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Partition - The Day India Burned BBC 2007 (Full Documentary) — Transcript

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0:00foreign
0:03[Music]
0:10[Music]
0:14August
0:151947. the British are quitting India
0:19nearly 200 years after they took power
0:23[Applause]
0:26one of the largest most ethnically
0:28diverse nations in the world has been
0:30divided
0:32one country will now become two
0:34India and Pakistan
0:39as a British Barrister draws a line on a
0:41map a once peaceful land implodes
0:44[Music]
0:47people are forced out of the villages
0:49they have lived in for Generations
0:5115 million scramble to be on the right
0:53side of the new border at least one
0:56million die in the process
0:58and in this huge mess of humanity just
1:02moving along barefooted
1:05no food thirsty for the terrible site
1:08terrible sight
1:11communities that have lived together for
1:13centuries turn on each other in one of
1:15the worst communal massacres of the 20th
1:17century
1:18so senseless so utterly senseless
1:22and yet there's nothing you can do about
1:24it
1:25Britain the once great colonial power
1:28looks on as India Burns
1:33Hindus and Muslims were in the grip of
1:36Madness you know lunacy lunacy
1:44foreign
1:49[Music]
1:57[Applause]
2:03[Music]
2:061946 British India was largely at peace
2:12on the surface there was communal
2:14Harmony between Hindus Muslims and Sikhs
2:18[Music]
2:20foreign
2:21[Music]
2:27part of your village
2:29I remember Hindus and six living side by
2:33side you know living with us you know
2:36not far from where I lived you know and
2:38whenever there was any wedding in the
2:41family I remember the Hindus and the six
2:44bringing sweet meats you know to my
2:46father you know you see an offering and
2:48we live very happily very happily
2:54in British India the 255 million Hindus
2:58were in a majority
3:00India's 92 million Muslims were
3:02concentrated in the Northwest and
3:04Northeast of the country
3:06The Six Million Sikhs lived mostly in
3:08the Punjab one of the richest and most
3:10diverse provinces in India
3:13Lahore was its ancient capital
3:20[Music]
3:23Lahore was one of the most Cosmopolitan
3:25cities in the country
3:27a center for education and fashion
3:39rodit Khan a Muslim had left his village
3:42to study law and history at lahore's
3:44Foreman Christian College
3:46Lahore took my breath away you know
3:49as a
3:51it was a different city you know it and
3:53it was a different world
4:01[Applause]
4:03it was very
4:05liberal
4:07very tolerant
4:10very Progressive
4:12Institution
4:17[Music]
4:22at the same time someone and a Hindu was
4:25in his final year of school in one of
4:27lahore's fashionable suburbs
4:29the fashions in Lahore became popular
4:33all over Punjab not only in Punjab but
4:36in Northern India
4:40[Music]
4:46[Applause]
4:49so there was a famous saying in Punjabi
4:53that the person who has not seen Lahore
4:56has not been born yet yet to people
5:04in a few months time the Peace of this
5:06ancient city would be shattered
5:09[Music]
5:16for nearly 200 years Britain ruled over
5:19India's 380 million people
5:23India was the centerpiece of Britain's
5:25Empire a source of money and power
5:28[Applause]
5:31for the British who were stationed there
5:34life had changed little in decades
5:37[Music]
5:40[Applause]
5:45John Moors an officer to a Gurkha
5:48regiment had been in India for a year
5:54we had a hunt
5:56and they'd imported these harms possibly
5:59in the twenties or somewhere like that
6:01and they used to hunt uh Jackal the
6:03tribes and would come in with a live
6:05Jackal and um
6:07release them eventually and then the
6:10hunt would take it out and try try
6:12chasing them but then you had to have a
6:14whole Brigade out defending the hunters
6:18they would be deployed all around over
6:2070 miles
6:32for decades Indians had fought to rid
6:35themselves of British rule
6:37the independence movement had been kept
6:39in check by ruthless military force
6:42but by 1946
6:44everything had changed
6:46World War II had left Britain bankrupt
6:50[Applause]
6:52Mr Moore's and the other British troops
6:55knew that they would be the last
6:57we knew that having come through a very
7:00expensive World War
7:03the cost of maintaining
7:06an Army in India following the the Far
7:10East War we realized that you know the
7:12equitness couldn't be paid for the
7:14taxpayer England's in a bad State
7:15particularly
7:174647 financially
7:21[Music]
7:24but India's independence leaders were
7:27divided over what should happen when
7:28Britain left
7:29the Indian National Congress under its
7:32leaders Pandit Nero and Mahatma Gandhi
7:34demanded a single state where all
7:36religions would live side by side
7:39but many Muslims feared living under a
7:41Hindu majority
7:47even in the middle class homes of Lahore
7:49ancient prejudices ran deep
7:53at one level they were they had very
7:57cordial relations our Muslim neighbors
8:00were very good they helped us we helped
8:03them but she Hindus headache curious
8:09inhibitions
8:15my mother's attitude she didn't allow
8:19any Muslim to enter her kitchen any
8:22cooked things from a Muslim home was not
8:25allowed to enter the kitchen
8:28when she was eating she would not allow
8:30her Muslim neighbors the lady to touch
8:34her
8:35so such inhibitions and Customs they
8:39they kept us apart
8:45in lahore's Old City Muslims were
8:48forbidden from drinking from the same
8:49Taps as Hindus
8:51[Music]
8:55a Muslim was a champion wrestler from
8:58The Old City
9:07foreign
9:39and they always wanted that's why the
9:42slogan of a Muslim Homeland became very
9:45popular among the Muslims
9:48[Music]
9:53Muslim fears that Hindus would dominate
9:56an independent India drove the demand
9:58for a separate Muslim Homeland
10:00[Music]
10:08it was championed principally by one man
10:10a 70 year old British educated Barrister
10:13Muhammad Ali Jinnah
10:15his Muslim League demanded the division
10:17of India into two one country for the
10:20Hindus and Sikhs and another for the
10:22Muslims
10:25once the British leave
10:27and there will be a democratic form of
10:29government you see you know but in a
10:31democratic form of government the Hindus
10:33will always be in the majority and the
10:35Muslim will always be in a minority we
10:37have no chance our minority will never
10:39be transformed into a majority you know
10:41and the Hindu majority will always
10:43remain a permanent majority therefore we
10:45have no chance
10:47Bandit nehru the leader of Congress
10:49toured the country arguing the case for
10:52a United India
10:54[Music]
10:57whole idea that that India should be
11:00divided uh was based on a fantastic
11:05notion that religion constitutes
11:08nationality
11:13Segal lived with her uncle pantidner
11:20while I was growing up the entire
11:22national movement which had cut across
11:24religion region
11:27caste class
11:29sex
11:30you know it had been a truly unifying
11:32experience so for a person like me it
11:34was it was an absurd idea that India
11:37should be divided made no sense of any
11:39kind
11:44clouds gather over similar for the
11:47opening of Lord weibel's conference with
11:48the Indian leaders in March 1946 a
11:51British government delegation the
11:53cabinet Mission arrived to negotiate
11:55between Congress and the league
11:58this was supposed to be the Breakthrough
11:59conference where a deal would be struck
12:01leading to an independent India
12:04Pandit Nero who calls for an Indian
12:06Republic is Accused by the league of
12:08working for Domination over the Muslim
12:10minority Jinnah did compromise at his
12:12demand for a separate Muslim State he
12:15accepted a United India if it had weak
12:17central powers but Nero a socialist and
12:21believer in a strong Central State
12:22refused any such concessions to the
12:25Muslim League Mr Jinnah the Muslim
12:27leader holds fast to Pakistan and it's
12:29reported that his maximum concessions
12:31were regarded by Congress as inadequate
12:33at any rate the faithful conference at
12:35Simla following the preliminary work in
12:37Delhi has ended in failure
12:40[Music]
12:46[Music]
12:48Calcutta a stronghold of the Muslim
12:51League August the 16th 1946.
