0:00:02 > 0:00:06This programme contains scenes which some viewers may find upsetting
0:00:06 > 0:00:09On 15 August 1947, Britain gave up its Indian empire, partitioning it
0:00:09 > 0:00:13into two, newly-created independent countries, India and Pakistan.
0:00:13 > 0:00:16The seven days leading up to the handover of power
0:00:16 > 0:00:19were some of the most tumultuous of the 20th century.
0:00:21 > 0:00:24One of the really dark mysteries at the heart of partition
0:00:24 > 0:00:27is why ordinary people could turn into killers.
0:00:27 > 0:00:29By the end of the week,
0:00:29 > 0:00:32one of the biggest migrations in human history had begun.
0:00:34 > 0:00:38This is the story of eight ordinary people, told in their own words,
0:00:38 > 0:00:42as they took part in an epic event that changed the world forever.
0:00:43 > 0:00:47And, somehow, all these leaders have convinced themselves
0:00:47 > 0:00:51that this enormous, nation-breaking, continent-splitting project
0:00:51 > 0:00:55could be managed without vast loss of life, without vast crisis
0:00:55 > 0:00:57and, of course, they were wrong.
0:01:16 > 0:01:21By 1947, India had been ruled by Britain for almost 200 years.
0:01:21 > 0:01:24It was known as the Jewel in the Crown,
0:01:24 > 0:01:27supplying raw materials, a workforce,
0:01:27 > 0:01:29taxes and brave soldiers.
0:01:29 > 0:01:32But Britain's dominion in India, the once beloved Raj,
0:01:32 > 0:01:34was about to dramatically end.
0:01:39 > 0:01:42Today, responsible citizens of the world, concerned with global
0:01:42 > 0:01:45politics are watching with intense interest the land of
0:01:45 > 0:01:49India, most difficult administrative problem of the British Empire and
0:01:49 > 0:01:53home of one of the oldest and most complex of existing civilisations.
0:01:57 > 0:02:00For decades, Indian leaders like Mahatma Gandhi had been
0:02:00 > 0:02:04calling for independence but Britain had always resisted.
0:02:04 > 0:02:08Now, World War II had left Britain bankrupt.
0:02:11 > 0:02:15The British are in a real rush to leave India by this week.
0:02:15 > 0:02:17There's no money any more to invest in this empire
0:02:17 > 0:02:19and it's a waning asset.
0:02:19 > 0:02:23It's not actually paying for itself any more as a colony.
0:02:23 > 0:02:25In fact, it's costing the British money to keep it going.
0:02:25 > 0:02:28Lord Louis Mountbatten, the Queen's uncle,
0:02:28 > 0:02:30was sent to Delhi as the last Viceroy.
0:02:30 > 0:02:32Mountbatten was sent out
0:02:32 > 0:02:34to effect a peaceful and rapid transfer of power.
0:02:34 > 0:02:37But, in reality, it wasn't like that at all because, on the ground,
0:02:37 > 0:02:39there was already quite a lot of violence occurring
0:02:39 > 0:02:40between the main religious communities.
0:02:42 > 0:02:45Mountbatten was known in the Admiralty as the master of disaster
0:02:45 > 0:02:47because he was so good at wrecking ships.
0:02:47 > 0:02:49The fact is, they sent him to India
0:02:49 > 0:02:52because he seemed like a man who was incredibly good at PR.
0:02:52 > 0:02:55He was very good at doing a job where Britain would look good
0:02:55 > 0:02:58at the end of it and so his task was to get Britain out and
0:02:58 > 0:03:00still looking as clean as possible.
0:03:00 > 0:03:05For centuries, Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs had shared the country,
0:03:05 > 0:03:08but with British rule weakening, conflict had erupted
0:03:08 > 0:03:11between the Hindus and the Sikhs on one side and the
0:03:11 > 0:03:13minority Muslims on the other.
0:03:13 > 0:03:17Mountbatten tried in vain to broker a deal that would keep
0:03:17 > 0:03:21India united but the Muslim League, a political party led
0:03:21 > 0:03:25by British-trained barrister Muhammad Ali Jinnah,
0:03:25 > 0:03:28demanded a separate homeland for Indian Muslims.
0:03:28 > 0:03:31Fearing civil war as tensions grew,
0:03:31 > 0:03:34Mountbatten reluctantly drew up a plan for partition
0:03:34 > 0:03:37that would carve two new nations out of one.
0:03:38 > 0:03:41In just seven days, Jinnah will become leader of the world's
0:03:41 > 0:03:44first Muslim country, Pakistan,
0:03:44 > 0:03:47and Jawaharlal Nehru will become the first Prime Minister
0:03:47 > 0:03:48of an independent India.
0:03:50 > 0:03:54Imagine being an Indian the week before independence.
0:03:54 > 0:03:57You've been waiting 20 or 30 years, your whole life,
0:03:57 > 0:03:58you've been dreaming of it,
0:03:58 > 0:04:00fantasising about what that might mean
0:04:00 > 0:04:03and now independence, this week, is actually going to happen.
0:04:03 > 0:04:06For people on the ground, it looks completely different.
0:04:06 > 0:04:11They are dealing with bloodshed, uncertainty, rumours, anxiety.
0:04:11 > 0:04:14So there's a real disconnect between what's happening in Delhi
0:04:14 > 0:04:16and what people are actually experiencing.
0:04:19 > 0:04:22In just one week's time, everything will come to a head.
0:04:26 > 0:04:30As ever, the powerful stand to profit but ordinary people
0:04:30 > 0:04:32will find their lives thrown into turmoil...
0:04:35 > 0:04:37..as millions will have to choose
0:04:37 > 0:04:39which country they want to call home.
0:04:51 > 0:04:54With just seven days to go until partition, the British still
0:04:54 > 0:04:57haven't announced where the border will be drawn
0:04:57 > 0:04:58but it's clear that Punjab,
0:04:58 > 0:05:02a region in India's north where Muslim, Sikhs and Hindus live
0:05:02 > 0:05:06alongside each other will be divided between the two new countries.
0:05:06 > 0:05:11Riaz Khan, a young Muslim schoolboy, knows nothing about the power games
0:05:11 > 0:05:15being played out hundreds of miles to the south in Delhi.
0:05:15 > 0:05:21I was a young boy. Early one morning, my parents' voices echoed
0:05:21 > 0:05:25through our home. "Get out quickly, move."
0:05:26 > 0:05:29Something of great significance seemed to be happening,
0:05:29 > 0:05:32though I did not understand what.
0:05:33 > 0:05:37I was told we were going to what would be Pakistan.
0:05:37 > 0:05:40I didn't know what this meant or why we had to go.
0:05:40 > 0:05:42The Punjab is a very large region.
0:05:42 > 0:05:45The United Punjab was slightly larger than the United Kingdom
0:05:45 > 0:05:47and Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs
0:05:47 > 0:05:49were really peppered all the way through it.
0:05:49 > 0:05:51They weren't split into specific communities,
0:05:51 > 0:05:52so the idea of carving it up,
0:05:52 > 0:05:55even between those interests, is extremely difficult.
0:05:56 > 0:05:59Riaz Khan's family are Muslims.
0:05:59 > 0:06:02They have heard a rumour that the area around their home may be in
0:06:02 > 0:06:05India rather than the new Pakistan.
0:06:05 > 0:06:09Ordinary people had no clue as to what was going on.
0:06:09 > 0:06:12Imagine being in the village, where your access to news is so limited.
0:06:12 > 0:06:17What would come to you would be by word-of-mouth, hearsay, rumour.
0:06:17 > 0:06:20And there were so many decisions to make.
0:06:20 > 0:06:22Would they stay where they are, would they be travelling?
0:06:22 > 0:06:24Where would they be travelling to?
0:06:26 > 0:06:28Riaz Khan's parents have heard rumours
0:06:28 > 0:06:31about a tax on Muslims in nearby villages.
0:06:31 > 0:06:35They don't want to leave their home but are afraid for their lives.
0:06:35 > 0:06:38My grandfather refused to leave.
0:06:38 > 0:06:41He owned the land and felt comfortable there.
0:06:42 > 0:06:44I mean, it's really hard to imagine now
0:06:44 > 0:06:46what it must be like to say to somebody,
0:06:46 > 0:06:49"You've got to go and leave everything, leave your house,
0:06:49 > 0:06:52"your property, your friends, your community, everything.
0:06:52 > 0:06:56Older people, especially, are quite often digging their heels in
0:06:56 > 0:06:59and they say, "Well, I've been here all my life, why should I leave?
0:06:59 > 0:07:02"My ancestors are buried here. This is the land that I have tilled.
0:07:02 > 0:07:03"I'm not going to move."
