setup this partition and act as an intermediary between Muhammad Ali Jinnahon one side, who wanted the creation of an independent Muslim state called Pakistan, and Jawaharlal Nehru and Gandhi on the other side, who wanted to keep India’s unity as a sub-continent.

India at that time counted over 300 millions inhabitants, mainly Hindus, then Muslims and Sikhs. In what would soon become Pakistan and Bangladesh, Muslims accounted for a minimum of 50% of the population, reaching 80% to 90% in some areas. They are however present all over the British Raj (with the exception of 1 or 2 states) from 5% to 50% of the population. Hindus represent a minimum of 40%all over the country except in Baluchistan and Eastern Bengal. Sikhs are present essentially in the North around Lahore and Amritsar.
The real and difficult (and impossible) task of the partition will be to define the new borders of the two countries, and the Punjab region will be the most affected region of this partition: its population is a real weaving and mixing of the three religions.

Aftermath

All this was a long contextual introduction to what shocked the entire world. In the weeks and months that followed the partition (other sources here):
- 14.5 million people crossed the border from one country to the other (almost half of 2007 California population),
- 9 million (more than the entire 2007 NYC population) of this population transfer took place in the only Punjab region,
- 7.25M Muslims fled to Pakistan and 7.22 Hindus and Sikhs fled to India (imagine emptying NYC or Paris Metropolitan Area or London Metro in a couple of weeks),
- Up to a millions people died in the months following the Partition. Sikhs and Hindus killing Muslims, Muslims killing Sikhs and Hindus.

There is no word to describe the atrocities that happened in the Punjab in the summer and fall of 1947. It is amongst the most horrible ones of the 20th century. It is considered for some as ethnic cleansing. Entire Hindu quarters from Lahore were set to flames, trains carrying Muslims were attacked, Sikhs ambushed Muslim villages near Amritsar. 1 million people died from flames, knives, sabers, rapes, decapitations, wounds, dismemberments, gun shots, hayforks, …

Manhattan has 1.4M inhabitants: imagine that in just a few weeks, two out of three of its inhabitants would be killed, one by one. That is what happened in one of the most beautiful regions on earth in the summer and fall of 1947.

Source: BBC

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