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In August 1947 British rule in India ended and the land was divided along religious lines into two countries: India, with a Hindu majority, and Pakistan, with a Muslim majority. Between 12 and 20 million people had to leave their homes, in one of the largest migrations in history.

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Pakistan became independent on 14 August 1947 and India on 15 August. Pakistan was made of two separate parts with India in between; the eastern part broke away in 1971 and became Bangladesh. Two large provinces with mixed populations, Punjab in the west and Bengal in the east, were split between the new states. The border was drawn by Cyril Radcliffe, a British lawyer who had never been to India and was given about five weeks for the task. It was published only on 17 August, two days after independence, so on independence day many people in the border districts did not know which country they were in. Hindus and Sikhs moved towards India and Muslims towards Pakistan, many on foot or in packed trains. There was terrible violence on both sides; estimates of the dead range from 200,000 to two million.

Türkçe oku
Ağustos 1947'de İngilizlerin Hindistan'daki yönetimi sona erdi ve topraklar din esasına göre iki devlete ayrıldı: Hindu çoğunluklu Hindistan ve Müslüman çoğunluklu Pakistan. Yeni sınırın iki yakasında 12 ila 20 milyon insan evini barkını bırakmak zorunda kaldı; bu, tarihteki en büyük göçlerden biriydi.

Pakistan 14 Ağustos 1947'de, Hindistan ise ertesi gün bağımsızlığına kavuştu. Pakistan, aralarında Hindistan toprakları bulunan iki ayrı parçadan oluşuyordu; doğudaki parça 1971'de ayrılıp Bangladeş adıyla bağımsız bir devlet oldu. Nüfusu karışık iki büyük eyalet, batıda Pencap, doğuda Bengal, yeni devletler arasında paylaştırıldı. Sınırı, Hindistan'a daha önce hiç ayak basmamış İngiliz hukukçu Cyril Radcliffe çizdi; bu iş için ona beş hafta kadar süre verilmişti. Sınır ancak 17 Ağustos'ta, yani bağımsızlıktan iki gün sonra açıklandı. Bu yüzden sınır boyunda yaşayan pek çok insan, bağımsızlık günü hangi ülkede olduğunu bilmiyordu. Hindular ve Sihler Hindistan'a, Müslümanlar Pakistan'a doğru yola koyuldu; çoğu yürüyerek ya da tıklım tıklım dolu trenlerle gitti. İki tarafta da korkunç bir şiddet yaşandı. Ölü sayısına ilişkin tahminler 200 bin ile 2 milyon arasında değişiyor.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Partition of India
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