0:07:03 > 0:07:07But others are leaving, because of anticipation of violence
0:07:07 > 0:07:09and because of sheer uncertainty
0:07:09 > 0:07:11about what's happening and what's going on.
0:07:13 > 0:07:16It's heartbreaking for people to be making these decisions.
0:07:16 > 0:07:19They had to leave property behind, they had to leave families behind
0:07:19 > 0:07:21and just embark on an unknown journey.
0:07:21 > 0:07:24It must have been absolutely traumatic.
0:07:24 > 0:07:29My grandfather, he believed he would see us all in a couple of days,
0:07:29 > 0:07:34because everything would return to normal and we would return home.
0:07:34 > 0:07:36Many people imagined they would come back,
0:07:36 > 0:07:38so they left their keys with their neighbours,
0:07:38 > 0:07:41buried things in their courtyards and they said,
0:07:41 > 0:07:45"Right, I will come back. I'm just going temporarily, for safety."
0:07:45 > 0:07:47But, of course, they didn't. They never came back.
0:07:49 > 0:07:52I never saw my grandfather again.
0:07:55 > 0:07:57Riaz and his family have distant relatives
0:07:57 > 0:08:00in a Muslim area about 120 miles north-west.
0:08:00 > 0:08:03They have decided to head in that direction.
0:08:03 > 0:08:09I remember seeing a stream of people moving out of the village.
0:08:09 > 0:08:12We joined them and started walking.
0:08:12 > 0:08:14- NEWSREEL:- Millions of natives left their homes
0:08:14 > 0:08:16to move to an area where their religion was honoured.
0:08:16 > 0:08:21Muslims poured into Pakistan and Hindus caught within the borders
0:08:21 > 0:08:24of the new Muslim nation migrated to the new India.
0:08:24 > 0:08:28For many, the move meant uprooting their lives.
0:08:28 > 0:08:31But no sacrifice was too great to make for their religious freedom.
0:08:31 > 0:08:36Nobody had a clue that there would be this exodus.
0:08:36 > 0:08:37Somebody said, "Well,
0:08:37 > 0:08:40"there'll be a few thousands moving here and there."
0:08:40 > 0:08:43Mountbatten said some of the educated might leave.
0:08:43 > 0:08:46But the scale of the movement was absolutely unforeseen
0:08:46 > 0:08:48by everyone involved in the partition.
0:08:48 > 0:08:52There are 12 to 15 million people on the move.
0:08:52 > 0:08:56It's one of the biggest refugee migrations of the 20th century.
0:08:59 > 0:09:02More and more families joined that caravan.
0:09:04 > 0:09:08Riaz and his family can only hope there will be safety in numbers.
0:09:11 > 0:09:13We believe men were lying in wait to attack us.
0:09:15 > 0:09:17Any noise frightened me.
0:09:19 > 0:09:21Imagine what it's like to be one of these refugees.
0:09:21 > 0:09:23They're trudging miles and miles
0:09:23 > 0:09:25along those hard, dusty roads.
0:09:25 > 0:09:29There are rumours that the wells have been poisoned,
0:09:29 > 0:09:30so it's hard to get water.
0:09:30 > 0:09:32People are giving birth along the road,
0:09:32 > 0:09:33people are dying along the road
0:09:33 > 0:09:35and, constantly, over everything, is this fear
0:09:35 > 0:09:39that the other side are going to swoop down and attack
0:09:39 > 0:09:41while you're passing through their territory.
0:09:42 > 0:09:46Mountbatten had promised the Indian leaders that he would provide
0:09:46 > 0:09:49security on the ground in the run-up to independence.
0:09:49 > 0:09:50But the Punjab Boundary Force,
0:09:50 > 0:09:54the British-led contingent dispatched to maintain law and order
0:09:54 > 0:09:59for a population of over 12 million, consists of just 15,000 men.
0:10:04 > 0:10:08The boundary force goes out and it does try and stem and quell
0:10:08 > 0:10:11violence where it occurs and when it shows up, it is effective in
0:10:11 > 0:10:15stemming the violence, but it's just too little, too late.
0:10:15 > 0:10:19At the same time, there are thousands of soldiers in India
0:10:19 > 0:10:23kept behind barracks and the reason is the British fear
0:10:23 > 0:10:27that if they put too many troops into this situation, they won't be
0:10:27 > 0:10:28able to get them back out again.
0:10:28 > 0:10:31The British are not saying anything. They're not interested.
0:10:31 > 0:10:33They're ready to get on to their boats and planes
0:10:33 > 0:10:35and be back in Britain.
0:10:35 > 0:10:39There is absolutely no instruction,
0:10:39 > 0:10:41no orders, no directions coming down from the British.
0:10:41 > 0:10:43They have washed their hands of India.
0:10:46 > 0:10:48I saw the body of a dead man.
0:10:50 > 0:10:54It was the first thing like that I ever saw. I couldn't stop looking.
0:10:57 > 0:10:58Some people are moving literally
0:10:58 > 0:11:00because they're running for their lives.
0:11:00 > 0:11:03Their friends have been attacked, so they're really on the run.
0:11:03 > 0:11:07But others are far more moving along ideological lines.
0:11:07 > 0:11:11People are thinking, "Do I believe in this new state enough to go
0:11:11 > 0:11:14"and risk moving there? Am I really going to have a better job there?
0:11:14 > 0:11:16"Are things really going to be as bright
0:11:16 > 0:11:18"as the propaganda is suggesting?"
0:11:24 > 0:11:27Riaz Khan and his family walk all day.
0:11:27 > 0:11:29As night approaches, they reach a riverside,
0:11:29 > 0:11:34hoping to catch a boat to what would soon be Pakistan.
0:11:34 > 0:11:39By the time a boat arrived for us, it was quite dark.
0:11:39 > 0:11:42There were dozens of people shoving and pushing.
0:11:42 > 0:11:45I was almost thrown in.
0:11:45 > 0:11:48Suddenly, the boat started to move.
0:11:48 > 0:11:50My family could not get in.
0:11:51 > 0:11:55I was alone. I started crying.
0:11:57 > 0:12:00I thought it was my fault that I had lost them.
0:12:01 > 0:12:05Who would have thought that independence, which is such
0:12:05 > 0:12:08a positive thing that people were waiting for, would have come
0:12:08 > 0:12:12along with this kind of experience?
0:12:12 > 0:12:15The political solution was what they were pushing for but they
0:12:15 > 0:12:18had not, absolutely not, anticipated the human costs that were to follow.
0:12:37 > 0:12:39With six days to go before independence,
0:12:39 > 0:12:43refugees are still trying to get to the country they want to belong to.
0:12:45 > 0:12:47The man responsible for drawing the boundary
0:12:47 > 0:12:49has only been in India for a month.
0:12:50 > 0:12:53Cyril Radcliffe, a wealthy British establishment lawyer,
0:12:53 > 0:12:56is running out of time.
0:12:56 > 0:13:00Sir Cyril Radcliffe was actually a barrister who had no previous
0:13:00 > 0:13:03knowledge of India and no previous knowledge of drawing
0:13:03 > 0:13:05boundaries or borders in any context whatsoever.
0:13:05 > 0:13:09And, in his own words, he spent almost his entire time
0:13:09 > 0:13:13sweating it out in India, not enjoying the Indian food, but having
0:13:13 > 0:13:15to decide one of the most important,
0:13:15 > 0:13:18momentous boundaries in world history.
0:13:19 > 0:13:24Cyril Radcliffe is given this huge responsibility
0:13:24 > 0:13:27and actually has no experience of India.
0:13:27 > 0:13:31But, interestingly, this is precisely why he is chosen, because
0:13:31 > 0:13:36he doesn't know anything about India and therefore is seen to be neutral.
0:13:36 > 0:13:40One of his first jobs is to actually get on a plane and see the country
0:13:40 > 0:13:42that he is actually going to divide
0:13:42 > 0:13:45and say, "Well, this is where the line should go down."
0:13:45 > 0:13:48But of course, is not as simple as that.
0:13:48 > 0:13:51Sir Cyril Radcliffe, the man who had spent 40 days in Delhi
0:13:51 > 0:13:53drawing up this petition, knew there was a problem.
0:13:53 > 0:13:55He wrote, a few days before independence,
0:13:55 > 0:13:58"There will be roughly 80 million people with a grievance
0:13:58 > 0:14:01"looking for me. I do not intend them to find me."
0:14:01 > 0:14:03And, a couple of days after partition, he was on a plane
0:14:03 > 0:14:05back to England and he was never seen in India again.