12:55[Music]
13:07with the collapse of negotiations Jinnah
13:11called for direct action
13:14thousands of Muslims gathered in the
13:16center of the city to demand a separate
13:18Homeland Pakistan
13:20[Music]
13:28[Applause]
13:34as the crowds dispersed the more radical
13:37elements headed for the Hindu parts of
13:39the city
13:43thank you
13:55I was thinking of going out for a stroll
13:59and then all of a sudden I found some
14:03Muslim hoodlums
14:05they came out shouted
14:12Allah is the Great Master
14:14[Applause]
14:18[Music]
14:23local gangsters hijack the demonstration
14:27they whipped up the mob and it turned
14:29violent
14:31then I found that dead neighbor
14:34who had come out
14:39come out and they bleeding
14:41so
14:42I thought that going out would be
14:45absolutely full honey
14:47then these boys they started hitting the
14:51doors
14:52and they said that we will not spare any
14:55Hindu
15:04as the city erupted in communal violence
15:06Muslim Slaughter of Hindus turned a
15:09Hindu Slaughter of Muslims
15:12Shankar gosh was covering the riots for
15:15a Calcutta newspaper a Jewelery shop was
15:20surrounded by a crowd armed with iron
15:24rods
15:30an elderly employee
15:32he was already half dead in fear
15:37he came with his folded hands like this
15:42but these Furious mob they had no time
15:48to hear what
15:51he wanted to say
15:53I think a boy of 14 or 15 just pulled
15:57his leg as he came out
15:59and the man fell down
16:02and someone
16:06hit him on the head with another Rod I
16:08think that one blow had finished him
16:13[Music]
16:17around 5 000 people were killed in three
16:20days of rioting
16:23[Music]
16:26but the British with one eye on leaving
16:29India and fearful of being overrun
16:31ordered the troops to stay in their
16:33Barracks until it was too late
16:38[Music]
16:40we had absolute faith in British
16:43Authority we had absolute faith in the
16:46peace that British
16:49had given us
16:51for three days there was no sign of
16:54authority on the streets and it was
16:57anybody could murder anybody
17:01[Music]
17:12the Calcutta killings shattered the hope
17:15of the British that they could get out
17:17of India quietly and peacefully
17:20with religious hatred and suspicion
17:22growing the dream of United India seemed
17:25to be falling apart
17:30Crown Chopra was a young reporter for
17:33all India radio at the time of the riots
17:36until then there was still the
17:38possibility that there could be an
17:41undivided India
17:43that impression evaporated
17:46In the Heat of what was doing what came
17:49to be known as the great Calcutta
17:51killings
17:53once that impact spread through the rest
17:57of the country the hope that India could
18:00remain undivided began to vanish
18:07after Calcutta the violence spread in
18:10Bihar Hindus largely massacred Muslims
18:13in locally in Bengal it was Hindus who
18:16were mostly under attack
18:18with British power waning India was in
18:20danger of falling apart in the chaos of
18:22communal violence
18:24one man thought he could bring the
18:26country together and maintain the dream
18:27of a United India Mahatma Gandhi
18:32Ashoka Gupta was one of Gandhi's
18:35disciples
18:40that we are same people born in the same
18:44country brought up in the same country
18:46we have believed in them
18:49Community Living
18:51whether you follow this Faith or that
18:53faith it doesn't matter
18:54it's a Humanity which concerns you
18:58[Music]
19:03Gandhi spent the first months of 1947
19:06walking through the Villages of nokali
19:08holding prayer meetings trying to bring
19:11Hindus and Muslims together
19:16Ashoka Gupta went with him
19:21another
19:23and why he walked he sang he rested in a
19:27Muslim house then he rested in a Hindu
19:29house
19:31[Music]
19:38but the great pacifist and campaigner
19:41for Independence was hardly the unifying
19:43figure he wanted to be
19:48genuinely
19:51the prayer meetings the non non-hindus
19:54were absent
19:58Shankar gosh reported the story for his
20:00Calcutta newspaper
20:04the Muslims were not keen to come to him
20:07were not keen to listen to him
20:10and before gandhiji went on his morning
20:13trip from one Village to another
20:16they used to
20:19defy the path spread thorns
20:26an advanced party had to be sent because
20:29he was in nawakali he was taught wearing
20:32any shoes he was the wife who work on
20:35barefoot
20:37candido is opposed constitutional
20:40concessions to Muslims
20:42for many of them he represented Hindu
20:45Supremacy
20:46[Music]
20:48Mr Gandhi did not appeal to the Muslims
20:51you know he failed to win the hearts and
20:54minds of the Muslims of India
20:57the way he used to talk about politics
21:00and his language his his it was foreign
21:03it did not appeal to Muslims at all you
21:05know but he he used to be practically
21:09you know naked he used to have one arm
21:13on the shoulder of one girl and he
21:15should have another arm on the shoulder
21:17of another
21:18and the Hindus thought he was a saint
21:20you know
21:22Candy's dream of a United India seemed
21:25to be collapsing
21:28[Music]
21:30he was a sad man
21:34I think nobody was listening to him he
21:37was
21:39considered to be
21:41an incorrigible ideal idealist
21:45who has no
21:47connection with reality
21:51[Music]
21:57in February 1947 the British government
22:01made a dramatic declaration
22:03they would definitely leave India by
22:05June 1948 but there was still no
22:08agreement on how to give India to the
22:10Indians
22:12with chaos spreading they decided on a
22:14radical solution
22:15to appoint a new Viceroy
22:19[Music]
22:23the occasion the departure of Lord
22:25mountbatten of Burma who was leaving for
22:27India with his wife
22:28before the new Viceroy they lay the task
22:30of holding office for the brief but
22:32obviously difficult period of just over
22:34a year until the date when Indians
22:36undertake full control of India everyone
22:38in Britain I'm certain which is the
22:40Viceroy all possible success in India I
22:43was in school
22:44and they said you'll miss the last term
22:47of school
22:48um and we're taking you out in the
22:50middle of this term because
22:52that has been appointed by Thrive India
22:55and so we're going out for probably a
22:58couple of years
22:59and uh you know I thought we'd take you
23:02as well because you can be useful
23:06[Music]
23:13in March 1947 mountbatten arrived in
23:17India
23:17the former Supreme Allied Commander of
23:20Southeast Asia had a reputation for
23:22being a decisive leader a man who could
23:25knock heads together
23:28his brief was simple to get a deal and
23:31get written out before India imploded
23:35the swearing-in uh of course was a very
23:38great ceremony in the Davao Hall
23:41so trumpeters and all the uh staff in
23:45their full dress uniform my father and
23:47full rest uniform my mother in a long
23:50white dress and I think a sort of Laurel
23:53reads in her hair
23:56and
23:58they look like film stars
24:01[Music]
24:09the Viceroy his wife Edwina the vicerine
24:13and their daughter Pamela moved into
24:15viceroy's house in New Delhi with its
24:17staff of five thousand
24:21Vice rice has there were indoor
24:24gardeners now the indoor gardeners just
24:28arranged the flowers and the vases and
24:30changed the water
24:32there were 25 of them as indoor gardens
24:35there was one man who spent his entire
24:38time
24:39with a seal that bore the British crown
24:42stamping the butter pads
