Partition and the Birth of Pakistan

On August 14, 1947, Pakistan came into existence as the world's first nation founded explicitly on the basis of religious identity — a homeland for the Muslims of the Indian subcontinent. Muhammad Ali Jinnah became Governor-General, and Liaquat Ali Khan became Prime Minister. But independence was inseparable from Partition: the hurried drawing of borders by British lawyer Cyril Radcliffe — who had never visited India — split Punjab and Bengal, triggering a catastrophic migration. An estimated 14-15 million people crossed the new borders in both directions, and between 200,000 and 2 million were killed in communal violence. Trains arrived at stations carrying nothing but corpses. Pakistan itself was geographically divided — West Pakistan and East Pakistan separated by 1,600 kilometers of Indian territory — an arrangement that carried the seeds of future conflict. The trauma of Partition remains the defining memory of both nations.