0:14:05 > 0:14:10Today, Lahore, ancient capital of Punjab, is almost exclusively
0:14:10 > 0:14:14Muslim and one of Pakistan's wealthiest cities.
0:14:14 > 0:14:17Back in 1947, the city was one of the most contentious
0:14:17 > 0:14:20decisions facing Cyril Radcliffe.
0:14:20 > 0:14:23When he divided Punjab, who would get Lahore?
0:14:26 > 0:14:28Lahore was the Paris of the East.
0:14:28 > 0:14:31It was a beautiful, culturally mixed and impressive city that has
0:14:31 > 0:14:34been celebrated by poets for generations, but the whole
0:14:34 > 0:14:39place has Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs threaded throughout it, everywhere.
0:14:39 > 0:14:42Often, they describe each other as brothers and people can't
0:14:42 > 0:14:45even imagine how you might take apart this mixed,
0:14:45 > 0:14:49hybrid population and segregate it out on religious lines.
0:14:51 > 0:14:54The uncertainty over the boundary is setting different religions
0:14:54 > 0:14:56against each other in Lahore.
0:14:58 > 0:15:01Watching the chaos unfold in the city he's always loved
0:15:01 > 0:15:02is the Hindu writer, Fikr Taunsvi.
0:15:07 > 0:15:11Last evening, a bomb exploded in a cinema house.
0:15:11 > 0:15:15Crimson red flames and flying sparks helped to illuminate the darkness.
0:15:18 > 0:15:23All the dead, 50 people, were Muslim so, indisputably,
0:15:23 > 0:15:26the man who threw that bomb must have been a Hindu.
0:15:30 > 0:15:35Lahore is in a state of civil war. It's absolutely ravaged.
0:15:35 > 0:15:37There are random stabbings happening in the streets,
0:15:37 > 0:15:39so people would just be knifed in the back unexpectedly.
0:15:40 > 0:15:43And people are losing, not only their property
0:15:43 > 0:15:46and their livelihoods, but they're also losing a whole way of life.
0:15:48 > 0:15:53The fear and tension of the past days still infected the atmosphere.
0:15:53 > 0:15:56The air was full of suspicion and terror that made you think
0:15:56 > 0:16:00that everyone had a dagger or a bomb hidden on their person.
0:16:01 > 0:16:07At one point, I saw a man lying in the corner with his eyes open.
0:16:07 > 0:16:10The policeman was muttering, "These people have been warned
0:16:10 > 0:16:14"so many times not to go through the localities where there is danger,
0:16:14 > 0:16:16"but they don't listen."
0:16:18 > 0:16:20There had been very little preparation for the amount
0:16:20 > 0:16:22of trouble there would be in Lahore.
0:16:22 > 0:16:24It's actually very close to where the border was going to be,
0:16:24 > 0:16:27not that anyone knew precisely where the border was going to be, so,
0:16:27 > 0:16:30as you came up to independence, there became a situation where you
0:16:30 > 0:16:33had 100,000 people trapped in the old city of Lahore and the
0:16:33 > 0:16:37only people to defend them were a group of around 200 Gurkhas,
0:16:37 > 0:16:40with one British captain in charge of them who was 20 years old.
0:16:40 > 0:16:42So the rioting began in that city
0:16:42 > 0:16:45and really nobody could do anything to contain it.
0:16:46 > 0:16:49Punjab has a highly mixed population, with large numbers
0:16:49 > 0:16:52of Hindus and Muslims in every town and district.
0:16:52 > 0:16:56But Punjab is also the birthplace of the Sikh religion and Sikhs
0:16:56 > 0:16:59make up 15% of the population.
0:16:59 > 0:17:02As a minority group, the Sikhs are not being given their own
0:17:02 > 0:17:05state and now some Sikh extremists
0:17:05 > 0:17:09are embarking on a mission to derail partition.
0:17:10 > 0:17:14The most dangerous community in this whole mix was the Sikhs.
0:17:14 > 0:17:16Because the Sikhs were the most vulnerable.
0:17:16 > 0:17:19Any border you drew was going to divide their community in half.
0:17:20 > 0:17:25For them, the division of Punjab is a tragedy of epic proportions.
0:17:25 > 0:17:29They feel they've been really let down and cheated on by the British.
0:17:29 > 0:17:32And so there are some people who are just not going to accept it
0:17:32 > 0:17:34and they fight it tooth and nail.
0:17:36 > 0:17:39This morning, the Sikhs are targeting one of a series of
0:17:39 > 0:17:42special trains leaving Delhi.
0:17:42 > 0:17:46Pakistan does not have enough civil servants to run a government.
0:17:46 > 0:17:49Six days before they start running their new country, a train packed
0:17:49 > 0:17:52with hundreds of Muslim bureaucrats and their families
0:17:52 > 0:17:56is on its way to what will be the new Pakistani capital, Karachi.
0:17:57 > 0:18:01The Pakistan Special's route passes straight through the Punjab,
0:18:01 > 0:18:02the ancient Sikh homeland.
0:18:29 > 0:18:33The Sikh bombing of the Pakistan Special kills four people,
0:18:33 > 0:18:36but its significance far outweighs the death toll.
0:18:37 > 0:18:41The attack on that train really symbolises an attack
0:18:41 > 0:18:46on the whole of the new Pakistani state and it was the first time
0:18:46 > 0:18:49that a train has been derailed and blown up
0:18:49 > 0:18:52and it really ratchets up the situation.
0:18:52 > 0:18:54It really creates even more tension
0:18:54 > 0:18:56in an already terrible situation.
0:19:05 > 0:19:08In Lahore, there are just five days left
0:19:08 > 0:19:11before the last British governor of Punjab, Sir Evan Jenkins,
0:19:11 > 0:19:14hands over control to the two new independent governments.
0:19:16 > 0:19:18He's spent much of his career
0:19:18 > 0:19:20administering a largely peaceful Punjab.
0:19:20 > 0:19:22Now, with time running out,
0:19:22 > 0:19:25he sends a telegram to Mountbatten pleading for help.
0:19:30 > 0:19:33The situation now is most serious.
0:19:33 > 0:19:36Rural areas reporting organised raids that cannot be checked
0:19:36 > 0:19:39except by display of force on massive scale.
0:19:39 > 0:19:42Our rural area reports about 100 Hindus missing,
0:19:42 > 0:19:45believed murdered and thrown into canal...
0:19:45 > 0:19:48I think it was probably very difficult for a lot of the
0:19:48 > 0:19:49British on the ground at this time.
0:19:49 > 0:19:52A lot of them could see that this was going quite badly wrong.
0:19:54 > 0:19:56Not only are the British leaving but those who remain
0:19:56 > 0:19:59are increasingly not being listened to because nobody's really sure
0:19:59 > 0:20:03who's going to be in charge of any particular part of India or
0:20:03 > 0:20:06which part of India's going to be India or Pakistan or what is
0:20:06 > 0:20:09going to happen, so authority is really not very clear at this point.
0:20:14 > 0:20:17Prakashvanti and her husband are Hindus from western Punjab
0:20:17 > 0:20:20who are looking forward to independence.
0:20:20 > 0:20:23They never imagined the violence that would come with it.
0:20:24 > 0:20:28All the locals left their houses saying the Muslims were coming.
0:20:30 > 0:20:33So we left our home. We were scared.
0:20:35 > 0:20:37Prakashvanti's husband decides
0:20:37 > 0:20:40that they should hide and wait for help in a factory.
0:20:42 > 0:20:46I said to my husband, "I don't want to stay here."
0:20:46 > 0:20:48My husband reassured me
0:20:48 > 0:20:53the trucks from India would arrive to rescue us very soon.
0:20:54 > 0:20:57The common understanding of the violence in the villages is
0:20:57 > 0:21:01that suddenly Hindus and Muslims picked up pitchforks and
0:21:01 > 0:21:03started attacking one another, even neighbours who'd lived
0:21:03 > 0:21:05side-by-side for generations.
0:21:05 > 0:21:07But that was only a small part of the violence.
0:21:07 > 0:21:10Really, what made the violence take off and expand and grow
0:21:10 > 0:21:13so large, was that it was organised.
0:21:13 > 0:21:17There are small groups of militia bands, oftentimes ex-soldiers
0:21:17 > 0:21:21armed with weapons, that would go round from village to village,
0:21:21 > 0:21:23gather up other supporters, so a band of 50
0:21:23 > 0:21:25might become 500, might become 5,000,
0:21:25 > 0:21:29then they would attack and they would wipe out entire villages.
0:21:29 > 0:21:32There's a lot of arson, a lot of things being set on fire.
0:21:32 > 0:21:34Villages are ablaze.
