Britain’s ill-fated legacy for India and Pakistan.
The conflict between India and Pakistan has long been recognized as one of the most complex and enduring conflicts in South Asia, with its roots dating back to the British colonial era, and the role of Britain, as a former colonial power, in the formation and perpetuation of these tensions is undeniable.
As a former colonial power, Britain has played a significant role in the formation and perpetuation of these tensions through its historical decisions, economic policies, and contemporary actions.
During its colonial era, Britain made decisions that paved the way for the enduring conflict between India and Pakistan.
Partition of the Subcontinent
The partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947 into the two independent countries of India and Pakistan was one of the most important events of the 20th century, leaving profound consequences for the region and the world. This process, which was carried out under British supervision, led to the independence of these two countries and formed the root of many of today’s tensions, especially over Kashmir.
Britain had been controlling the subcontinent since the mid-18th century, when the British East India Company took control of the region. The subcontinent, which included modern-day India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, was valuable to Britain because of its rich natural resources, abundant labor, and strategic location.
But after World War II (1939–45), Britain was severely weakened, its economy damaged, its military exhausted, and domestic and international pressure to end colonialism increased. At the same time, independence movements in India, led by figures such as Mahatma Gandhi and Muhammad Ali Jinnah, were growing stronger.
In 1945, the British government, led by Prime Minister Clement Attlee, decided to end colonial rule in India. To manage the process, Lord Louis Mountbatten was appointed as the last Viceroy of India in February 1947. Mountbatten, a British royal who had served as a military commander in World War II, was tasked with achieving Indian independence by June 1948, but he concluded that the differences between the Indian National Congress and the Muslim League were intractable and that partition of the subcontinent was the only option.
Mountbatten proposed a plan that became known as the “Mountbatten Plan”, which would divide the subcontinent into two independent states: India, with a Hindu majority, and Pakistan, with a Muslim majority. Pakistan would consist of two parts: West Pakistan (present-day Pakistan) and East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh). The plan was approved in June 1947, and the date of independence was set for 15 August 1947. This decision was made in haste, with little time for careful planning.
One of the most sensitive aspects of the partition was the demarcation of the borders between the two countries. Britain chose Sir Cyril Radcliffe, a British lawyer with no experience in the subcontinent, to head a commission known as the Radcliffe Commission. He arrived in India in the summer of 1947 and had only a few weeks to demarcate the border between the two countries. Without accurate information and under extreme time pressure, Radcliffe drew lines that later became known as the Radcliffe Line.