Partition

 

1. Dominion of Pakistan created on 14 August 1947. Became world's first Islamic Republic in 1956. New city of Islamabad replaced Karachi as capital in the mid 1960s
2. British India was made up of provinces, princely states and state agencies. An independent Union of India was created on 15 August 1947 and renamed the Republic of India in 1950
3. Punjab was split in two. Majority Muslim western part became Pakistan's Punjab province; majority Sikh and Hindu eastern part became India's Punjab state
4. Bengal divided into Indian state of West Bengal and East Pakistan, which became East Bengal in 1956 and Bangladesh achieved independence after a civil war in 1971

In 1947, the jewel of the British Empire, India, was granted independence, divided along religious lines and two nations were born - India and Pakistan.
Partition left 10 million people uprooted and more than half a million Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus dead in riots and massacres. Sixty years on, the status of Kashmir remains unresolved despite a tenuous peace process between India and Pakistan, following three wars. Communal unrest continues to surface from time to time in both countries. The good news is that the economies are growing, especially in India.

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