0:21:34 > 0:21:37It's really about establishing facts on the ground, because,
0:21:37 > 0:21:39if you can lay claim to an area
0:21:39 > 0:21:42and say it's been cleansed of one community, or the other,
0:21:42 > 0:21:47then you're, in a way, making a de facto stake to that territory.
0:21:48 > 0:21:51Prakashvanti does what her husband says.
0:21:51 > 0:21:54She sits and waits for the authorities to rescue them.
0:21:57 > 0:22:05The trucks never came. A Muslim policeman came to the door.
0:22:05 > 0:22:09The police really fall apart at this time and they collapse, often
0:22:09 > 0:22:13turning a blind eye when their own community is involved in instigating
0:22:13 > 0:22:17violence, or they are, even worse, actually taking part in violence.
0:22:18 > 0:22:24He said to give him whatever possesions we had and he would
0:22:24 > 0:22:29let us go. We gave him all our money and gold.
0:22:29 > 0:22:31My husband returned to the room and said,
0:22:31 > 0:22:34"They are taking the young girls away."
0:22:35 > 0:22:37"They are going to dishonour you."
0:22:37 > 0:22:43For woman, the partition is a tragedy of epic proportions,
0:22:43 > 0:22:45because tens of thousands of women
0:22:45 > 0:22:48are raped and there's terrible sexual violence against women.
0:22:53 > 0:22:57Women have really hard lives in India before independence.
0:22:57 > 0:22:59They are like property in many ways.
0:22:59 > 0:23:02But they're also the upholders of the family honour.
0:23:02 > 0:23:05And if women are raped or violated,
0:23:05 > 0:23:08that's seen as bringing not just shame on them
0:23:08 > 0:23:11but on the whole community, on their whole society.
0:23:11 > 0:23:13And so it becomes a weapon of war,
0:23:13 > 0:23:15used by both sides very extensively,
0:23:15 > 0:23:20because the women themselves are seen almost somehow as symbols
0:23:20 > 0:23:22of these new nation states, and so it's a horrific situation
0:23:22 > 0:23:25where women's bodies are actually being used
0:23:25 > 0:23:27to kind of mark out and create the new states.
0:23:29 > 0:23:32My husband said, "Now they will dishonour you."
0:23:33 > 0:23:37"If you agree, I will kill you myself."
0:23:41 > 0:23:43He didn't wait for my response.
0:23:45 > 0:23:50The feeling that you might actually risk your women falling
0:23:50 > 0:23:54into the hands of the enemy, to the other, was so shameful, such
0:23:54 > 0:23:57a taboo, that some men would rather kill their daughters or their
0:23:57 > 0:24:00wives than actually have them fall into the hands of the other.
0:24:02 > 0:24:05There was a sense, a really profoundly misogynist sense,
0:24:05 > 0:24:07that a woman's chastity was worth more than her life.
0:24:11 > 0:24:15Sometime later, Prakashvanti wakes up.
0:24:15 > 0:24:18She is wounded but her husband had failed to kill her.
0:24:20 > 0:24:22The killers had moved on.
0:24:23 > 0:24:26They must have thought I was already dead.
0:24:29 > 0:24:32Just outside the building, Prakashvanti finds her family.
0:24:35 > 0:24:38The Muslims had killed my husband and son.
0:24:40 > 0:24:43Only a short time ago, Prakashvanti had been looking
0:24:43 > 0:24:47forward to independence. Now it has cost her her family.
0:24:48 > 0:24:50She is not alone.
0:24:50 > 0:24:51The death and destruction
0:24:51 > 0:24:54in the week leading up to partition is spreading,
0:24:54 > 0:24:58dividing and destroying hundreds of thousands of families across Punjab.
0:24:58 > 0:25:01I don't think the British had any idea
0:25:01 > 0:25:04about the scale of violence that was going to take place in 1947.
0:25:04 > 0:25:07So, in that sense, the British really didn't understand,
0:25:07 > 0:25:10I don't think, the nature of the implications of what they
0:25:10 > 0:25:13were proposing in the partition of India.
0:25:15 > 0:25:18Terrified that the killers will return, Prakashvanti has to leave
0:25:18 > 0:25:22the bodies of her murdered family behind and seek safety.
0:25:24 > 0:25:27I went into another building.
0:25:27 > 0:25:29There were lots of people hiding.
0:25:34 > 0:25:38The refugees of Punjab can look to no-one for help.
0:25:38 > 0:25:43All they can do is wait and hope that the violence will somehow pass.
0:25:43 > 0:25:45The fact is that some people did foresee this violence but
0:25:45 > 0:25:47they weren't really in positions of power
0:25:47 > 0:25:49and they weren't really being listened to,
0:25:49 > 0:25:52nor were the resources available for them to do much about it.
0:25:52 > 0:25:55In five days, a new government will take over.
0:25:55 > 0:25:59Until then, the refugees have to rely on themselves.
0:26:00 > 0:26:03Hiding in a corner, Prakashvanti finds two girls who,
0:26:03 > 0:26:06like her, have lost their family.
0:26:08 > 0:26:12They had no father or mother or uncles.
0:26:12 > 0:26:15I couldn't leave him.
0:26:15 > 0:26:19Later, when my wounds were being treated in the hospital,
0:26:19 > 0:26:25I was asked if the girls were mine.
0:26:25 > 0:26:28I said, yes, they were mine.
0:26:38 > 0:26:41Located on the banks of the Arabian Sea, Karachi is today
0:26:41 > 0:26:44one of the biggest and fastest growing cities in the world.
0:26:44 > 0:26:47Pakistan's leading financial and industrial centre.
0:26:47 > 0:26:52Back in 1947, it was a very different place.
0:26:52 > 0:26:54The one-time fishing village turned port
0:26:54 > 0:26:57had just been named Pakistan's new capital.
0:26:57 > 0:26:59But it wasn't ready for independence.
0:27:01 > 0:27:04Nor was the rest of the soon-to-be former Raj.
0:27:04 > 0:27:07When Lord Mountbatten announced back in June
0:27:07 > 0:27:10that partition would take place in just 61 days,
0:27:10 > 0:27:13he shocked everyone, including his own advisers.
0:27:13 > 0:27:17Now, with the clock running out, thousands of details,
0:27:17 > 0:27:19large and small, are still up in the air.
0:27:22 > 0:27:25Nobody's ever done anything like this before
0:27:25 > 0:27:29and it's absolutely astonishing in its recklessness.
0:27:30 > 0:27:33There is no sense of how this is going to be done.
0:27:33 > 0:27:38This whole process is a good example of just how difficult it is to split
0:27:38 > 0:27:43any political entity, this big, that has been held together for so long.
0:27:43 > 0:27:47It involved everything from the big questions of who is going to
0:27:47 > 0:27:51get how many fighter planes from the Indian army, of currency,
0:27:51 > 0:27:54who is going to print it and how, to the smallest things,
0:27:54 > 0:27:58the police band, who is going to get which instruments from it.
0:27:58 > 0:28:02We see the division of the army, we see some of the great treasures of
0:28:02 > 0:28:04archaeological India being divided
0:28:04 > 0:28:06down to the actual beads on necklaces.
0:28:06 > 0:28:09We see the encyclopaedias being divided,
0:28:09 > 0:28:11sometimes, by letter in the alphabet.
0:28:14 > 0:28:17The pettiness is astonishing.
0:28:17 > 0:28:21I mean, rugs, ceiling fans, cutlery,
0:28:21 > 0:28:26pieces of stationery, boxes of paper clips.
0:28:26 > 0:28:29I mean, things were being counted out with forensic detail.
0:28:29 > 0:28:31There was a ratio of 4:1, India-Pakistan,
0:28:31 > 0:28:34because of the respective size of the countries,
0:28:34 > 0:28:38and so these things were being kind of carved out.
0:28:38 > 0:28:42One of the most poignant elements of this moment is,
0:28:42 > 0:28:45where are the so-called insane going to go?
0:28:45 > 0:28:48There is a very major insane asylum in Lahore.
0:28:48 > 0:28:50It has Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs.
0:28:50 > 0:28:54And it opens up this absurd bureaucratic debate -
0:28:54 > 0:28:56do the mad, who have been certified
0:28:56 > 0:28:59as people who do not belong to society,
0:28:59 > 0:29:02should they also be now divided up as Indians or Pakistanis?
0:29:12 > 0:29:15With four days to go until independence, Muslim extremists
0:29:15 > 0:29:19begin a series of attacks on Sikhs and Hindus in Lahore.
0:29:19 > 0:29:23Revenge, for the bombing of the Pakistan Special.
0:29:25 > 0:29:28Punjab's British governor sends his daily telegram to Mountbatten.
0:29:31 > 0:29:34Jenkins to Mountbatten, 11th August.
