On the 75th anniversary of India’s partition, scholars from the US, Canada, France, UK and Australia write about their favorite book or film that best explains the trauma of a violent division.
Mohammad Ali Jinnah addressing the assembly in Karachi on Aug. 15, 1947, after the creation of Pakistan.
AP Photo
Jinnah insisted on secular education, gender equality and equal rights for minorities – all of which remain unrealized dreams in Pakistan.
Leaders in New Delhi agree on the plan to partition India: From left, Jawaharlal Nehru, Hastings Ismay, Louis Mountbatten and Ali Jinnah.
Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images
The fate of the so-called princely states was a particularly contentious issue during India’s Partition, which killed about 1 million people and left millions more displaced.
Lord Louis Mountbatten, viceroy of India, met with Indian leaders to discuss partition.
Max Desfors/AP
The partition of India led to more than a million deaths. A scholar argues how British royal, Lord Louis Mountbatten, who hurriedly drew the new borders in secret, was largely responsible.
People fleeing on bullock carts as mass migration happened during the partition.
AP Photo
At midnight on August 15, 1947, India achieved freedom from more than two centuries of colonial rule. Hours earlier, Pakistan was declared a new nation. Was partition inevitable?