Did you know? Sir Cyril Radcliffe, a distinguished British jurist, was assigned the agonizing task of fixing the boundary lines between India and Pakistan in Punjab and Bengal. As chairman of the Border Commissions he was charged with equitably dividing 1,75,000 square miles (4,50,000 km2) of territory with 8.8 crore people. The “Radcliffe Line” was announced on 16 August 1947 as a boundary demarcation line between India and Pakistan upon the Partition of India. After arriving in India on 8 July 1947, Radcliffe was given just 5 weeks to decide on a border. He soon met with his fellow college alumnus Lord Mountbatten and travelled to Lahore and Calcutta to meet with commission members, chiefly Nehru from the Congress and Jinnah, president of the Muslim League. He objected to the short time frame, but all parties were adamant that the line be finished by the 15 August, the date hastily fixed by Mountbatten for British withdrawal from India. Mountbatten had accepted the post as Viceroy on the condition of an early deadline. The decision was completed just a couple of days before the withdrawal, but not published until 17 August 1947, two days after the grant of independence to India and Pakistan purely due to political reasons. Radcliffe and the other commissioners, all lawyers by profession, had none of the specialized knowledge needed for the task. They had no advisers to inform them of the well-established procedures and information needed to draw a boundary. Nor was there time to gather the survey and regional information. The absence of some experts and advisers, such as the United Nations, was deliberate, to avoid delay. Had the Commission been more careful, massive blunder in the division could have been avoided. For example, there were instances where the border was drawn leaving some parts of a village in India and some in Pakistan. Since he had just a month, Radcliffe saw no point in being careful to avoid villages. His border was drawn right through thickly populated areas instead of between them. There were even instances where the dividing line passed through a single house with some rooms in one country and others in the other. Radcliffe justified such casual division with the cliché that no matter what he did, people would suffer. The thinking behind this justification may never be known since Radcliffe destroyed all his papers before he left India. He departed on Independence Day itself, before even the boundary awards were distributed. By his own admission, Radcliffe was heavily influenced by his lack of fitness for the Indian climate and his eagerness to depart India. The implementation was no less hasty than the process of drawing the border itself. On 16 August 1947 at 5:00 pm, the Indian and Pakistani representatives were given two hours to study copies, before the Radcliffe award was published on the 17th. Fabulous Offer on Hotel Room Rent in Mandarmani, Darjeeling and Lataguri (Dooars). For details log on to: dreamboat.co.in/offer.php For customised tours and hotel bookings, log on to: dreamboat.co.in/
Posted on: Fri, 22 Nov 2013 03:34:22 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015