24:45and there was another unfortunate Man
24:47known as the chicken plucker who did
24:49nothing else
24:51so the scale was so amazing
24:56[Music]
24:57Narendra Singh sarila was to become
25:00mountbatten's aide to Camp his personal
25:02assistant
25:04[Music]
25:07among other things his job was to assist
25:09on tiger hunts
25:12blood Mount written was a very
25:14articulate man and
25:16he used to plan ahead
25:20what he's going to do
25:22and
25:24and he used to carry it through
25:26ruthlessly
25:30despite the formalities of Life at
25:33viceroy's house while baton seemed like
25:35a new breed of Viceroy
25:37foreign
25:41helped him
25:42because everybody knew that he was
25:44cousin of the king
25:45but still
25:47he was he acted without any heirs and I
25:51think that impressed Indians because
25:53otherwise there was kept you know the
25:55sort of upper lip and that sort of thing
25:58and I think that helped to impress
26:01people well the first thing
26:04that was different with my father and
26:07mother was that when they were
26:08entertaining I mean they were in India
26:10they invited Indians which had never
26:12happened before
26:13I mean yes of course Indian princes
26:17um well I understand but the ordinary
26:21um Indian
26:23ministers and lawyers and doctors or
26:26whoever had never been invited so then
26:29that was quite a new thing on the
26:33personal level Dicky was
26:35a very Charming very handsome
26:38very lovable person
26:41who met one
26:43very informally and you know when one
26:47was very young and rather nervous in
26:50front of important people he could put
26:52one at one's ease
26:54he was awfully sweet
27:01now baton's first task was to meet the
27:03Indian leaders
27:04Mahatma Gandhi and Pandit Nero for
27:06Congress
27:08and Muhammad Ali Jinnah for the Muslim
27:10League
27:13foreign he hoped his more informal style
27:17would give him greater success than his
27:19stuffier predecessors
27:22they they sat away from the desks in our
27:25chairs and were offered Refreshments of
27:29some kind and he would you know he would
27:32say well now
27:33before you put me in the picture
27:35politically and then the state of India
27:38do tell me a bit about yourself
27:41it was a technique that worked with Nero
27:43the two would become lifelong friends
27:45but it totally failed with Gina
27:48he came out of the meeting afterwards
27:50and said to his aides my goodness he was
27:54cold cold as ice
27:56[Music]
28:04there were now constant negotiations
28:16as a divided India became a real
28:19possibility the political tensions of
28:22the center filtered down to the local
28:23level
28:24[Music]
28:30the Punjab was worst affected
28:38was one of the wealthiest in India
28:40Hindus Muslims and Sikhs all claimed it
28:43as their own
28:44[Music]
28:50[Music]
28:52the Punjab was home to most of India's
28:55six million Sikhs the location of the
28:58most holy site the Golden Temple
29:03the sixth great fear was that if India
29:06was divided the Punjab with its Muslim
29:09majority would end up in Pakistan
29:13for Sikhs it was Unthinkable that they
29:15would be ruled by the Muslims
29:16historically their enemies
29:24in many villages of the Punjab communal
29:26Harmony began to break down
29:33aridaman Singh Dylan was living in a
29:35mixed Sikh Muslim Village
29:38I had Muslim friends and we used to play
29:41together
29:42and there was nobody from our families
29:45put any obstacles between us
29:48but when these Strife began then I was
29:51predicted
29:52from going out with my Muslim friends
29:56[Applause]
29:58but we would sneak away and often will
30:00get caught and scalded
30:03my grandfather he noticed us going about
30:06playing around in the fields we try to
30:09hide but ultimately he found out and I
30:13was giving a good threshing
30:15that's called it
30:17is
30:24as a young boy he watched local
30:26politicians stir up divisions between
30:27the communities for their own ends
30:36[Applause]
30:43they have to
30:45FIP of these Sentiments of the people
30:48and the easiest way to whip up the
30:50sentiments of the people are to tell
30:53them that their religion is in danger
30:55that is their Community is in danger
30:58what else would they tell to who would
31:00wink people to get votes out of them to
31:03get sport out of them the people had to
31:06be Hoodwinked and politicians do that do
31:09this
31:14tension also increased in the punjab's
31:16capital Lahore
31:21student samanand always had a lot of
31:24Muslim friends
31:26they now refuse to talk to him
31:29a class fellow of mine raised the
31:32Congress flag on the school building the
31:34Muslims were very Furious why they also
31:38raised their their Muslim League flag on
31:40the on the school building so detention
31:43increased
31:45the distrust was already there under the
31:48surface
31:50it was there for centuries
31:54but now it came above the service
32:00John Moors in his band of gurkhas were
32:02now sent to Lahore to help the local
32:04police keep the peace
32:07we arrived in Lahore around about the
32:0923rd of April we already knew that there
32:12were Rumblings going on for intelligence
32:15that had been passed to us and we were
32:16briefed on that
32:18and our first job was to get to know the
32:22city and to how to get around it
32:27foreign
32:34we had orders that we were to stay armed
32:37and you'd have to go to a dance or have
32:39dinner out somewhere with a 8 45
32:41revolvers strapped on because there was
32:44already talk about people having
32:47reprisals
32:53[Applause]
32:58foreign
33:01[Music]
33:04there were few British Patrols
33:07began forming jatas armed bands
33:12many seek to served in the British army
33:14during the war and still had their
33:16weapons
33:21these ex-soldiers began to train their
33:23Sikh Brothers to prevent a Muslim
33:25takeover of the Punjab
33:31had recently been released from prison
33:33where he served time for assault he
33:36lived in a Sikh majority part of the
33:37Punjab
33:43I
33:48Chloe
33:55thank you
33:55[Applause]
33:56foreign
34:04foreign
34:14[Music]
34:20and told him that they have heard rumors
34:23that certain people are getting together
34:27in adjoining villages to attack our
34:30village and other villages to kill the
34:33Muslims aridaman Singh Dylan came from a
34:36long line of Sikh Warriors his ancestors
34:39had been imprisoned by the British
34:41his grandfather The Village head refused
34:44to join in the wave of communal violence
34:46a committee of SEC Hindu and Muslim
34:52people were created
34:54and they were given
34:56uh
34:57small arms like lances and excess
35:01we had a couple of guns and the basic
35:05reason for doing this was to guard their
35:09own village against the people coming to
35:12loot the Muslims of that Village and to
35:15guard their Muslim friends and every
35:17night they would hold the patrolling
35:20throughout the village to guard the
35:23village and the Muslims
35:31seeing the Sikh preparations for war
35:33Muslim villagers decided to launch a
35:36first strike
35:37in March 1947 seek Villages around raval
35:40Bindi came under attack
35:58um
36:07foreign
36:13[Music]
36:21would be taken away converted and raped
36:24[Music]
36:31Romance
36:37video
36:40foreign
36:46[Music]
36:56decided to act to save the order of his
36:59village
37:00his teenage son looked on
37:03yeah
37:13foreign
37:53foreign
38:37[Music]
38:45foreign
38:48such scenes were repeated throughout the
38:51Western Punjab in March and April 1947.
