INDIA’S INDEPENDENCE

INDIA’S INDEPENDENCE

INDIA’S INDEPENDENCE

INDIA’S INDEPENDENCE

INDIA’S INDEPENDENCE

INDIA’S INDEPENDENCE

HINDU AND MUSLIM DIFFERENCES

• Muhammad Ali Jinnah (1876-1948) and the Muslim League, feared a Hindu-majority India would ignore Muslim concerns.

• He worked in Indian National Congress until 1920 when they adopted Gandhi’s satyagraha campaign.

• Jinnah pressed for an independent territory for South Asia’s religious minority – Muslims. (Pakistan,“land of the pure”)

INDIAN INDEPENDENCE ACT OF 1947

• Date of Independence: August 15th, 1947

• This act was the implementation of the June 3rd Plan or the Mountbatten Plan

• Mountbatten was the last viceroy

• Partition plan was set in place despite the views against it from Mountbatten and Gandhi

1947 PARTITION OF INDIA

• 12 million+ Muslims, Sikhs, and Hindus fled their homes to join a majority-religion region or state

• violence between the Hindus and Muslims caused hundreds of thousands of deaths

• Bitter memories remain from these hardships

POST INDEPENDENCE…(AUGUST 1947)

• India as a Parliamentary democracy & federal state is headed up by Jawarhalal Nehru (Gandhi is assassinated in January 1948);

• Pakistan becomes a Muslim state headed by former Muslim League leader Muhammad Jinnah; it too is a Parliamentary democracy but has struggled to remain secular; in after a brief civil war in 1971 East Pakistan becomes the Parliamentary democracy of Bangladesh.

GANDHI & SOUTH ASIA’S INDEPENDENCE…

•Satyagraha = “truth force”;

•Salt March;•Civil disobedience

• Wanted one united nation for Hindus and Muslims after independence from the British.

• Scene from Gandhi

PROBLEMS WITH PAKISTAN: EAST AND WEST

• Separated by 1,000 miles

•Besides sharing the same religion East and West Pakistan were different in a lot of ways (geography, languages, and traditions)

• Pakistan’s Strengths:- army - educated officials

WEST AND EAST PAKISTAN PROBLEMS

• West Pakistan was the political and economic power of the two

• The Bengalis occupied the poorest section (East Pakistan)

• Bengalis were treated as second-class citizens

• 1970, a cyclone caused enormous damage to East Pakistan. There was little to no aid from West Pakistan.

EAST PAKISTAN REBELLION

• Very successful and quick rebellion (April – December 1971)

• Indian army supported East Pakistan

• December 16th, 1971 East Pakistan became a newly independent nation – Bangladesh.

PAKISTAN TODAY

• Illiteracy rates are high

• Millions live in poverty

• Political instability over the years lead to long periods of military rule

• The northwest Pashtun tribes have supported the Taliban regime and Al Qaeda