The British Parliament passed the Indian Independence Act 1947 at 12:02, just after midnight, on 15 August 1947 and declared India an Independent nation. This independent nation was, however, divided into Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan, as per the wishes of Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
Britishers left what expected to be were two happily independent nations. However, the greatest human migration that followed was so horrific that it passed shivers through generations. Millions of Muslims headed to Pakistan and East Pakistan (Bangladesh), while millions of Hindus and Sikhs were heading to India. Lakhs of them ended up in mass graves on both the sides.
The violence that struck the newly independent nations was never seen before – sickening massacres, mass abductions, forced conversions, arson, and monstrous physical violence across the Indian provinces of Punjab and Bengal sharing borders with West and East Pakistan.
By 1948, when the migration was near its conclusion, over 15 million people had been uprooted from their natives, one and two million were left lifeless, and over 75 thousand women assaulted.
