7. Partition of India, 1947
August 15, 1947 witnessed the end of British colonial era in the jewel in the crown - India.
It was a triumph that was savioured after centuries of foreign rule, but the dawn of freedom came with the open, gaping wounds of Partition.
The northwestern and eastern predominantly Muslim sections of India became Pakistan, while the central, western and southern Hindu majority section became the Republic of India.
The border between the two new countries were not announced until 17th August, 1947.
Millions of families on both sides of Radcliffe line were displaced. Lakhs of people were killed, thousands of women were raped, and millions were rendered homeless, as entire families were annihiliated by marauding mobs thirsting for blood in the wake of Partition.
The border was created under the supervision of Sir Cyril Radcliffe, a London barrister who was given only five weeks to draw the new borders.
The hurriedly implemented Partition led to scars that never healed in the minds of people living in both India and Pakistan, 67 years after the massacres.
