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QUAID-I-AZAM UNIVERSITY PARTITION OF THE INDIAN SUBCONTINENT: PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTATION A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY RABIA UMAR ALI ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN 2009 Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary [email protected] CANDIDATE’S DECLARATION I hereby declare that the dissertation presently submitted bearing the title “Partition of the Indian Subcontinent: Planning and Implementation” is the result of my own research and has not been submitted to any other institution for any other degree. Rabia Umar Ali Ph.D. Candidate Department of History Quaid-i-Azam University August 12, 2009 Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary [email protected] SUPERVISOR’S DECLARATION I hereby declare that the Ph.D. candidate Rabia Umar Ali has completed her dissertation titled “Partition of the Indian Subcontinent: Planning and Implementation” under my supervision. I recommend it for submission in candidacy for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History. Dr. Sayed Wiqar Ali Shah Professor and Chairman Department of History Quaid-iAzam University. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary [email protected] QUAID-I-AZAM UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY FINAL APPROVAL Dated: _________ We hereby certify that we have read the dissertation “Partition of the Indian Subcontinent: Planning and Implementation” submitted by Rabia Umar Ali in candidacy for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History. We deem the said dissertation to be of sufficient quality to merit the award of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History to Rabia Umar Ali. _____________________ External Examiner A _____________________ External Examiner B _____________________ Supervisor _____________________ Chairman Department of History Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary [email protected] For all those who ever thought that the land of their ambition was unachievable. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary [email protected] ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Praise be to the Almighty to whom I owe my attempt at completing this work. The struggle and effort to initiate and fulfill this task has been the blessing and mercy of Allah. I don’t consider myself worthy of it without the constant strength and direction that He bestowed upon me at every stage of research and writing. That I was able to finish the work in time, is the sole accomplishment of my guide, teacher, colleague, friend and supervisor Prof. Dr. Sayed Wiqar Ali Shah. He became a source of intense support and inspiration at a time when I had relapsed into a state of confusion and uncertainty. He has definitely, in my case, played the role of the legendary mentor. His encouragement infused a new spirit in me and enabled me to pick up the threads from a near to lost endeavour. I will never be able to thank him enough. My very profound and emotional gratitude is due to Prof. Dr. Dushka H. Sayyid with whom I started working on this dissertation a couple of years ago. Her presence and very qualified academic assistance propelled me to this work. I deeply appreciate and admire her understanding of my problems, both personal and professional, in the various sittings that we had in a comfortable, conducive and warm environment of her home. I am very proud of having had the opportunity to work with her and thank her from the core of my heart. My late parents, must be smiling down at this achievement. I owe to them what I am today and miss them beyond words can express. What they inculcated in me in the early years is what I have as their legacy. May their souls rest in peace and may they get good tidings from this world. I am sure they are proud and happy. Bhai, my elder brother, has always been the source of my strength after Abu. I don’t think I could have even thought of treading on this path without him, always far ahead of me in academics, and very much beside me in life. His life and work became the major incentive, never pushing but always there to enquire about my progress, with guidance, suggestions and lots of helpful insight. To my younger siblings Fakiha and Hamid, to my brother-in-law Hamza and Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary [email protected] sisters-in-law Shaista and Afreen, I am lovingly grateful for their prayers, support and encouragement. To Umar, my husband and my partner in life, I am thankful for more than I can say in words. He bore with me, and my professional needs in a manner that invaluably facilitated my work. His constant encouragement that I should not give up and his unflinching support made this work see the light of the day. My accomplishment is basically his effort. My gratitude is also due to his parents, whose prayers and generous accommodation of my frequent and prolonged absences made my work very easy. I am grateful for the delightful presence of my lovely five and a half years old daughter, Ayesha. She is the reason for the delay in the completion of this work but also my most precious possession and the most needful distraction. In many ways she made my work pleasant by her cheerful being, keeping away moments of insanity that one usually has to confront in the process. Equally special have been my nieces and nephews, Zaynab, Valeed, Mustafa, Rahem, Samah and Moosa in giving me their blessed and joyful company, when and where possible. My friends have always been there for me. To name and thank them would require volumes. But I owe to some more than I thought I would in the end. Farooq stands out among the rest. He patiently and tirelessly pushed me on until I finished. Here I must acknowledge the support and encouragement I