38:54[Music]
39:04with the threat of all-out conflict a
39:06deal became a matter of urgency
39:12the Congress leader Pandit Nero now had
39:15power within his grasp
39:17but to get the British out quickly he
39:19had to compromise
39:21he abandoned his dream of a United India
39:24and accepted partition
39:28a statement will be read to you tonight
39:30giving the final decision of his
39:32Majesty's government as the method by
39:35which power will be transferred from
39:37British to Indian head on the night of
39:39June 3rd 1947 mountbatten Jinnah and
39:43nehru broadcast the news that they had
39:45finally struck a deal they would divide
39:47India in two I lost 17 in every
39:52community
39:53particularly the Muslim India to
39:57maintain peace and importance
39:59I couldn't believe it
40:01I couldn't believe it
40:04I I I it was like a dream come true you
40:08know
40:09Mighty forces are at work in the world
40:12today and in India
40:15and I have no doubt that we are ushering
40:17in a period of greatness for India
40:20I remember I heaped a sigh of relief
40:23that there was partition because we did
40:27not want to live with the Muslims
40:29anymore
40:30but there can be no question of coercing
40:32any large areas in which one Community
40:34has a majority to live against their
40:37will under a government in which another
40:39Community as a majority
40:44the partition deal involved giving those
40:46provinces with a Muslim majority to
40:48Pakistan and those with a Hindu one to
40:50India
40:51but mountbatten and Nero insisted that
40:53the Punjab and Bengal would be treated
40:55differently despite their Muslim
40:57majorities
40:58Jenna was forced to accept that both
41:00these provinces would be cut in half and
41:02divided between India and Pakistan
41:07the next day at a press conference
41:09mountbatten dropped a bombshell Britain
41:12would not be leaving in June 1948 as had
41:15been planned but on August 15 1947 just
41:19three months away
41:20when asked why the date had been brought
41:22forward by nearly a year mountbatten
41:24replied why should we wait waiting would
41:27mean that I should be responsible
41:29ultimately for Law and Order it should
41:32have been possible for them to say that
41:34look there's no great hurry don't fix
41:36the timetable let the legit let it
41:39proceed in a more orderly manner
41:42but he was a
41:45a decisive man this is the job I have to
41:48do this is the date by which I'll do it
41:51[Music]
41:53this this was his personality
41:58that made the pace of the partition
42:01Furious impossible to moderate
42:04it was no question of it being
42:08too soon it was much too late because in
42:11fact when he arrived if he saw the
42:13situation was so much more volcanic than
42:17he'd
42:18been led to believe in England and he
42:21had that diary that he had over
42:23everybody's desk saying however many
42:25days to Independence because it seemed
42:28so unbelievable and the next morning he
42:30went into your office it was one day
42:33less and it certainly concentrated
42:35people's minds
42:40foreign
42:44s to go no decision had been made on one
42:47crucial matter
42:49where the border between Pakistan and
42:51India would lie
42:53a new boundary had to be urgently drawn
42:55up
42:57the man chosen for the task had never
42:59been east of Paris
43:01British Barrister Cecil Radcliffe
43:07it was a very remarkable man it was not
43:10just the
43:11quality of his mind uh though that was
43:14formidable
43:16perhaps the most vulnerable I ever
43:17encountered I think
43:19he had this unerving gift
43:22for going to the heart of anything he
43:24was discussing
43:25he he came very clearly to a rational
43:28conclusion he was a very rational man
43:34on July 8th Radcliffe arrived in India
43:42he moved into a bungalow in the
43:43viceroy's estate
43:46with partition only 36 days away he met
43:48mambatan
43:51the brilliant and serious Barrister did
43:53not quite hit it off with the flamboyant
43:55Viceroy
43:56I think he thought that he was
43:59a vain man
44:01um
44:03and not a man whose judgment was totally
44:06relied upon
44:08but he didn't he didn't dislike him and
44:11I think he respected the fact that
44:14mountbatten
44:15was the last place I saw it and doing
44:18the best he could with a very difficult
44:19remate could you get me the figures
44:22please for the gurdaspar district
44:26um I believe I'm writing saying that
44:28there is a narrow Muslim majority but
44:30not a substantial one uh yes 50.50 with
44:34his private secretary Christopher
44:36Beaumont Radcliffe began his work
44:39his toughest job would be in the Punjab
44:41and Bengal which were being divided in
44:43two
44:45Radcliffe was being asked to draw a line
44:47through the middle of both provinces
44:51in doing so he would look at which
44:53religion was in a majority in each
44:55individual District but he would also
44:58take into account other factors such as
45:00the collection of Railways canals and
45:02irrigation channels
45:07in the streets of its great Capital
45:09Lahore there was uncertainty over which
45:12side of the city the Border would fall
45:18[Music]
45:22Satish gudral was an art student in
45:25Lahore from a politically influential
45:27Hindu family
45:28[Music]
45:29foreign
45:36there were more chance that the whole
45:39will go to Indian side
45:43because seeing everything belong to in
45:46those
45:49educational
45:51Money Bank insurance
46:00[Music]
46:10foreign
46:23[Music]
46:28with tension increasing the British
46:30government decided this was the moment
46:32to bring most of the remaining troops
46:34home
46:36[Music]
46:45with just over a month to partition
46:47tension on the streets of Lahore began
46:50to turn to violence
46:54there was a date and everybody then knew
46:57that
47:00do whatever you can now because after
47:02this date you won't be able to do it
47:04whether it's looting Muslims or looting
47:06Hindus whatever it might be
47:09so therefore the the the the date
47:13itself became a driver
47:19with the borders still to be decided
47:21Muslims Sikhs and Hindus began to clear
47:24their neighborhoods of anyone not of
47:26their community
47:27[Music]
47:44[Music]
47:52foreign foreign
48:06despite violence erupting around the
48:08Punjab the British presence was now
48:11minimal
48:12John Morris and his small group of
48:14gurkhas did what they could in Lahore
48:17we tried to get in there quickly and say
48:19well what's happened with the police and
48:22they said well this shop's been set on
48:23fire and then the next thing which upped
48:26it would be someone would be killed or
48:28burnt
48:30um and so then you get a reprisal from
