Riots After Partition
Britain's holdings on the Indian subcontinent were granted independence in 1947 and 1948, becoming four new independent states: India, Burma (now Myanmar), Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), and Pakistan (including East Pakistan, modern-day Bangladesh). The Indian subcontinent was partitioned into Hindu-dominated but secular India, and the Muslim state of Pakistan after attaining independence from Great Britain in August 1947. Unfortunately, it was accompanied by the largest mass migration in human history of around ten million people. An estimated one million civilians died in the accompanying riots, particularly in the western region of Punjab which was split into two by the border.
During the fateful months of August and September, 1947, the communal riots flared up on a very large scale in both the Punjabs. It is estimated by some British writers that about two lakhs were killed in the East and West Punjab. Thousands of women and children were abducted. The Governments of India and Pakistan, who had recently taken over from the British, had no comprehension of the enormity of the situation. The people in general were infected with spirit of vendetta, and took revenge by committing excesses on the womenfolk of the opposite community. Hyderabad massacre of 1948 in which 40,000 Muslims were killed. In 1969, Gujarat saw Hindu-Muslim riots where 430 Muslims were killed. The Hindustan Times quotes 50 to 1000 killing of refugees who came from East Pakistan in West Bengal, on January 31, 1979 in the Marichjhapi incident. Moradabad riots in 1980, Uttar Pradesh, where officially 400 were killed, while unofficial estimates as high as 2500. It started as a Muslim-Police conflict; later turned into a Hindu-Muslim riot.
Of the violence that accompanied the Partition of India, historians Ian Talbot and Gurharpal Singh write:
“There are numerous eyewitness accounts of the maiming and mutilation of victims. The catalogue of horrors includes the disemboweling of pregnant women, the
During the fateful months of August and September, 1947, the communal riots flared up on a very large scale in both the Punjabs. It is estimated by some British writers that about two lakhs were killed in the East and West Punjab. Thousands of women and children were abducted. The Governments of India and Pakistan, who had recently taken over from the British, had no comprehension of the enormity of the situation. The people in general were infected with spirit of vendetta, and took revenge by committing excesses on the womenfolk of the opposite community. Hyderabad massacre of 1948 in which 40,000 Muslims were killed. In 1969, Gujarat saw Hindu-Muslim riots where 430 Muslims were killed. The Hindustan Times quotes 50 to 1000 killing of refugees who came from East Pakistan in West Bengal, on January 31, 1979 in the Marichjhapi incident. Moradabad riots in 1980, Uttar Pradesh, where officially 400 were killed, while unofficial estimates as high as 2500. It started as a Muslim-Police conflict; later turned into a Hindu-Muslim riot.
Of the violence that accompanied the Partition of India, historians Ian Talbot and Gurharpal Singh write:
“There are numerous eyewitness accounts of the maiming and mutilation of victims. The catalogue of horrors includes the disemboweling of pregnant women, the