0:29:34 > 0:29:36Today, train attack outside Lahore Station.
0:29:36 > 0:29:39Six or seven non-Muslims murdered.
0:29:41 > 0:29:45Outrage, doubtless retaliation for derailment of Pakistan Special.
0:29:47 > 0:29:50Situation out of control.
0:29:50 > 0:29:53During last day, Lahore reports 18 Hindus stabbed,
0:29:53 > 0:29:55two fatal, one identified corpse.
0:29:57 > 0:30:00Situation seriously disturbed and likely to deteriorate.
0:30:01 > 0:30:05News of the outbreak of revenge attacks on innocents is spreading.
0:30:05 > 0:30:08Even to the furthest reaches of the country.
0:30:11 > 0:30:13Some 600 miles west of Lahore,
0:30:13 > 0:30:16on the border with Afghanistan, is Quetta.
0:30:17 > 0:30:21This quiet backwater of the Raj is largely populated by Muslims.
0:30:23 > 0:30:26Sunderdas Lalwani is a Hindu civil engineer,
0:30:26 > 0:30:28sent there by the British to build a bridge.
0:30:32 > 0:30:34But trouble is on the way.
0:30:35 > 0:30:39A mob is scouring the area, looking for Hindus to kill.
0:30:44 > 0:30:47A gang of Muslims came banging on the front door.
0:30:47 > 0:30:49They heard there was a Hindu inside.
0:30:53 > 0:30:55You know, when I heard about partition,
0:30:55 > 0:30:57I'd sent my family away to Delhi.
0:30:58 > 0:31:02When I heard the mob that day, I thought I'd never see them again.
0:31:04 > 0:31:09What is so peculiar and unique for this time is the fact that
0:31:09 > 0:31:14almost everyone is drawn into this macabre narrative of violence.
0:31:14 > 0:31:17The ordinary householder going about their business,
0:31:17 > 0:31:21the regular professional man, everyone is baying for blood,
0:31:21 > 0:31:23everyone's out there on the streets
0:31:23 > 0:31:25and ready to attack the rival community.
0:31:27 > 0:31:31I had a Muslim servant who looked after my house. He opened the door.
0:31:36 > 0:31:40How do you know how you will react under this kind of pressure?
0:31:40 > 0:31:42At a time of such great chaos,
0:31:42 > 0:31:45where there's a total breakdown of law and order?
0:31:49 > 0:31:53You may never envisage that you could be someone who kills someone
0:31:53 > 0:31:55and yet that is what happened.
0:31:57 > 0:31:59The gang wanted to come in to look for me.
0:32:02 > 0:32:04But then I realised the servant wouldn't let them.
0:32:06 > 0:32:10But, equally, there are stories at this time of extreme bravery,
0:32:10 > 0:32:13where people really put themselves on the line to protect people.
0:32:14 > 0:32:17Eventually, the Muslim servant boy persuades the mob
0:32:17 > 0:32:20that there are no Hindus heading inside.
0:32:20 > 0:32:23He said Lalwani, his master, had already fled Quetta, that morning.
0:32:28 > 0:32:32I never really spoke to him before then, except maybe an order,
0:32:32 > 0:32:34but now that Muslim boy had saved my life.
0:32:41 > 0:32:44He guided me to a place he knew in the forest.
0:32:44 > 0:32:46He said the mobs wouldn't find me there.
0:32:48 > 0:32:51He told me to wait there for the night and then he left.
0:32:54 > 0:32:57I started to worry that he'd changed his mind
0:32:57 > 0:32:59and he'd come back with some Muslims to kill me.
0:33:11 > 0:33:14- NEWSREEL:- With hordes seeking escape from the danger areas, the railroad
0:33:14 > 0:33:17system of the Indian Northwest proved inadequate to the strain.
0:33:20 > 0:33:23There's only three days to go until independence.
0:33:23 > 0:33:27Refugees converge on railway stations, desperate not to be caught
0:33:27 > 0:33:31on the wrong side of the border when the country is divided.
0:33:31 > 0:33:33Partition, when it became inevitable,
0:33:33 > 0:33:35could have happened in a different way.
0:33:35 > 0:33:38It could have been more organised, it could have been dragged
0:33:38 > 0:33:41over time and people could have moved in a manner that was
0:33:41 > 0:33:46more safe and secure, over a period of months or maybe even a year.
0:33:46 > 0:33:49It was the rush of partition that created the tragedy,
0:33:49 > 0:33:51not just the partition itself.
0:33:54 > 0:33:58600 miles away from his family, who have already escaped to Delhi,
0:33:58 > 0:34:01Sunderdas Lalwani wakes up in the forest.
0:34:04 > 0:34:07I don't know how but I managed to get some sleep.
0:34:08 > 0:34:12Thanks to his Muslim servant, Lalwani has managed to avoid
0:34:12 > 0:34:17being captured by mobs out for revenge against Hindus.
0:34:17 > 0:34:19But now he must escape them once more
0:34:19 > 0:34:22if he is to get to a train that will carry him to safety.
0:34:24 > 0:34:26I had no idea what I was going to do.
0:34:28 > 0:34:31I couldn't believe it when my Muslim servant came back.
0:34:33 > 0:34:37He told me I needed to get to the train station and he said the
0:34:37 > 0:34:40only way I could get their safely was to pretend I was a Muslim.
0:34:43 > 0:34:46It was hard for anyone, if you were faced with the mob
0:34:46 > 0:34:49from your own community, to resist that.
0:34:49 > 0:34:52Even if you didn't want to participate in the killing yourself,
0:34:52 > 0:34:55for individuals to try and stand against this
0:34:55 > 0:34:59was virtually impossible, so the best they could do - and many,
0:34:59 > 0:35:02many people did do this - was to shelter friends
0:35:02 > 0:35:06or neighbours, individually try and get them away to safety.
0:35:11 > 0:35:14I owed him my life. He said, "Good luck".
0:35:16 > 0:35:19I find it very moving, when I think about those individual acts
0:35:19 > 0:35:23of courage, because so much is being risked at that time
0:35:23 > 0:35:27if you decide to try and protect someone from the other side.
0:35:28 > 0:35:32Dressed as a Muslim, Lalwani is able to survive the long journey south
0:35:32 > 0:35:34to reunite with his family.
0:35:35 > 0:35:40I, myself, wouldn't be sat here in front of you right now if it wasn't
0:35:40 > 0:35:44for the fact that my grandfather, Sunderdas Lalwani,
0:35:44 > 0:35:48was saved by a Muslim boy, who really risked his life
0:35:48 > 0:35:52in order to get my grandfather out of the country.
0:35:52 > 0:35:57I don't know why he did it, but it's an incredible act of bravery
0:35:57 > 0:36:00and it's humbling, whenever I think about it.
0:36:03 > 0:36:07The rail network has always been seen as one of the great successes
0:36:07 > 0:36:08of Britain's Indian Empire.
0:36:08 > 0:36:13But now, with only three days before the Raj is finally over,
0:36:13 > 0:36:17trains are becoming the dark symbol of its chaotic end.
0:36:17 > 0:36:20This is when killers on all sides begin to discover that they
0:36:20 > 0:36:25provide the perfect means to identify and destroy the enemy.
0:36:25 > 0:36:28The direction that you're travelling in gave off your ethnic identity,
0:36:28 > 0:36:31because if you're travelling towards Pakistan, you must be Muslim.
0:36:31 > 0:36:34If you're travelling from Pakistan towards India,
0:36:34 > 0:36:35you must be either a Hindu or Sikh.
0:36:35 > 0:36:38And this week leading up to independence is when train
0:36:38 > 0:36:41massacres really start in earnest.
0:36:43 > 0:36:46Trains become the centre of violence in this period.
0:36:46 > 0:36:51Targeting people who are moving from one part of the country
0:36:51 > 0:36:54to another in the hope of safety,
0:36:54 > 0:36:56in the hope of being with their co-religionists,
0:36:56 > 0:36:59but this becomes the most perilous journey of their lives
0:36:59 > 0:37:02and the carnage is excessive and complete and bloody.
0:37:04 > 0:37:07The violence on the trains is absolutely horrific.
0:37:07 > 0:37:09These are contained spaces
0:37:09 > 0:37:11and people can't run out, as they're attacked.
0:37:11 > 0:37:14The perpetrators just move from carriage to carriage,
0:37:14 > 0:37:16hacking people to death as they move along.
0:37:18 > 0:37:22And, as the train pulled into its destination, almost
0:37:22 > 0:37:27completely, the entire train would be full of corpses.
0:37:28 > 0:37:32As the massacre spread, whether your train is attacked or reaches
0:37:32 > 0:37:36its destination safely is just a question of fate.