48:33the other side then picking on some
48:35deals and gradually this is how it
48:37escalated it was like a Bushfire
48:39and it was difficult to control
48:45as Lahore tore itself apart malbutton
48:49had other problems to solve
48:51partition was just a few weeks away but
48:54the future of large parts of India had
48:56yet to be decided that of the princely
48:58states
49:00[Music]
49:02foreign ruled by princes the
49:05semi-autonomous states were dotted
49:07around India they had been allowed to
49:09run their own Affairs in return for
49:10their loyalty to the British crowd
49:16the princes assumed the British would
49:19allow them to decide their own fate
49:20after they left but mountbatten had done
49:23a secret deal with neru he would have
49:26most of them over to India
49:29Narendra Singh sarila than a young
49:31prince attended the meeting where
49:33mountbatten announced their future
49:37foreign
49:3847
49:40my father said that the last chamber of
49:44Princess meeting is going to take place
49:46in Delhi
49:48in which mountbatten will address the
49:50princes it is an important meeting you
49:52go you deputize for me he was trying to
49:54build me up
49:58on July 25th the princes gathered to
50:01hear what mountbatten was offering them
50:08he who came and stood in front on the
50:11podium
50:12and I remember that he looked left and
50:17right
50:18while pictures were taken it was it was
50:21perfect
50:22Showmanship and then he started
50:25addressing the princes your highnesses
50:28ladies and gentlemen and he said that we
50:32have no alternative but to sign the
50:33instrument recession
50:35mountbatten told the princes they had
50:37little Choice join the Indian Union or
50:39be swept away in a wave of democratic
50:42change
50:43and I think this made a great impression
50:45and many of the princes who had these
50:47ideas that they would they would become
50:49independent and do what they like they
50:51just collapsed they realized that if
50:54they didn't sign
50:56most of the princes small ones most
51:00probably wiped out
51:03with the princes in the bag the
51:05partition settlement was nearly complete
51:08all that remained was the final border
51:11down to Cicero Radcliffe
51:15I think it was the loneliness of the
51:17decision which uh I remember him talking
51:20about it wasn't a single sedition it was
51:23a series of decisions about where the
51:24line should be drawn these decisions
51:26were going to be his and he had to take
51:29responsibility for them and I think he
51:31found that a lonely experience by
51:33comparison with some of the things he'd
51:35done
51:38so Cyril had no time to see what was
51:40happening in the lands he was dissecting
51:45his approach to drawing up the boundary
51:47separating majority hindu-sik areas from
51:50majority Muslim ones almost certainly
51:52encouraged the religious cleansing of
51:54entire districts
51:58there were areas where the margins were
52:00not very great
52:02therefore the majority in those areas
52:05wanted to make sure
52:07that
52:08the process didn't get fudged with small
52:10numbers
52:13so drive those the minority out whether
52:15it is Hindu or Muslim minority to make
52:18sure that this bit of territory doesn't
52:20slip out your hands
52:23[Music]
52:27Mayhem now ensued in The Villages of the
52:29Punjab
52:30a few individuals took a stand Dylan's
52:33grandfather was threatened for trying to
52:35protect his Muslim Neighbors
52:36[Music]
52:40some people had often sent messages to
52:42my grandfather
52:44that people who were going about looting
52:47and killing Muslims they wanted to
52:50eliminate our family because we were
52:53putting a obstacle in their way
52:56but my grandfather would not be deterred
52:59he would not be afraid he was that way
53:26[Music]
53:32no no no no no no
53:35nobody better
53:43now
53:45I'm fine
53:47but if it is
54:05foreign
54:28[Music]
54:31troops scoured the countryside trying to
54:34stop the violence
54:36but by then there were just too few to
54:38make a difference
54:42one had messages coming in all the time
54:45by hand written messages I can remember
54:48one it was rather sad pathetic note by
54:51some chap who could write a little bit
54:54of English and he had been in the Indian
54:56Navy and on a scrap of paper this came
54:59in one day saying I I'm a home on leave
55:02at this particular Village
55:04and my name is certain so my number is
55:07certain so please can you come and help
55:09us because we are going to be attacked
55:14but by the time are we located The
55:17Village
55:18we got there and the village had been
55:21attacked and I couldn't find this man a
55:22lot of people were killed so it was that
55:25sort of message it was sad you know
55:27people were desperate for help and knew
55:29where we were but when I say we were
55:31we're only 100 people I mean the whole
55:34area was something like what 40 40 50
55:38000 square miles
55:43one Village I went into where we knew
55:46there was something of foot I hadn't
55:48been told to go there I was coming back
55:49at the end of a patrol
55:51and I saw vultures circling and so that
55:54was usually a pretty good indicator and
55:57got into the village
55:59and sure enough it had been completely
56:02decimated
56:05[Music]
56:08the well was full of bodies women by one
56:11woman and being pregnant and she'd been
56:12carved out and completely and breasts
56:15had been cut off and
56:17an awful awful atrocities
56:25foreign
56:36[Music]
56:46[Music]
56:50murder was down every day occurrence
56:54with Partition just two weeks away
56:55rumors circulated that the city would go
56:58to Pakistan
57:01lahore's richer Hindus took no chances
57:04[Music]
57:11the Hindus started Living much before
57:15the partition Lahore they knew the Lord
57:18would go to Pakistan they started
57:20leaving the city but they pretended that
57:24they are not leaving
57:28they kept their drying rooms as as it
57:32were there all these sofas and all these
57:35all the furniture was there in the
57:37hearts there was a a hope lingered that
57:42Lahore would be on this side
57:45thank you
57:46[Music]
57:52foreign
58:03[Music]
58:07said if they could live under the
58:09British they could live under the
58:11Muslims
58:12[Music]
58:14I didn't want to leave
58:16my father also didn't want to leave he
58:19hoped and he said okay all these people
58:22who are leaving their Foods they'll come
58:24back tomorrow
58:30but that was not true when our neighbors
58:34started Living one by one he still hoped
58:39our closest neighbors who we had very
58:43close relationship the bhatyas when they
58:47left my father wept
58:49that day
58:54as thousands fled Muslim gangs Set Fire
