The land and people west of the…

In 1947, New Zealand becomes an independent member of the Commonwealth of Nations.

In 1947, New Zealand becomes an independent member of the Commonwealth of Nations.

As fighting erupts between the Vietnamese and the returning French, Ho leads the Viet Minh in an effort to oust the returning colonial power.

The Communist-phobic US supports France politically.

The French in Laos permit elections and promulgate a constitition in 1947.

The French puppet goverment is challenged by Laotian nationalist leaders, including Prince Souphanouvong, who form a government-in-exile in Bangkok.

Korea’s independence is re-confirmed in November 1947 by a UN resolution, but the UN commission is able to hold elections only in the US-controlled southern zone.

Peace treaties worked out in 1946 by the Allies with Italy, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Finland become effective in 1947.

Communal rioting continues well into 1947.

Jinnah permits the Muslim League to enter the interim government in an effort to stem further communal violence.

Disagreements among the ministers paralyze the government, already haunted by the specter of civil war.

In February 1947, Lord Louis Mountbatten is appointed viceroy with specific instructions to arrange for a transfer of power by June of 1948.

Assessing the situation, Mountbatten becomes convinced that Congress is willing to accept partition as the price for independence, that Jinnah will accept a smaller Pakistan than the one he demands (that is, all of Punjab and Bengal), and that Sikhs will learn to accept a division of Punjab.

The rising temperature of communal emotions convinces Mountbatten that the June 1948 date for partition is too distant and persuades most Indian leaders that immediate acceptance of his plan is imperative.

The assets of British India are divided in the ratio of seventeen for India to five for Pakistan by decision of the Viceroy's Council in June 1947.

Division is difficult to implement, however, and Pakistan complains of nondeliveries.

Although there is some violence in Calcutta at Partition, the efforts of Mohandas K. Gandhi prevent widespread killing in partitioned Bengal.

Disturbances in Delhi are only a prelude to the slaughter in the Punjab, where the Gurdaspur district has been partitioned to give India access to Kashmir.

Immediately following its birth as an independent nation, Pakistan also has to establish its legitimacy against a possible challenge from Afghanistan.

Irredentist claims from Kabul are based on the ethnic unity of tribes straddling the border; the emotional appeal of "Pakhtunistan," homeland of the Pakhtuns, or Pashtuns, is undeniable.

However, Pakistan upholds the treaties Britain had signed with Afghanistan and refuses to discuss the validity of the Durand Line as the international border.

Relations with Afghanistan are hostile, resulting in the rupture of diplomatic and commercial relations and leading Afghanistan to cast the only vote against Pakistan's admission to the United Nations in 1947.

Throughout the summer of 1947, as communal violence mounts, preparations for Partition proceed in Delhi.

Assets are divided, boundary commissions are set up to demarcate frontiers, and British troops are evacuated.

The military is restructured into two forces.

Law and order breaks down in different parts of the country.

Civil servants are given the choice of joining either country; British officers can retire with compensation if not invited to stay on.

Jinnah and Nehru attempt unsuccessfully to quell the passions of communal fury that neither fully understands.

On August 14, 1947, Pakistan and India achieve independence as dominions within the Commonwealth.

The partition and the movement of refugees are accompanied by terrible massacres for which both communities are responsible.

The territory of Pakistan is divided into two parts at independence, separated by about 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) of Indian territory.

The leaders of the new Pakistan are mainly lawyers with a strong commitment to parliamentary government.

They had supported Jinnah in his struggle against the Congress not so much because they desired an Islamic state but because they had come to regard the Congress as synonymous with Hindu domination.

They have various degrees of personal commitment to Islam.

To some it represents an ethic that might (or might not) be the basis of personal behavior within a modern, democratic state.

To others, it represents a tradition, the framework within which their ancestors had ruled India.

However, some groups subscribe to Islam as a total way of life, and these people are said to wish to establish Pakistan as a theocracy (a term they repudiate).

The members of the old Constituent Assembly, elected at the end of 1945, assemble at Karachi, the new capital.

Jinnah becomes the first governor-general of the Dominion of Pakistan and Liaquat Ali Khan the first prime minister (the Quaid-i-Millet, or Leader of the Nation).

The supreme authority at independence, Jinnah's followers hail him as the Quaid-i-Azam (Great Leader).

As governor-general, he assumes the ceremonial functions of head of state while taking on effective power as head of government, dominating his prime minister.

To these roles, he adds the leadership of the Muslim League and the office of president of the Constituent Assembly.

While India inherits most of the British administrative machinery, Pakistan has to start with practically nothing; records and Muslim administrators are transferred from New Delhi to a chaotic, makeshift capital at Karachi.

Pakistan lacks the machinery, personnel, and equipment for a new government.

Even its capital, Karachi, is a second choice-Lahore was rejected because it is too close to the Indian border.

With the major portion of the wealth and resources of the British heritage passing to India, Pakistan's survival seems uncertain.

Of all the well-organized provinces of British India, only the comparatively backward areas of Sindh, Balochistan, and the North-West Frontier come to Pakistan intact.

The Punjab and Bengal are divided, and Kashmir becomes disputed territory.

Economically, the situation seems almost hopeless; the new frontier cuts off Pakistani raw materials from the Indian factories, disrupting industry, commerce, and agriculture.

Further, much of Punjab's electricity is imported from Indian power stations.

India, the major market for Pakistan's commodities, remains openly unfriendly, expressing its economic advantage in a virtual blockade.

The dispute over Kashmir brings the two countries to the verge of war; and India's command of the headworks controlling the water supplies to Pakistan's eastern canal colonies gives it an additional economic weapon.

The resulting friction, by obstructing the process of sharing the assets inherited from the British raj (according to plans previously agreed), further handicaps Pakistan.

Above all other concerns are the violence and the refugee problem: Muslims are fleeing India; Hindus and Sikhs are fleeing Pakistan.

Among the long-term concerns faced by Pakistan is the role of Islam in the new nation.

Is Pakistan to be a secular state serving as a homeland for Muslims of the subcontinent, or is it to be an Islamic state governed by the sharia, in which non-Muslims are second-class citizens?

Although Jinnah had led the movement for Pakistan as a separate Muslim nation, he is appalled by the communal riots and urges equal rights for all citizens irrespective of religion.

Jinnah's plea to regard religion as a personal matter, not a state matter, is ignored.

Another major concern is the distribution of power between the central and provincial governments.

Pakistani society is polarized from its inception.

One major faction is that of the traditional rural people already inhabiting Pakistan (whose support for the concept of Pakistan is not immediate).

At the other end of the spectrum are the newly arrived displaced urbanites from Muslim-minority provinces, whose goals for the new state to which they had fled are often incompatible with those held by the former.

The India Independence Act leaves the princes theoretically free to accede to either dominion.

The frontier princely states of Dir, Chitral, Amb, and Hunza accede quickly to Pakistan while retaining substantial autonomy in internal administration and customary law.

The state of Bahawalpur, with a Muslim ruler and a Muslim population, also accedes to Pakistan, as does Khairpur.
(add loc: "Hunza")