From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
See also: 1946 in Pakistan,
other events of 1947, 1948 in
Pakistan and the Timeline of Pakistani
history.
Events
August
- Jinnah
and his sister arrive on August 7, at the Mauripur Airport from New Delhi.
- Muslim member of Partition Committee, Chaudhri Muhammad Ali comes to Karachi on August 9, for a
one-day visit for Jinnah's approval on Patel's proposal for debt
settlement. Liaquat Ali Khan asks Ali to convey to
Lord
Ismay in Delhi that Jinnah has received disturbing reports
about the likely decision on the Punjab boundary Award.
- August 10, Cry treason! A Muslim member of the
Partition Committee, Chaudhri Muhammad Ali, has found disturbing
evidence about tampering of the decision about the East Punjab boundary.
Today, when he arrived to seek an interview with Lord
Ismay to convey him the message from Jinnah, he was told that
Ismay was closeted with Sir Cyril Radcliffe, Chairman Boundary
Commission. When Chaudhri saw him at last, Ismay professed complete
ignorance of any knowledge of the proposed Punjab boundary, while
at the same time Chaudhri discovered a pencil line on the map in
Ismay's room very smiliar to the boundary that had been reported to
Jinnah. "Ismay turned pale," says Chaudhri Muhammad Ali, "and
asked in confusion who had been fooling with his map."
- Constituent Assembly of Pakistan resolves that Muhammad
Ali Jinnah should be addressed as "Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad
Ali Jinnah, Governor-General of
Pakistan" in all official documentation from August 15, 1947
and onwards.
- Radcliffe signs his reports for the British Punjab and Bengal provinces of India, forming the Award.
Ferozepur, Zira, Gurdaspur and many other areas of Muslim majority
in East Punjab form
parts of the Union
of India, as does the city of Calcutta. Report is
withheld until after the Independence.
- Radcliffe signs his reports for Sylhet district of Assam.
- Attacks on trains by Sikhs in East Punjab forces the Provisional
Government of Pakistan to postpone the transfer of records from New
Delhi to Karachi until the situation comes to normal.
- Lord Mountbatten delivers the King's message to the People of
Pakistan, who are to achieve independence at midnight tonight.
The date corresponds with Ramzan 26, 1366 Hijrah. The day is
Thursday. Pakistan gained
its independence on August 14, 1947. Exactly on 23:30 (pm) the
day before Friday.
- August 15, in near the
Pakistani border during the afternoon, a Sikh mob paraded a
number of Muslim women naked through the streets of Amritsar, raped
them and then hacked some of them to pieces with kirpans and burned
the others alive. This widespread violence and massacres continued
between the Indian Muslims, & Hindus and Punjabi Sikhs, until
the British Army were dispatched on the scene.
What cost freedom?
"Many have lost their homes, witnessed brutal slaughters of
their dear ones and ravishing of their nearest women. Just some of
them are lucky enough to have still made it to Pakistan from the
areas torn with communal riots - mostly East Punjab, but generally the whole of the
Sub-continent".
Who is to blame? Some mention the last viceroy,
Lord Mountbatten, whose role is becoming somewhat more shady as
more of his plans about the division of Punjab and Bengal are materializing. Speaking to 2 Indian
journalists in New Delhi on the 27th, he admitted that he was aware
of the Sikh plans for ethnic cleansing of the East Punjab long
before the partition. He had tried to argue with them, he says, but
they were adamant, and the situation is now "out of anybody's
control."
Will the refugees ever be able to rehabilitate, in whatever
manner? This is one of the biggest questions facing the newborn
state.
- Mohammed Ali Jinnah became the first Governor-General of
Pakistan and the Supreme Leader of the unified nation-state of Pakistan on August, 1947.
- Liaquat
Ali Khan becomes the first Prime Minister of Pakistan
and Leader of the Pakistani Community also called Quaid-I-Millat
(Leader of the Nation) on August, 1947.
- Nearly 10 million people migrate to Pakistan and India. Muslims to Pakistan while Hindus and Sikhs
to Hindustan.
- August 16, Liaquat Ali Khan, travels to Delhi, this was
officially the first state visit from independent Pakistan to
discuss the grim situation in Punjab, and Chaudhri Muhammad Ali are
handed Radcliffe's reports by Mountbatten in the afternoon.
- August 17, Radcliffe Awards announced as Muslims suspect foul
play as the Radcliff Award gives away strategically important
Muslim regions such as Pathankot and Ferozepur to India without any
apparent justification. Unprecedented massacres start in Eastern
Punjab, and more are likely to follow in other areas.
- August 18, Pakistan celebrates its first Eid-ul-Fitr as a
nation. While regretting the fate befallen on those "brethren and
sisters" who fell victim to Communal violence, Jinnah also wishes
in his official statement "a very happy Eid to all Muslims wherever
they may be in throughout the World - the Eid will usher in, I
hope, a new era of prosperity and will mark the onward march of
renaissance of Islamic culture and ideals." On the same day the Radcliffe Line is
announced marking the present disputed India-Pakistan Border with Muslims claims
on Ferozepur district and Pathankot Tehsil.
- August 19/20, Communal riots
in Quetta
- August 21, Transfer of personnel and records from New Delhi to
Karachi is now completely stalled indefinitely after disturbances
occurred on the B.B. & C.I. line running through Marwar to
Hyderabad. In all, 11500 passengers have been transferred to
Karachi, the new capital, from New Delhi.
- August 21, Jinnah calls upon the people of Pakistan not to
retaliate unlwafully to the violence in East Punjab: "Pakistan
should be kept absolutely free from disorder."
- August 22, Governor Cunningham in NWFP has dismissed the Chief Minister Dr.