58:57to the secret Hindu areas of the old
58:59city
59:00the old Lahore beautiful and historic
59:03was in flames
59:09night when I used to sleep on the
59:12Terrace I could see the Hindu shalmy
59:16area burning
59:18five miles away
59:23foreign
59:29was a thickly populated Hindu area
59:33it was burned down completely
59:36and I could see five miles away
59:40the Flames the light all that and we
59:44were so terrified that night
59:50all around my house
59:53people were running
59:55children others women
1:00:00he said mobs are coming
1:00:03and the area is on fire
1:00:08told me to run at once if you want to
1:00:10save your life
1:00:19[Music]
1:00:23the whole Horizon full of fire smoke and
1:00:27all red
1:00:28it was such a sad sad sad
1:00:32moment for my life seeing Lahore is such
1:00:35a beautiful city it was all burning
1:00:37I have done what I can in Drawing the
1:00:41Line
1:00:43to eliminate any avoidable cutting
1:00:48of Railway Communications
1:00:50and of river systems
1:00:54which are on August 9 through at
1:00:56Clifford finished drawing up the Border
1:00:58but my button decided to keep the new
1:01:00boundary a secret until after
1:01:02Independence so the British wouldn't be
1:01:04blamed for any ensuing violence of this
1:01:07Interruption the delay prolonged the
1:01:09uncertainty and some believe it
1:01:11increased the loss of life
1:01:13[Music]
1:01:15Radcliffe
1:01:19why
1:01:21capital decision
1:01:30feel much killing would have been saved
1:01:35if they had announced the faith of Lord
1:01:3815 days before
1:01:43on the eve of Independence Radcliffe
1:01:46wrote to his stepson in London
1:01:47[Music]
1:01:50nobody in India will love me for my
1:01:51award about the Punjab and Bengal and
1:01:54there will be roughly 80 million people
1:01:55with the grievance who will begin
1:01:57looking for me
1:01:58I do not want them to find me
1:02:01I've worked and traveled and sweated oh
1:02:03I have sweated the whole time
1:02:07[Music]
1:02:09Radcliffe left India four days later
1:02:13never to return
1:02:16he was deeply conscious that his rulings
1:02:19or his recommendations his would
1:02:22generate
1:02:24controversy conflict
1:02:26and the possibility of a lot a loss of a
1:02:29lot of human life
1:02:31um
1:02:32I do remember him saying that
1:02:36any solution
1:02:38any drawing of the line would have done
1:02:41that
1:02:45on August 14 1947 a new country was born
1:02:50on the subcontinent
1:02:52Jenna's dream of a Muslim Homeland
1:02:54became a reality in Pakistan
1:02:57[Music]
1:03:04through karachi's streets drives the
1:03:06katyazam Muhammad Ali dinner Pakistan's
1:03:08first governor general it's karachi's
1:03:10first day of independence and the crowds
1:03:12are out to greet him and Earl
1:03:13mountbatten
1:03:15button was in Karachi to declare
1:03:17independence for the newly created state
1:03:20bazali no one except he and Radcliffe
1:03:23knew where its borders were but this
1:03:25didn't stop the celebrations
1:03:31it never occurred to us that the Muslims
1:03:35of India will ever see the emergence of
1:03:39his Sovereign independent country but
1:03:43they could call their own you see
1:03:47a country they could live for a country
1:03:49they could die for decision it never
1:03:52occurred to us you know
1:03:57the next day it was the third of India
1:03:59to celebrate
1:04:03[Music]
1:04:07[Applause]
1:04:10hundreds of thousands thrown the streets
1:04:12as nehru mountbatten his wife Edwina and
1:04:15their daughter Pamela made their way to
1:04:17the constituent assembly
1:04:21[Music]
1:04:23unfortunately when my parents arrive
1:04:26they can't get in because the crowd is
1:04:29so thick but so thick that they can't
1:04:32open the doors so there's no way for
1:04:35them to get in
1:04:36so somebody has to crawl in some window
1:04:39and and go to the Prime Minister and say
1:04:42it's lame difficult otherwise right I
1:04:44can't get in because the crowd is so
1:04:47vast will you come and sort it out so
1:04:49now we have to sort of scuttle around
1:04:50back and start hitting people and
1:04:53shouting at people and clearing away
1:04:55when she was always brilliant out and
1:04:57loved doing
1:04:58and eventually my parents were allowed
1:05:01to make their state intrinsically less
1:05:05um dignified them but had been expected
1:05:13[Music]
1:05:22where you must remember that whatever
1:05:24the tragedy of partition there are the
1:05:26aspects to it and it was an exhilarating
1:05:29occasion and there were millions of
1:05:31people out on the streets celebrating
1:05:33for my uncle and for his colleagues
1:05:37it was the realization though not in
1:05:42whole but in part of their lifelong
1:05:45dream the cause to which they had given
1:05:48their entire lives
1:05:50and here it was
1:05:52Indian independence
1:05:54[Applause]
1:05:57but not everyone was celebrated
1:06:00Gandhi who for decades had struggled for
1:06:03a United Independent India lay fasting
1:06:06in Calcutta
1:06:07his disciple Ashoka Gupta was with him
1:06:11we're disappointed man he was a man in
1:06:14distress and he founded that whoever
1:06:17people went with him
1:06:19to start with
1:06:20now I deserting him the desertion by
1:06:23other leaders
1:06:25I think hurt him very much
1:06:27he wanted to die
1:06:30his attitude was let me die
1:06:39with the celebrations over mountbatten
1:06:42finally announced the new border
1:06:45foreign
1:06:49through the previously United provinces
1:06:51of Bengal and Punjab
1:06:55Lahore was given to Pakistan a disaster
1:06:58for the city's few remaining Hindus
1:07:02we were dejected and we were so sorry
1:07:05because she those Hindus by that time
1:07:08Hindus had realized that it would not be
1:07:11possible for them to stay in Pakistan
1:07:15[Music]
1:07:24millions of people were now on the move
1:07:27Muslims who found themselves on the
1:07:29Indian side of the border and Hindus and
1:07:31Sikhs who were on the Pakistani side
1:07:38they packed their belongings onto
1:07:40Bullock carts and left the villagers
1:07:42they had lived in for Generations
1:07:47foreign
1:07:55foreign
1:08:17[Music]
1:08:30the refugees formed human Caravans
1:08:33called carthalas
1:08:34[Music]
1:08:43the lucky ones and Military escorts to
1:08:45protect them from armed bands waiting on
1:08:48the roads
1:08:50the first
1:08:52major Refugee movement the biggest
1:08:55concentration was about a 50 miles long
1:08:59column of over uh
1:09:02200 000 people was moved and I was
1:09:07escorting it from Jalandhar onwards up
1:09:10to the Pakistan border
1:09:13Hussein was a young army officer he had
1:09:16been sent to the Punjab to deal with
1:09:17disturbances On the Border
