When a surgeon's scalpel turned into a dagger

Every morning, when we glance through the newspapers with our daily dose of caffeine, rarely would be a day when we fail to spot, a news feature about India-Pak unrest, or the never ending border bickering.

Why didn't the two nation theory restore the peace, it was supposed to?  Even after 60 years of partition, why are we both still licking our wounds and wouldn't let go?  A decade or so ago, I chanced to read, Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre's work 'Freedom at Midnight'. It was a work of monumental proportions, and it gave an inkling about the causes for the permanent wounds, that would never let us heal.

When it became obvious that partition on sectarian grounds was the only way out of the quandary, the then Viceroy, Lord Mountbatten established a boundary commission and invited Sir Cyril Radcliffe (30th March 1899 - 1st April 1977), born in Denbighshire, Wales a.k.a Viscount Radcliffe, to chair the commission. There were two commissions, one for the partition of the Punjab and another for the partition of Bengal, both the territories had a high density of muslim population.

Cyril Radcliffe was an eminent judge, with an untarnished reputation.  He had never visited India before, nor was he aware of the demographics, or the ethnic culture.  His lack of knowledge about the country was even considered an attribute by the British.  They thought it would help him to be unbiased towards either party.

He arrived on the 8th of July 1947 and was approximately given 5 weeks to partition the country with surgical precision. Whatever he did would be irreversible.  The commission had equal representation from both the INC and Muslim League.  Two from each side, and all of them were lawyers.  The differences between them was so palpable, that there was hardly any room for dialogue, and the decision making responsibility fell solely on Radcliffe's shoulders.  He doesn't seem to have complained and went about his work dispassionately.

The commission was not aware of procedures and information of drawing up boundaries, neither did they have time to analyse the situation and conduct surveys, nor acquire information.  Britain was in the throes of debt, after the World War II, and wanted to wash its hands off, a crumbling colony.

Sir Radcliffe was supposed to work in closed rooms with the other members of the commission, with only maps and the census that was available.  His primary responsibility was to divide the country on religious lines, there were other criterion, which were not clearly stated, but would have to do with natural boundaries, rivers, irrigation systems etc.  The final decision lay with Radcliffe, but it is unknown if either party tried to influence or if there was external lobbying.

Under such circumstances, were the provinces of Punjab and Bengal partitioned.  Radcliffe, rationalised that whatever he did, a certain level of displacement was unavoidable, but no one would have been prepared for what would unfurl, in the coming months.  The displacement of 14 million people and the extreme and unprecedented violence that followed.

It was spurred by insecurity, induced by loss of land & property, and a mad rage for having been subjected to it.  The great exodus of people from either side of the boundary, was one of its kind. Long caravans going in the opposite directions, with whatever they could carry of their belongings, with no knowledge of the destination, but surging ahead towards the boundary and supposed safety.  And suddenly violence would erupt among the opposite groups and rivulets of blood flowed.

Radcliffe wielded his scalpel pretty shoddily, huge tracts of land in Bengal with less than five percent muslim population was awarded to west Pakistan, and vice-versa.  The volume of human migration was unparalleled in the history of mankind.  It was made worse by poverty, violence and an unrelenting monsoon.  The stroke that permanently embedded the dagger in the hearts of both the nations, happened during the partition of Punjab.

Lahore was a bustling and fashionable city with a considerable population of Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs.  The Hindus and Sikhs marginally outnumbered the Muslims, and seventy five percent of land and properties were held by the Hindus and Sikhs. While the Gurdaspur district of Punjab was dominated by a Muslim population of over 51%.  Radcliffe awarded Lahore to Pakistan, creating utter chaos among the Hindus and Sikhs.  Overnight landlords became paupers, scurrying for cover with their bare possessions towards the Indian boundary. The climax of the partition, was the awarding of only a part of Gurdaspur to Pakistan, while the rest was awarded to India. It is to be noted, that Gurdaspur was the only land link India had to Jammu and Kashmir, and now it was inevitable that it wanted Kashmir to accede to India to protect its boundaries.

If Radcliffe had awarded Lahore to India and Gurdaspur to Pakistan, India’s land link to Kashmir, would have not existed, and India wouldn’t claim a state that existed in the heartland of another country, and the perpetual tug of war, between the two countries, could have been eliminated.

Cyril Radcliffe refused his fees for services rendered by him to the crown, seeing the utter mayhem unleashed by his partition of India.  He left India even before drafts of the partition were formally awarded to the respective countries.  But, the bone of contention, remains in place and we will continue to see the endless dialogues, which lead nowhere, for many more years to come.

Now, let us assume, Pakistan had got Gurdaspur, what would have been the repercussions?

• Pakistan would dictate terms in Siachen, which would put India at the receiving end
• The river Indus (the very name this land borrowed) would not flow through this land any more
• And last but not the least, we wouldn’t look as pretty, without our head