0:37:41 > 0:37:45Harbhajan Singh Puri is a young Sikh government engineer,
0:37:45 > 0:37:48one of the lucky ones who makes it to safety.
0:37:48 > 0:37:51I left Lahore by train. The violence had started.
0:37:51 > 0:37:56Stabbings, bombings. I got too scared to go out there.
0:37:56 > 0:37:58Even though my Muslim friend said
0:37:58 > 0:38:00they'd have to kill him to get to me.
0:38:00 > 0:38:03When Harbhajan's train made it safely out of Lahore,
0:38:03 > 0:38:06and beyond the reach of Muslim militias, he was relieved.
0:38:07 > 0:38:09But Ludhiana Station, north of Delhi,
0:38:09 > 0:38:12the violence of partition catches up with him.
0:38:12 > 0:38:14Harbhajan is forced to face the truth
0:38:14 > 0:38:17of how this week is changing people he thought he knew.
0:38:18 > 0:38:22Some people started shouting, "Clear the train. Everyone out."
0:38:22 > 0:38:24They were looking for Muslims
0:38:24 > 0:38:27who might have been hiding in amongst us on the journey.
0:38:28 > 0:38:30In the space of the train carriage,
0:38:30 > 0:38:34what happens is your identity became reduced, largely to your religion.
0:38:34 > 0:38:37You might be a civil servant, you might be a teacher,
0:38:37 > 0:38:39you might be a gardener,
0:38:39 > 0:38:43but at that moment you become a Hindu, a Muslim, a Sikh, a Christian
0:38:43 > 0:38:47and I think that is a really important facet of the violence
0:38:47 > 0:38:50because it reduced people's identities to that of religion
0:38:50 > 0:38:52and it meant that they became targets
0:38:52 > 0:38:55for systematic religious violence.
0:38:57 > 0:39:02I saw one young man, they questioned him and asked him, "Who are you?"
0:39:02 > 0:39:05He give some Hindu name and they searched him.
0:39:07 > 0:39:10They found some papers which showed that he was actually a Muslim.
0:39:12 > 0:39:15There are some people who don't agree that their identity
0:39:15 > 0:39:17is just about being Hindu, Sikh or Muslim
0:39:17 > 0:39:20and there are people who are trying to bring peace,
0:39:20 > 0:39:22who are trying to bring people together
0:39:22 > 0:39:27and they are just sort of drowned out, really,
0:39:27 > 0:39:32by the wave of hostility and violence that takes place.
0:39:33 > 0:39:35He raised his arms to protect himself.
0:39:35 > 0:39:40His arm was all cut and then they killed him.
0:39:40 > 0:39:44I hadn't seen such a sight before. It was shocking.
0:39:44 > 0:39:47I felt so sorry for him. But I couldn't help him.
0:39:48 > 0:39:52I just couldn't understand it. They were Sikhs like me.
0:39:52 > 0:39:56It was the madness that was around the people, religious
0:39:56 > 0:40:00fanaticism and then it's a vicious circle. It's a very sad thing.
0:40:01 > 0:40:04The partition of this country was a misfortune for humanity.
0:40:08 > 0:40:12While many refugees were seeking sanctuary with family and friends,
0:40:12 > 0:40:15others had simply run away from danger and were now
0:40:15 > 0:40:19forming part of a rapidly escalating refugee crisis.
0:40:19 > 0:40:22- NEWSREEL:- Hungry and homeless refugees set up housekeeping
0:40:22 > 0:40:23in the streets of the major cities.
0:40:23 > 0:40:27Bewildered, they waited helplessly for someone to take care of them.
0:40:27 > 0:40:31With nowhere else to go, refugees across the country are being forced
0:40:31 > 0:40:36to live in makeshift camps that are struggling to cope with the influx.
0:40:36 > 0:40:39The state of the refugee camps was really an example of how the British
0:40:39 > 0:40:42hadn't prepared for petition but nor had the independence leaders.
0:40:42 > 0:40:46Nobody had really prepared for the level of disaster that was
0:40:46 > 0:40:51going to occur and so the provision for refugees was incredibly basic.
0:40:51 > 0:40:55Quite frequently, there was no food, no water, certainly no
0:40:55 > 0:40:59medical supplies and no security so people found themselves still in
0:40:59 > 0:41:02immense danger of violence because there was nobody to protect them.
0:41:03 > 0:41:06Somehow, all these leaders had convinced themselves
0:41:06 > 0:41:09that it was not going to be as big a deal as it was.
0:41:09 > 0:41:11That it could be managed.
0:41:11 > 0:41:14This kind of enormous, nation-breaking,
0:41:14 > 0:41:18continent-splitting project could be managed without vast loss of life,
0:41:18 > 0:41:22without vast crisis and, of course, they were wrong.
0:41:25 > 0:41:271,000 miles from Punjab in India's east
0:41:27 > 0:41:31is the other region that will be partitioned, Bengal.
0:41:34 > 0:41:37Today, the capital of India's half of Bengal is known as Kolkata.
0:41:37 > 0:41:41But back in 1947, the British called it Calcutta.
0:41:41 > 0:41:43The days before leaving India,
0:41:43 > 0:41:46they still have not announced who the city would belong to.
0:41:49 > 0:41:50Fuelled by the uncertainty,
0:41:50 > 0:41:54Calcutta's Muslims and Hindus are preparing for all-out war.
0:41:55 > 0:41:57One of the leaders on the Hindu side
0:41:57 > 0:42:00is a wrestling coach named Jugal Chandra Ghosh.
0:42:00 > 0:42:03I was a goonda, a thug.
0:42:03 > 0:42:08People were terrorised by me but they used to love me as well.
0:42:08 > 0:42:12Jugal Chandra Ghosh is a goonda, a gangster, who uses his wrestlers
0:42:12 > 0:42:15as muscle in the protection racket he runs in central Calcutta.
0:42:15 > 0:42:19Just one year ago, in August 1946,
0:42:19 > 0:42:23he took part in one of the most violent riots in Indian history.
0:42:26 > 0:42:30What began as a peaceful Muslim protest turned into four days
0:42:30 > 0:42:32of murderous street battles.
0:42:33 > 0:42:36Chandra Ghosh used his men as a Hindu killing force.
0:42:40 > 0:42:42When I saw Hindu shops burnt
0:42:42 > 0:42:45and scattered Hindu dead bodies all around,
0:42:45 > 0:42:48I went down to the Rattray's.
0:42:48 > 0:42:50I asked for money from them.
0:42:50 > 0:42:52They paid up.
0:42:52 > 0:42:57Then I declared to my boys, "For one murder you get 10 rupees."
0:42:58 > 0:43:03On my order, all of my boys began the counter attacks.
0:43:05 > 0:43:09So Calcutta was full of these goonda groups, both Hindu and Muslim
0:43:09 > 0:43:11and until this point they had really operated more as an
0:43:11 > 0:43:16underworld Mafia, rather than as ethnic partisans, but this
0:43:16 > 0:43:19was the first time that they were used specifically as almost
0:43:19 > 0:43:23an ethnic militia and you had sort of pitched battles
0:43:23 > 0:43:27in the streets between these two armed Mafia groups.
0:43:27 > 0:43:31I paid for at least 150 to 200 murderers.
0:43:32 > 0:43:34Back in 1946, at the end
0:43:34 > 0:43:39of what became known as the great Calcutta killings, 5,000 were dead.
0:43:40 > 0:43:44Now, with just two days to go before partition, Calcutta's
0:43:44 > 0:43:48newspapers are reporting that goonda gangs on both sides
0:43:48 > 0:43:51are getting ready to kill each other again.
0:43:53 > 0:43:54When the police arrived,
0:43:54 > 0:43:56there was an exchange of shots between the two parties.
0:43:58 > 0:44:01Two armed constables were killed in this goonda-police clash.
0:44:04 > 0:44:06The casualties among the miscreants is not known.
0:44:09 > 0:44:12The entire area was searched and about 24 bombs were recovered.
0:44:16 > 0:44:20In this week, there is a fear that what happened in 1946 might happen
0:44:20 > 0:44:23again, that thousands of people might die again in Calcutta
0:44:23 > 0:44:27and so people are on a knife edge, they're really feeling very, very
0:44:27 > 0:44:31tense and there's the fear that one killing or one episode of
0:44:31 > 0:44:35violence might spark something that can't be brought back under control.
0:44:38 > 0:44:40- NEWSREEL:- The fate of 400 million Indians
0:44:40 > 0:44:41rests on these men's shoulders.
0:44:41 > 0:44:44Iron-willed Muslim leader Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
0:44:44 > 0:44:47Here is silver-tongued Pandit Nehru.