1:09:21we had very few troops with us very few
1:09:23troops with us so here were these people
1:09:26there were no Dark Water elements they
1:09:29have no arrangement for the medical
1:09:30cover there was nothing except that we
1:09:33had collected these people in Open
1:09:35Spaces they were told to move
1:09:39and they were moving on foot
1:09:42some had Bullock cars they put their
1:09:44belongings on the Block cars and their
1:09:46old people and children others were on
1:09:48the foot and we used to do about in the
1:09:52initially we used to do about 15 to 20
1:09:54miles in a day but as they got tired
1:09:57that the days passed by they had been
1:10:00less and less
1:10:09foreign
1:10:37throughout August and September The
1:10:39Columns of refugees grew and Grew From
1:10:42hundreds of thousands to Millions
1:10:46will you imagine two million people on
1:10:49one road virtually
1:10:51and it's just a seething mass of people
1:10:53trying to get water trying to call him
1:10:56Wells were poisoned
1:10:58um trying to find food trying to cope
1:11:01trying to cook
1:11:02women having children and it's awful
1:11:05awful things
1:11:08[Music]
1:11:15and of course they often tried to stop
1:11:17us and to ask for help and sometimes if
1:11:21depending what we were doing we'd stop
1:11:24and say what's the matter what you want
1:11:25and then they'd say we know with no food
1:11:28I'm sorry I can't I can't do anything
1:11:30for you because that was no job
1:11:32we just didn't have any food to give
1:11:34them
1:11:35[Music]
1:11:48first they used to start throwing their
1:11:51baggage with they were carrying
1:11:52everybody whatever little they had to
1:11:54carry after three four days they used to
1:11:57gradually drop and then they were left
1:12:00with just the clothes shutter tattered
1:12:04and lastly the mothers leaving their
1:12:08small babies that was our biggest
1:12:10problem
1:12:11and there were these crawling babies
1:12:14and on the side of the road with these
1:12:17thousands and thousands of people just
1:12:19moving so the terrible sight terrible
1:12:21side
1:12:22[Music]
1:12:35tens of thousands of people boarded
1:12:38special Refugee trains that made their
1:12:40way between India and Pakistan
1:12:42[Music]
1:12:43they were easy prey for the armed gangs
1:12:45that roamed the countryside it was John
1:12:48Moore's job to escort a trainload of
1:12:50Muslim refugees to Pakistan
1:12:52[Music]
1:12:56it wasn't a train it was just a lot of
1:12:58coal wagons steel coal wagons and this
1:13:00of course is August which is pretty hot
1:13:05and
1:13:07we loaded up these these wretched
1:13:09refugees
1:13:17it was very distressing and the journey
1:13:19from ambala to to amritsa by train
1:13:22normally would you would do it in about
1:13:24I suppose four or five hours
1:13:28and um in this case it took four days
1:13:32[Music]
1:13:46there was no water very little water on
1:13:48the way we had our own supplies of water
1:13:50for the three platoons
1:13:52but we had a job to do and we couldn't
1:13:55help him help them
1:14:01foreign
1:14:15they reached the Sikh stronghold of
1:14:18amritsa
1:14:19just 14 miles from the border they were
1:14:22forced to stop to pick up water
1:14:24the station had been taken over by
1:14:26hundreds of armed Sikhs
1:14:29and Richard stay Nation
1:14:31was crawling with me it was packed it
1:14:34was like sardines right across not just
1:14:37the platforms but across the tracks They
1:14:40all had weapons of some sort or another
1:14:42some were old blunderbusses some were
1:14:45fairly modern rifles
1:14:47Spears swords they were shoulder to
1:14:51shoulder crowds and pushy and shouting
1:14:53and screaming and
1:14:55you realize that you were just going
1:14:58into a hell and if you didn't look tough
1:15:01it was you were you were trouble because
1:15:03they would then have gone for us before
1:15:06the refugees
1:15:08and um
1:15:10I said the thing to do
1:15:12um to get the grenades out let them see
1:15:16a lot of them are ex-soul disease people
1:15:18here the weapons they were carrying
1:15:20Let Them See You priming grades Prime
1:15:22the grenades and that they all know you
1:15:24mean business then
1:15:26and doing that they the crowd sort of
1:15:28melted back and away and left us clear
1:15:32and I suppose we must have been in the
1:15:34station for about four hours something
1:15:36like that
1:15:39and Justice Dawn was breaking we managed
1:15:42to to pull away the engine to do the
1:15:44last 14 miles
1:15:47[Music]
1:15:50there had been very little planning for
1:15:52the movement of refugees or their
1:15:54protection
1:15:54[Music]
1:15:56most British troops had already been
1:15:57sent home whilst Indian and Pakistani
1:16:00forces were in total disarray
1:16:02[Music]
1:16:06they were totally inadequate forces and
1:16:10the reason was very simple because the
1:16:12Indian army was being split at the same
1:16:15time don't forget that the troops were
1:16:18also concerned about their families
1:16:20because wherever they came from the
1:16:23trouble was going on in their homes also
1:16:25they were very much concerned and most
1:16:27of them were on leave or they were on
1:16:29the process of joining their new unit or
1:16:31they're already joined so the very much
1:16:34very few bodies on the ground really
1:16:37speaking available to us to deal with
1:16:39the job
1:16:40[Music]
1:16:44most trains had no military escorts with
1:16:47inevitable consequences
1:16:53John Moores was called to ambala station
1:16:55to meet a train that had been attacked
1:16:59this was a train load of I'd know five
1:17:01six hundred seven hundred people
1:17:04most of whom had been killed slaughtered
1:17:07mainly elderly people young children
1:17:12young women
1:17:15and they had been attacked
1:17:18and slaughtered
1:17:20shot
1:17:22I can remember seeing a young woman over
1:17:25there she was still alive her head open
1:17:27cut open and you could see our brains
1:17:30and knew there was nothing that we could
1:17:32do we hadn't got any surgical facilities
1:17:35or anything like that but it was it was
1:17:38a horrendous horrendous thing
1:17:40and I still think about it very much
1:17:45art student Satish goodrel helped
1:17:47organize the transportation of refugees
1:17:50in amritsa he saw the hatred partitioned
1:17:53abroad nearby
1:17:58had been readily
1:18:00and all these girls had been brought out
1:18:04certainly
1:18:06they are taken in procession to this
1:18:09this location
1:18:11where they were being systematically
1:18:13raped
1:18:16I have regarding my life story
1:18:20that man watching it
1:18:23I looked at the face
1:18:26of those are the