Khan Sahib and his cabinet as they refused to salute the Pakistan Flag. Abdul Qayyum Khan is likely
to be the next Chief Minister.
- August 25, Jinnah is presented Civic Address by the Karachi
Corporation. In his reply he mentions that "Karachi has the
distinction of being the only town of importance where, during
these times of communal disturbances, people have kept their heads
cool and lived amicably, and I hope we shall continue to do
so."
- August 27, The Governor-General of
Pakistan has declared a state of emergency under Section 102 of
the adapted Government of India Act, 1935: "Whereas the economic
life of Pakistan is threatened by circumstances arising out of the
mass movement of population from and into Pakistan, a State of
Emergency is hereby declared."
- August 28, Refugees: According to a decision of the Central
Government of Pakistan, Sindh must absorb 200,000 of the refugees
waiting in the West Punjab's camps. Other provinces must join in:
NWFP, 100,000; Bahawalpur, Khairpur, and the Baluchistan Agency
100,000; and West Punjab a 100,000 more.
- August 28/29, A meeting of the Joint Defense Council, attended
by Jinnah and Mountbatten. It is decided that the Punjab Boundary
Force should be disbanded from September 1, and both sides should
assume responsibility for law and order in its own territory.
Pakistan sets up the military Evacuee Organization in Lahore. India
is expected to set up a similar organization. It is also decided
that each Dominion should
appoint a custodian of evacuee property and both custodians should
work in close liaisons.
The
government
Friday 15. His Majesty, George VI, is technically the
constitutional monarch of both the new dominions, India and
Pakistan, which will be equal members of the Commonwealth of Nations. The
Indian Independence Bill, which created the two dominions, empowers
the Constituent Assemblies of the dominions to make all
legislation, including a decision to leave the Commonwealth or
declare republics. Mr. Jinnah, working more out of pragmatism than
sentiments, has requested many competent Britishers to stay: 3 out
of the 4 governors are white. They are: Sir Frederick Bourne
(Governor, East Bengal), Sir Francis Mudie (Governor, West Punjab),
and Sir George Cunningham (Governor, N.W.F.P.). Sir Ghulam Hussain
Hidayatullah (Governor, Sindh) is the only native governor, while
Baluchistan does not have a governor as it is a Governor-General's
province. All chiefs of the armed forces are white too: General Sir
Frank Messervey (Royal Pakistan Army), Air Vice-Marshal Perry-Keane
(Royal Pakistan Air Force), and Admiral Jefford (Royal Pakistan
Navy). The financial advisor to the Governor-General, Sir Archibald
Rowland, is also a British.
The first cabinet of Pakistan, sworn in today, includes: Liaquat
Ali Khan (Prime Minister, also in charge of two ministries: Foreign
Affairs & Commonwealth Relations, and Defense); I. I.
Chundrigar (Commerce, Industries, and Works); Ghulam Mohammad
(Finance); Abdur Rab Nishtar (Communications); Ghazanfar Ali Khan
(Food, Agriculture, and Health); Jogendra Nath Mandal (Law and
Labour); Fazlur Rahman (Interior, Information, and Education).
The chief ministers
Khawaja Nazimuddin has been elected the Chief Minister of East Bengal provincial
region within United Pakistan by the provincial assembly
(Suhrawardy, who was the Chief Minister, has gone to India on
Gandhi's invitation to work for communal harmony). The Khan of
Mamdot has been elected the Chief Minister of West Punjab, while the
NWFP still has the ministry of Dr. Khan Sahib in place. Sind already had
a Muslim League ministry, and Mohammad Ayub Khuhro remains the
Chief Minister.
A
question of accession
Friday 15. The nawab of Bahawalpur has assumed the title
Jalalatul Mulk Ala Hazrat Amir of Bahawalpur. Although he has
agreed to send his representative to the Constituent Assembly of
Pakistan, it is rumoured that he and his chief minister Mushtaq
Ahmed Gurmani are inclined towards stalling the issue of accession
to Pakistan. Bahawalpur happens to be the largest of the ten Muslim
majority states that are continguous to Pakistan. The others are:
Khairpur, Kalat, Las Bela, Kharan, Mekran, and the four frontier
states of Dir, Swat, Amb, and Chitral. On the other hand, all
(except two) of the 500 odd Hindu majority states as well as the
Muslim majority state Kapurthala have acceded to India.
Radio
Stations
The radio stations of the newly born state are located at
Peshawar, Lahore, Dacca but none in the federal capital Karachi.
Out of these, Peshawar station boasts a broadcasting transmitter
assembled and donated by the inventor Marconi himself.
Economy
Pakistan does not have a single ordinance factory and the remark
can almost be stretched to include major installations of every
sort. Although Pakistan has inherited 20 per cent of the
subcontinent's population, her share in industry is less than 7 per
cent, consisting mostly of small-scale and minor industrial units:
the 34 factories do not total up to a daily employment of more than
26, 400 persons. The East wing produces 70 per cent of the world's
jute, but there is not a single jute mill and the West Bengal (now
in India) is almost the sole buyer. In the West wing, only 16000 of
the total 1500000 cotton bales produced can be processed
domestically. The new state does not have its own bank and depends
on the reserve bank of India.
Ambivalence
As they celebrate the newly-won freedom of their land, some Pakistanis voice mixed feelings, basically
due to the bloodshed caused by the communal riots but perhaps also
because in the absence of some radical measures taken to liberate
the common people, the future appears destined to carry over
certain shades of the colonial past. The young Faiz Ahmad Faiz,
perhaps the most promising Pakistani progressive poet, represents
their feelings.
Official website of Pakistan
1947
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