0:44:47 > 0:44:50It's only two days before the British hand over power
0:44:50 > 0:44:53to India's Nehru and Pakistan's Jinnah but they can only watch
0:44:53 > 0:44:56events in Bengal and Punjab from afar, powerless.
0:44:56 > 0:44:59Nehru and Jinnah are about to become leaders of these new
0:44:59 > 0:45:02countries and to have control over them but, actually,
0:45:02 > 0:45:05they're worried about the states they are going to inherit.
0:45:05 > 0:45:08Everything that these men had fought for their whole adult lives
0:45:08 > 0:45:11was now coming apart at the seams, so they are really traumatised,
0:45:11 > 0:45:15these leaders, by what's happening, but they just keep going,
0:45:15 > 0:45:17really because what else can they do?
0:45:17 > 0:45:20The agreement has been made with the British, independence is coming,
0:45:20 > 0:45:23come what may, and they have to just keep ploughing ahead.
0:45:24 > 0:45:28Fearful that Calcutta will explode once again in civil war,
0:45:28 > 0:45:31the Chief Minister of Bengal turns in desperation
0:45:31 > 0:45:33to the only man he believes can help...
0:45:34 > 0:45:36..77-year-old Mahatma Gandhi.
0:45:37 > 0:45:41Gandhi decides that goonda leaders like Jugal Chandra Ghosh will
0:45:41 > 0:45:45be the key to stopping the cycle of violence in the city.
0:45:45 > 0:45:48I was not a Gandhian at that point in time.
0:45:48 > 0:45:51But Gandhi's secretary came to see me.
0:45:51 > 0:45:53He said Gandhi would like to meet
0:45:53 > 0:45:56some of the influential people of the area,
0:45:56 > 0:45:58later that afternoon.
0:45:58 > 0:45:59Gandhi's technique of nonviolence
0:45:59 > 0:46:01had never really worked against the British
0:46:01 > 0:46:04and really had fallen out of favour in the previous few years.
0:46:04 > 0:46:05Gandhi had fallen out of favour.
0:46:05 > 0:46:09By 1947, he really was rather a sidelined figure.
0:46:09 > 0:46:11But he still did believe in nonviolence.
0:46:11 > 0:46:13I went to see Gandhi.
0:46:13 > 0:46:17When he started speaking, there was pin-drop silence all around.
0:46:17 > 0:46:21By this stage, that older, Gandhian story of using nonviolence
0:46:21 > 0:46:25as a powerful tool is no longer washing with people.
0:46:25 > 0:46:27They're no longer really buying it.
0:46:27 > 0:46:30Gandhi started telling how we should stop killing.
0:46:30 > 0:46:33Some of us would die but the riots would stop.
0:46:33 > 0:46:37He said if we keep thinking that we must repay murder with murder,
0:46:37 > 0:46:39then this would never stop.
0:46:39 > 0:46:41At this point, he's really having a dialogue.
0:46:41 > 0:46:43He's having a debate with some of the goonda leaders
0:46:43 > 0:46:46about what the right course of action should be.
0:46:46 > 0:46:47And they are saying,
0:46:47 > 0:46:49"Come on, we have to fight. It's our duty to fight.
0:46:49 > 0:46:52But Gandhi, as always, is absolutely adamant
0:46:52 > 0:46:55that nonviolence and peace is the only way.
0:46:55 > 0:46:59A few did not listen. They cursed Gandhi but he kept standing there.
0:46:59 > 0:47:01Not everybody saw him as a great hero.
0:47:01 > 0:47:04You know, he was attacked, he had brickbats thrown at him,
0:47:04 > 0:47:07then there were people who actually did start listening to him.
0:47:07 > 0:47:10He still had this kind of moral power and, amazingly, some of these
0:47:10 > 0:47:12gangster guys did start to sit down
0:47:12 > 0:47:14and listen to him and even lay down their arms.
0:47:14 > 0:47:19Jugal Chandra Ghosh's life would be changed by Gandhi's words.
0:47:20 > 0:47:22I was convinced.
0:47:22 > 0:47:25I took to the streets to spread the teachings of Gandhi.
0:47:26 > 0:47:30Such is the power of his words that some actually come over and
0:47:30 > 0:47:33lay down their arms in front of him.
0:47:33 > 0:47:35There are others, of course, who don't listen,
0:47:35 > 0:47:38but he does have a terrific impact on the city,
0:47:38 > 0:47:42where he's able to stall the violence that could have happened.
0:47:42 > 0:47:44And that's quite unique.
0:47:44 > 0:47:46That's quite amazing.
0:47:47 > 0:47:51But 1,000 miles west of Bengal, in Punjab's ancient capital,
0:47:51 > 0:47:54Lahore, there's no-one working to bring calm to the streets.
0:47:54 > 0:47:57Neighbourhoods are being barricaded along religious lines.
0:47:57 > 0:48:00Ordinary people are being turned into soldiers.
0:48:03 > 0:48:04One of them is a baker
0:48:04 > 0:48:08who has been recruited by a local police officer gone rogue.
0:48:08 > 0:48:10His name is Taj Din.
0:48:13 > 0:48:15He's a well-known character in his neighbourhood,
0:48:15 > 0:48:17who runs a popular naan stall.
0:48:19 > 0:48:22But, this week, he has been caught up in the religious hatred
0:48:22 > 0:48:24that's spread throughout Lahore.
0:48:30 > 0:48:34The policeman told us that our Muslim brothers and sisters
0:48:34 > 0:48:36were being killed.
0:48:36 > 0:48:39He told us that if we died fighting against non-Muslims,
0:48:39 > 0:48:41we would be markers.
0:48:41 > 0:48:44And if we survived, we'd be soldiers of Allah.
0:48:48 > 0:48:50Why would somebody just carrying on
0:48:50 > 0:48:54a normal profession in their daily lives be suddenly eager to kill
0:48:54 > 0:48:57as many members of the other community as they wished to?
0:48:57 > 0:49:02That, in a sense, for us, seems like madness.
0:49:02 > 0:49:04But the main objectives of our training
0:49:04 > 0:49:08were to protect Muslims and to take revenge.
0:49:09 > 0:49:13It's one of the really dark mysteries at the heart of partition,
0:49:13 > 0:49:16is why ordinary people could turn into killers.
0:49:16 > 0:49:20I think the best answer that we have is that people were just so
0:49:20 > 0:49:25whipped up through demonisation of the other and the sense that you
0:49:25 > 0:49:29have to kill or be killed, that they were fulling themselves
0:49:29 > 0:49:31into thinking they were killing in self-defence.
0:49:31 > 0:49:34During this week, Taj Din has been transformed
0:49:34 > 0:49:36from a baker into a killer.
0:49:36 > 0:49:39He's leading an attack on a local Sikh temple,
0:49:39 > 0:49:42hoping to kill as many of the enemy as he can.
0:49:43 > 0:49:46It was pitch dark when we stormed the Sikh temple.
0:49:46 > 0:49:49I led the advance party.
0:49:49 > 0:49:52We give a battle cry, shouting, "Long live Pakistan."
0:49:52 > 0:49:57Suddenly, one of them appeared. He struck me with a blow.
0:49:57 > 0:50:01But in hand-to-hand combat, I managed to kill him.
0:50:04 > 0:50:07Partition turns just regular people into killers
0:50:07 > 0:50:09and that's a chilling thing to think of.
0:50:09 > 0:50:15There were 20 to 36 hiding out in the temple, men, women and children.
0:50:16 > 0:50:20If you're caught up in those times, that is the only way in which
0:50:20 > 0:50:22you can defend your communities.
0:50:22 > 0:50:26Attack becomes the only form of defence.
0:50:26 > 0:50:27All of them perished.
0:50:27 > 0:50:30I think I killed four.
0:50:30 > 0:50:32This is not to justify, of course, what went on,
0:50:32 > 0:50:35but this is what was going through people's minds.
0:50:38 > 0:50:40At the end of today,
0:50:40 > 0:50:43Britain's 200-year-long rule of India will be over.
0:50:48 > 0:50:51- NEWSREEL:- Pakistan have claimed the transfer of British power
0:50:51 > 0:50:54as Mr Jinnah, the governor general of the new dominion
0:50:54 > 0:50:57arrives at the constituent assembly in Karachi.
0:50:57 > 0:50:59On the morning of August 14th, 1947,
0:50:59 > 0:51:02just hours before partition is official,
0:51:02 > 0:51:04Lord Mountbatten celebrates
0:51:04 > 0:51:07the birth of the world's first Muslim state, Pakistan.