received from Nadeem Siddiqui, my late colleague whose friendship and company I miss and would always cherish with great fondness. To Dost and Kulsoom I owe the final and the most difficult stage. They restored in me a lost confidence and their youthful energy led me to wind up my work in the best possible way. Naveed, Ishaq, Fakhar, Shumaila, Shahid, Suleiman, Adeela, Huma, Saira, Junaid, Faizan, Nauman, Omar and Babar, were my persuasive factors. May Allah bless them, always. I owe a special gratitude to Dr. and Mrs. Saeed-ud-Din Ahmad Dar and Chacha and Chachi for their faith in my abilities, not only supporting and encouraging me but giving me the joy and blessings of their parental prayers. The department of History is my second home. I am what I learnt from it. My teachers have always been my incentive to prove myself in an ever better way. They are my beacons of light. Dr. Aslam Syed, Dr. M. Naeem Qureshi, Dr. Rafique Afzal, Dr. Sikandar Hayat, Dr. Riaz Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary [email protected] Ahmad, Dr. Dushka Sayyid, Dr. Wiqar Ali Shah and Mr. (late) Aziz Ahmad Chaudhry have contributed immensely to my progress and growth. I also wish to thank my colleagues Dr. Javed Haider Syed, Dr.Tanvir Anjum, Dr. Ilhan Niaz and Fouzia for their encouragement. The staff at the department of History is my extended family. Altaf sahib, Akbar sahib, Sarwar, Sarwar Masih, Raheem Dad, Faheem and above all Qaim and Zahid have given to me and my work a support that comes from only very dear people with whom a special bond of longevity of association is shared. At home, Nazakat made my life very comfortable by taking most of the domestic responsibilities off my shoulders in the most crucial days of writing. I wish to thank him for those frequent cups of tea that made the burden of my work lighter. Lastly, I must acknowledge the cooperation of the institutes where I worked and from where I was able to collect my research material. I am deeply indebted to the Razi-ud-Din Siddiqui Library, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, National Institute of Historical and Cultural Research, Islamabad, National Documentation Centre, Islamabad, National Library, Islamabad, National Archives, Islamabad, Lahore Museum Library, Lahore, Quaid-i-Azam Library, Lahore, Department of History, Punjab University, Lahore, Punjab Public Library, Lahore and Baha-ud-Din Zakriya University, Multan for the research facilities they provided. In the U.S.A., University of California, Santa Barabara and Brown University, Rhode Island deserve a special thanks. In the U.K. I had the opportunity of working for a considerable period of time. My gratitude is due to the Charles Wallace Trust Fellowship, which enabled me to work at the School for Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) University of London, at British Library, London, Newspaper Collection Colindale, London, The National Archives, Kew Gardens, London and University of Glasgow, Scotland. I am especially thankful to all those who helped me out in these institutions and made my work considerably easier. The responsibility of all factual details and errors is entirely mine. Rabia Umar Ali August, 2009 Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary [email protected] ABSTRACT India’s Partition was an event of momentous significance for the three major communities, the Hindus, Muslims and the Sikhs who were at the time residing in the subcontinent. It was an equally important phenomenon for the British who were to withdraw their rule and thereby signify an imperial retreat from India. Independence was announced on the 15th of August 1947 after which the two sovereign States of India and Pakistan emerged on the map of the world. The Muslims of the subcontinent had gained a separate homeland and the struggle for freedom by the Indians in general had reached fruition. Partition as a landmark and a milestone was achieved. The manner it actually came about and the numerous stages that its making and implementation went through, is mainly the subject of this study. Lord Mountbatten’s role in the capacity of the last Viceroy of United India gets the major part of attention as he was not only the Crown representative in India, but also the man on the ground taking major decisions. His relationship with other political leaders and his handling of the situation was crucial in the communally tense and volatile Indian situation. The planning for partition and more so its implementation required a meticulous and impartial approach. It was a highly sensitive matter where communities were turning into nationalities and an imperial power was foregoing its control of almost a century. The decisions regarding schedules and time frame, division of assets, handling of Princely States, the issue of Governor-Generalship and choice of personalities to manage the various departments had to be taken carefully. It was a British responsibility, India still being a subject state. The task, however, was not delivered in the spirit of an unbiased arbitral approach with much left to be desired. The result was a hasty and flawed partition and its repercussions so strong that they still hang visibly on the region’s horizon, determining and defining the nature and character of the relationship between the two major of States of South Asia, India and Pakistan. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary [email protected] TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements vii-ix Abstract x Introduction 1-33 Chapter One British Approach to Partition 34-77 Chapter Two Evolution of Partition Plan 78-115 Chapter Three Radcliffe Award and its Dictates 116-146 Chapter Four Administrative Consequences 147-177 Conclusion 178-187 Appendices 188-210 Select Bibliography 211-232 Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary [email protected]