1:18:28who were attending it
1:18:30in a search of compassion
1:18:35I found none
1:18:43in the coming months around 15 million
1:18:46people made the journey from one side to
1:18:48the other
1:18:49foreign
1:18:53million were dead
1:18:57thousands more lay abandoned in
1:18:59makeshift refugee camps stuck on the
1:19:02wrong side of the Border
1:19:09the vicerine now led the relief effort
1:19:13my mother was forever visiting the the
1:19:15Punjab she visited
1:19:17in five months
1:19:19she did 70 major tours of the Punjab
1:19:25into the camps and trying to organize
1:19:28organize the camps organize the
1:19:30hospitals get guards on the hospitals
1:19:33get food
1:19:35and they soon learned that tell lady
1:19:39mount back on something or answer one of
1:19:42her questions and something will happen
1:19:47[Music]
1:19:50the new prime minister of India toured
1:19:53some of the camps with them finally he
1:19:56came face to face with the prices people
1:19:58had paid for partition
1:20:00Satish gudra was at a refugee camp in
1:20:04Lahore when he arrived
1:20:07you know
1:20:10are you really recall everything
1:20:12graphically
1:20:15refugees wanted to kill him
1:20:19he was shocked amen who grew up as the
1:20:24darling of the people
1:20:27was was going to be trained by the same
1:20:29people
1:20:29[Applause]
1:20:33at the beginning
1:20:36that evening I did not feel because I
1:20:41thought foreign
1:20:57I felt low reference toward him
1:21:00[Music]
1:21:06and foreign
1:21:09there are now a few Hindus left
1:21:12someone and his father were among the
1:21:14last
1:21:15in the weeks following partition they
1:21:18came under attack from Muslim gangs
1:21:19seeking a religiously pure Lahore
1:21:23and it was free for all in the city
1:21:25there was no one to check them so they
1:21:28had come for that purpose and somebody
1:21:30had given them our address and all that
1:21:33and they came to kill us and to
1:21:36unfortunately we had a very narrow
1:21:38escape and I was with the neighbor with
1:21:41a Muslim neighbor and diluted the
1:21:44ransacked the house
1:21:45took away all the all the clothes which
1:21:49they could use on Lower shoes and when
1:21:53our Muslim neighbor raised he raised a
1:21:55human cry
1:21:57they said we'll shoot you if you if you
1:22:00support the cafes
1:22:04to achiever for some of his father who
1:22:06throughout the violence had held out the
1:22:08hope that they could stay on in the city
1:22:09of their birth
1:22:12[Music]
1:22:15then we decided to go to Delhi straight
1:22:17away went to the airport and came to
1:22:19Delhi with our two clothes no or nothing
1:22:24we left in a plane my father bought two
1:22:27tickets for Delhi
1:22:30I saw the our houses when the plane went
1:22:34up
1:22:35fried over um Model Town I wept
1:22:43[Music]
1:22:47village where the Muslims had been
1:22:50protected by his grandfather the Indian
1:22:52army arrived one day and ordered the
1:22:53Muslims out
1:22:55foreign
1:22:58it was the sort of very heavy moment
1:23:01there were tearful
1:23:04departures and farewells
1:23:06the Muslims left most of their
1:23:09assets and properties with their
1:23:11neighbors
1:23:13thinking that they would be able to come
1:23:15again to pick those things up
1:23:17[Music]
1:23:24initially the people felt very remorse
1:23:28about their going
1:23:30but then in a couple of days
1:23:34sort of they they try to occupy their
1:23:37homes
1:23:39they they try to take away whatever they
1:23:41had left
1:23:51in only a few months India had been
1:23:54divided along religious lines
1:23:56the Indian part of the Punjab was
1:23:58cleared of nearly all its Muslims while
1:24:00Pakistan was emptied of most of its
1:24:02Sikhs in Hindus
1:24:11Lahore once one of the most mixed cities
1:24:14in all of India was now home only to
1:24:17Muslims
1:24:20gone was
1:24:22the Cosmopolitan Lahore
1:24:25God was
1:24:26liberal tolerant Progressive Lord you
1:24:29see but I think culturally
1:24:33it was a great City in those days it was
1:24:36a great City and always
1:24:41with the passage of time
1:24:43we became more conservative more
1:24:48backward
1:24:51intolerant
1:24:52more pseudo-islamic pseudo-islamic
1:24:58I think the
1:25:01the
1:25:02is of the Hindus who didn't treat the
1:25:06Muslims as their equals
1:25:10that was the root cause the Muslims and
1:25:13Hindus couldn't integrate despite living
1:25:16together for all these centuries
1:25:23with the partition over the job was done
1:25:25for the few British troops still left in
1:25:27India
1:25:29John Moore's returned to Britain at the
1:25:31end of 1947.
1:25:36I think the worst thing was that we
1:25:40couldn't stop the violence
1:25:43see
1:25:45unnecessary cruelty is something which
1:25:49we didn't really know much about
1:25:51[Music]
1:25:54button stayed on in India until the end
1:25:56of 1948 as its Governor General
1:26:00he returned to his career in the Navy
1:26:01becoming First Sea Lord
1:26:05he was killed by an IRA bomb in 1979.
1:26:09the whole problem was that mountbatten
1:26:13tried to do this job in Too Short a Time
1:26:17to expect a country to be partitioned a
1:26:20new country to be created and within two
1:26:23months move the portion of the
1:26:25government of India to Pakistan and to
1:26:29move the troops to Pakistan from
1:26:31Pakistan to India both a tremendous job
1:26:34it cannot be done it and that's exactly
1:26:36what happened everything went out of
1:26:38control
1:26:39[Music]
1:26:46Satish gujra the Arts student from
1:26:49Lahore became one of India's greatest
1:26:51painters
1:26:54foreign
1:27:07and begin to paint
1:27:09without any consciously afraid
1:27:13this woman suffering
1:27:15this is brutally a man to man
1:27:18became my theme
1:27:22[Music]
1:27:26the Border created in 1947. become the
1:27:30focus for three Wars and 60 years of
1:27:33animosity between the government of
1:27:34India and Pakistan
1:27:38but for the people of the two countries
1:27:40it was the tragedy of Separation that
1:27:43lingered on
1:27:44[Music]
1:27:51I miss my friends
1:27:54I couldn't understand why they had to go
1:27:58why were they pushed away
1:28:00that my only thing was that they were
1:28:02being pushed away
1:28:04I knew they were not going happily so I
1:28:07couldn't understand why
1:28:08[Music]
1:28:11and I still think why
1:28:16what did anybody get out of it
1:28:28[Music]
1:28:31and on BBC 4 at 11 in Midnight's
1:28:34grandchildren three British teenagers
1:28:36traveled to the Punjab to see how their
1:28:38families were affected by partition
1:28:40coming next here on BBC 2 News night
1:28:44foreign
1:28:45[Music]

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