0:51:07 > 0:51:09- NEWSREEL:- Addressing the assembly,
0:51:09 > 0:51:12Lord Mountbatten first read a message from the King.
0:51:12 > 0:51:14"I send you my greetings and warmest wishes."
0:51:17 > 0:51:20Jinnah is happy that he's achieved a separate state,
0:51:20 > 0:51:23but, at the same time, there's this lingering doubt,
0:51:23 > 0:51:26because Pakistan is really trying to rise from the ashes at this time.
0:51:26 > 0:51:29I mean, it's not actually a fully functioning state.
0:51:29 > 0:51:32One in five people is a refugee in West Pakistan.
0:51:32 > 0:51:35So, there's a paradox there, because, on one hand,
0:51:35 > 0:51:38people want to celebrate independence but, at the same time,
0:51:38 > 0:51:39it's starting them in the face
0:51:39 > 0:51:43that millions have been moved and this terrible death and
0:51:43 > 0:51:48destruction and it's not just been done to them, they've also
0:51:48 > 0:51:51been acting out and involved in that violence themselves.
0:51:51 > 0:51:55At midnight, India will become independent.
0:51:55 > 0:51:57- NEWSREEL:- People are rejoicing,
0:51:57 > 0:52:00ready to welcome their long-awaited liberty.
0:52:00 > 0:52:02There was unbounded joy...
0:52:02 > 0:52:06After decades of doing everything they could to make sure this day
0:52:06 > 0:52:08would never come, the British have planned
0:52:08 > 0:52:11an elaborate handover ceremony tomorrow, in Delhi.
0:52:11 > 0:52:14But, for the 100,000 refugees crowding into camps
0:52:14 > 0:52:18around the capital, there is little to celebrate.
0:52:18 > 0:52:22These refugees, who've lost so much in the run-up to independence,
0:52:22 > 0:52:25don't fit in with the upbeat narrative of the day.
0:52:26 > 0:52:29The British, were, of course, keen to orchestrate these images
0:52:29 > 0:52:31of a smooth transfer of power.
0:52:31 > 0:52:32You know, the whole thing
0:52:32 > 0:52:34was so well orchestrated, it was a spectacle.
0:52:34 > 0:52:37But, in reality, these smooth narratives
0:52:37 > 0:52:40of the transfer of power really need to be placed alongside
0:52:40 > 0:52:43these individual stories of trauma,
0:52:43 > 0:52:48of uprootment, of migration and violence, of killings and murder.
0:52:48 > 0:52:51And this was the reality of what was going on in some parts of India.
0:52:53 > 0:52:55Among those taking shelter
0:52:55 > 0:52:59in Delhi's main refugee camp at Purana Qila is Arghwani Begum.
0:52:59 > 0:53:03She is nine months pregnant with her third child.
0:53:03 > 0:53:06Arghwani had grown up in luxury in the north-east of India,
0:53:06 > 0:53:09a Muslim, waited on by a staff of loyal Hindu servants.
0:53:10 > 0:53:13Our house was built in the old style,
0:53:13 > 0:53:16we even had stuffed tigers on the wall.
0:53:17 > 0:53:20We had Hindus working on our farm and their wives were always
0:53:20 > 0:53:25around the house. There was never any tension between any of us.
0:53:26 > 0:53:27Those were the days.
0:53:27 > 0:53:31But, this week, she had to flee after hearing that a gang
0:53:31 > 0:53:33was coming to ransack her home.
0:53:33 > 0:53:34Escaping to Pakistan,
0:53:34 > 0:53:38Arghwani is forced to witness the horrors of partition.
0:53:40 > 0:53:42They were killing people on our train.
0:53:44 > 0:53:46The killings spree lasted for a while.
0:53:47 > 0:53:53I heard screams and cries of panic. It was horrifying.
0:53:54 > 0:53:57There were a lot of people, especially children, killed.
0:53:59 > 0:54:01I saw their bloodied bodies with my own eyes.
0:54:03 > 0:54:06But our compartment was safe, thanks to Allah.
0:54:09 > 0:54:11Arghwani and her family have to stop in Delhi
0:54:11 > 0:54:14and take refuge at the camp in Purana Qila.
0:54:16 > 0:54:18We arrived at the Fort.
0:54:18 > 0:54:23There was panic, pandemonium. No food or water.
0:54:24 > 0:54:27You could hear the screams from the families when someone died.
0:54:27 > 0:54:30There were no coffins. It was terrible.
0:54:35 > 0:54:38I wasn't supposed to give birth for a couple of weeks.
0:54:41 > 0:54:44But I suppose that the trauma of being in that camp
0:54:44 > 0:54:46made me go into labour.
0:54:48 > 0:54:51I gave birth to my third child at the camp.
0:54:58 > 0:55:02It was a boy. There were no clothes for the baby.
0:55:02 > 0:55:05He had to be draped in one of my daughter's frocks.
0:55:07 > 0:55:12- NEWSREEL:- It is the night of August 14th, 1947.
0:55:12 > 0:55:15The auspicious moment is on its way.
0:55:16 > 0:55:20In every house, throughout the land, the lamps of good fortune
0:55:20 > 0:55:22are lighted to illumine the path to freedom.
0:55:25 > 0:55:29At midnight, Jawaharlal Nehru prepares to address his new nation.
0:55:29 > 0:55:32In Lahore, a city under curfew,
0:55:32 > 0:55:36the Hindu writer Fikr Taunsvi listens to Nehru on the radio.
0:55:38 > 0:55:43At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps,
0:55:43 > 0:55:46India will awake to light and freedom.
0:55:46 > 0:55:51Long years ago, we made a tryst with destiny.
0:55:51 > 0:55:55The whole night, the rages screamed freedom.
0:55:55 > 0:55:59Freedom. Today, we're free of white's imperialism.
0:55:59 > 0:56:03My friend said, "Are you unhappy at getting freedom?"
0:56:03 > 0:56:05I said, "Yes.
0:56:05 > 0:56:08"We should welcome this. We're greeted with the piles
0:56:08 > 0:56:11"of dead bodies of Hindus and Muslims and Sikhs
0:56:11 > 0:56:15"with the burning buildings and murderer's bombs."
0:56:29 > 0:56:35On 15th August, 1947, Britain's Indian Empire was over.
0:56:35 > 0:56:37India and Pakistan were now independent,
0:56:37 > 0:56:40although the border between them, the Radcliffe Line,
0:56:40 > 0:56:43would still not be announced for another two days.
0:56:45 > 0:56:49Britain proclaimed to the world that the handover of power
0:56:49 > 0:56:51had been a great success.
0:56:51 > 0:56:53- NEWSREEL:- Tumultuous crowds fill the streets,
0:56:53 > 0:56:54celebrating, singing and laughing.
0:56:54 > 0:56:57Police were called out many times to restore order
0:56:57 > 0:56:59where everyone ran wild with joy.
0:57:00 > 0:57:04Independence meant different things for different people.
0:57:04 > 0:57:07For the Indian elite, independence was a great moment of celebration.
0:57:07 > 0:57:10But, for the poverty stricken man who's been uprooted and has
0:57:10 > 0:57:14migrated over miles, who has lost his means of livelihood, lost
0:57:14 > 0:57:18property, what does independence mean? It means absolutely nothing.
0:57:19 > 0:57:21One of the legacies of partition was the way in which violence
0:57:21 > 0:57:25scaled up from being about individuals, but families,
0:57:25 > 0:57:28about conflict between communities and religions, into something
0:57:28 > 0:57:32much bigger, violence between armies, violence between nations.
0:57:32 > 0:57:36This one week transformed the world we live in today.
0:57:36 > 0:57:39If you look at Pakistan and India right now, this border that
0:57:39 > 0:57:43was created in this week is the most dangerous border in the world.
0:57:43 > 0:57:47In 1847, even though some people foresaw violence and foresaw
0:57:47 > 0:57:51difficulty, I don't think really very many people foresaw how
0:57:51 > 0:57:54bad relations between India and Pakistan would continue to be.
0:57:54 > 0:57:56I think a lot of people thought
0:57:56 > 0:57:59that actually it would all blow over and they would be friends again.
0:57:59 > 0:58:01As we can see, tragically, that has not happened.
0:58:01 > 0:58:04For me, the tragedy is that the war has never ended.
0:58:04 > 0:58:07It's really become a cold war, at times it's been a hot war,
0:58:07 > 0:58:10there have been three wars between the countries.
0:58:10 > 0:58:13So, really, we're still seeing that fight that went on in 1947,
0:58:13 > 0:58:17replayed and replayed. It's never really come to an end.
0:58:17 > 0:58:20Memories of that time still echo and rebound now,
0:58:20 > 0:58:24in that relationship between the two countries.