Horrors of Partition: Painful and Bizarre Stories of the Division
The 'horror of partition' is the center of discussion in the whole country these days. Seminars, drama presentations and other discussions based on this 'horror' are being held in almost all the cities. On this occasion, it is very interesting to know what happened 79 years ago on these days? On 14 August 1947, after the partition, the new country Pakistan was formed. When the country was divided in the name of religion, the most difficult task was the division of movable and immovable assets. During the partition, soldiers and military assets, treasury, royal vehicles, office furniture, stationery items, even bulbs and pens and pencils were divided between the two countries.
The country is celebrating its 79th Independence Day this year. A day before this date, on 14 August 1947, when the country was divided in the name of religion, the most difficult task was the division of various assets. This division had become ridiculous at some places. How were the army, treasury, carriage and elephant divided? Why was there a dispute over the elephant named Joymoney? The departure of the British and the partition of India and Pakistan were decided. Then a British lawyer Sir Cyril Radcliffe was given the task of deciding the new border. With this the geographical division was completed. Now the question was how to divide the army, treasury and cultural items.
On 16 June 1947, the Punjab Partition Committee was formed. Its job was to divide finance, army and senior administrative services along with their offices and equipment. However, later the name of this committee was changed to Partition Council in which Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Rajendra Prasad and Muhammad Ali Jinnah were also included. On 14 August 1947, the order to divide the old Indian Army came. This was the last order of the British Indian Army. The soldiers were told that they could choose India or the newly formed nation Pakistan as per their wish. A condition was also kept in this. According to HM Patel's book 'Rights of Passage', the condition was that no Muslim from Pakistan could join the Indian state and no non-Muslim from India could join the armed forces of Pakistan.
According to the report of Britain's National Army Museum, after the partition, two-thirds of the soldiers went to India and one-third went to Pakistan. In this way, 260000 soldiers chose the Indian Army and about 140000 chose Pakistan. Most of those who chose Pakistan were Muslims. According to this report, 98 percent of Muslim soldiers chose Pakistan as their country, while only 554 Muslim officers decided to stay in India. After the partition, there were about 36 percent Muslims in the Indian Army, which decreased to 2 percent. These included some officers like Brigadier Muhammad Usman, Brigadier Muhammad Anees Ahmed Khan and Lieutenant Colonel Inayat Habibullah, who chose India as their country.
Professor Wazir Zamindar's book is 'The Long Partition and the Making of Modern South Asia'. A soldier from Lucknow, Ghulam Ali, used to make artificial limbs. At the time of partition, he was in Pakistan's military workshop. He was refused to go back to Lucknow and was inducted into the Pakistan Army. In 1950, the Pakistani army expelled Ghulam Ali saying that he was an Indian citizen. When he returned to India, he was considered a Pakistani soldier and arrested for crossing the border without a permit. In 1951, Ali was released from jail and sent to Pakistan. Ali spent six years in jails and refugee camps of both countries. After this, he was considered a Muslim soldier in Pakistan and was sent to jail on the charge that he was living in a camp for Hindu prisoners.
Division of finance
The second big challenge after the division of the army was how to divide the money. The Partition Council had decided that a single central bank would operate services in both countries for a year. Both countries would continue the existing coins and currency till March 31, 1948. Between April 1 and September 30, 1948, Pakistan would introduce a new currency but the old currency would also remain valid. However, the Reserve Bank of India notes continued to be used there for years with the seal of the Pakistan government.
Documents show that a total of Rs 75 crore was given to Pakistan in the partition. As per the agreement, India gave Rs 20 crore to Pakistan on 15 August 1947. As soon as the partition took place, soldiers disguised as tribals from Pakistan attacked Kashmir. Unhappy with this, India's first Home Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel had bluntly said that there would be no payment to Pakistan without a resolution on Kashmir.
Mahatma Gandhi then got angry with this. He said that according to the agreement, Pakistan should be given Rs 75 crore more. For this he sat on a hunger strike. In such a situation, despite Patel's objections, the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru was forced to give Rs 55 crore to Pakistan on 15 January 1948. The funny thing is that both the countries claim that even today they owe money to each other. India's Economic Survey 2022-2023 shows that Pakistan owes India Rs 300 crore. Whereas, in 2014, the State Bank of Pakistan had said that India owed it Rs 560 crore.
The carriage was divided by tossing a coin
During the partition, there was a lot of uproar in both the countries regarding movable and immovable properties, but the biggest tussle was for the Viceroy's horse carriage and carriage. According to the book Freedom at Midnight, the Viceroy had 12 carriages made of gold and silver, forged by hand. Out of these, six carriages were of gold and six were of silver. These were magnificently decorated and had red velvet cushions. The Viceroy of India and the royal guests were taken around the capital in these carriages. The problem was that it was not right to break the set of carriages. In such a situation, it was decided that the Viceroy's gold carriage should be given to one country and the silver carriage to the other. Both the countries were adamant on taking the gold carriage. There was debate for many days but no decision could be taken. Then it was decided that the decision should be taken by tossing a coin. Then Viceroy Lord Mountbatten's ADC Lieutenant Commander Peter Hodge took out a silver coin from his pocket and tossed it in the air.
During this time, the newly appointed commander of the Pakistani army Major Yakub Khan and the commander of the Indian army Major Govind Singh were also standing there. Before the partition, both were the bodyguards of the Viceroy. When the coin fell with a tinkling sound, all three started watching, then Major Govind Singh shouted with joy, the golden carriages are India's.
According to Anvesha Sengupta's research paper 'Breaking Up: Dividing Assets Between India and Pakistan in Times of Partition', during the division of property, there was a tug of war over an elephant Joymoney owned by the Forest Department of Bengal. Actually, at that time the price of elephant Joymoney was equal to a station wagon (luxury car). It was decided that West Bengal would get the vehicle and East Bengal would get Joymoney. At the time of partition, Joymoney was in Malda, West Bengal. Regarding the expenses incurred in sending Joymani to East Bengal, the collector of Malda said that the East Bengal government should pay for the elephant as it was their share. Pakistan said that Malda had used the elephant, so they should bear the expenses. Ultimately, this dispute was resolved after going to diplomatic circles. Overall, how insensitive was that partition in which 2.5 crore people were rendered homeless and about 15 lakh people were killed.