Ferozepur contest (1947)
How Muslim majority areas went to Modern India was among so many other mysteries surrounding the Formal Partition of the Punjab
The name Firozpur obviously means the town of Firoz. The founder was Firoz Shah Tughlaq (A.D.) 1351-88), as the place must always have occupied an important position on the line of communication between Delhi and Lahore.
Under the leadership of Quaid-e-Azam, Muhammad Ali Jinnah Indian Muslims got PAKISTAN on the 14th of August, 1947, in spite of the bitter opposition from the British Anglican ruling English elite and the Indian Congress. The boundary commission was established by the British rulers under the chairmanship of Radcliffe. There were two members from each side: two were Muslims, one was Hindu and one was Sikh. Lord Mountbatten, who was the Viceroy of British India, was partial and along with the Indian Congress, he made a plan to minimize the areas which were to be given to Pakistan. In the Punjab, there were two Tehsils named Ferozepur and Zeera that were given to Pakistan on the first award. But then, under pressure from the Indian Congress, these were redirected to grant them unlawfully to India instead. The reason for the change was that they believed the headworks at Ferozepur must never belong to Pakistan. Similarly, Gurdaspur was also given to Pakistan on the 14th of August; but, on the 17th of August, Lord Mountbatten overruled Radcliffe’s same decision and the District was then given to India, all of these were wrongfully awarded by manipulation. The reason was that tilted only railway and road link to Kashmir was through this very district. After that, there was bitter contested dispute over the Kashmir state; Hindu India got most of Kashmir (Two-Third) after sending its air-lifted invading troops to occupy the area by force. Similarly, in Bengal, the East Bengal which became a constituted part of Pakistan, according to the Two-Nation Theory, the Muslim majority District Murshidabad and parts of two other districts, Jessore and Rajshahi, were given to India, thus minimizing East Pakistan’s area. It's also interesting to note how the current boundary goes up from Ferozepur and does a diagonal, moves backwards into Kasur (River Sutlej) and then moves north, up to Wagah/Attari and touches River Ravi, and then it follows the Ravi's path east and ends at Jammu District of Indian-held Kashmir.
Then, the Congress, the Hindus, and the Sikhs started to kill Muslims in Seceded India, particularly in East Punjab. All of the districts of East Punjab — Jallandhar, Ludhiana, Amritsar, Ferozepur, Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur, Ambala, Karnal, Rohtak, Hisar and Kangra — Muslims suffered. Many of them were killed and their properties looted. The decision was that the current population of these areas should remain there after the border was created, but just to put Pakistan in difficulties, Modern India pushed Muslims over the Pakistani border. Under the formula of partition, the army, the civil servants, and the assets had to be divided between the two countries according to the ratio of their population. But the Dominion of India did not accept this financial award, and thus, most of the financial assets remained in India’s possession. Similarly, the Pakistani Army was not given their rightful part of armament: India grabbed most of Pakistan’s share. Many trains which were taking refugees from Indian Punjab to Pakistani Punjab were sabotaged. One of the trains which were transporting military personnel and the civil servants to Pakistan was attacked, and most of the officers were killed. In such an incidence, there was a rally in Ludhiana which was attended by Congress leader Pandit Nehru that clashed with the Muslim Student Federation in the city of Ludhiana. They were shouting the slogans, “We will get PAKISTAN! Pakistan Zindabad!” To this, Pandit Nehru replied, “Come on, get Pakistan from my pocket!” Finally, when a young Muslim boy slapped him on the face, Pandit Nehru was saved by his companions from further injuries. Mind you, in those days, the leaders did not have fool-proof security as we see these days for current leaders. The Hindu students were always scared of the strength and stamina of the Muslim students; they dared not face them.
The idea was that Pakistan will not have civil and military manpower to help the newly created country of Pakistan. The Indian minister of interior, Mr. Patel, had boasted that Pakistan will not be able to survive as a Sovereign state and ultimately, it will become part of their So-called India (Akhand Bharat) again.
Background in relation to Ferozepur[edit]
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It was in the month of April in 1947, that the British Indian Government decided to announce a Partition Plan though the same was formally announced by the governor general and viceroy of British India Lord Mountbatten on 3, June 1947. The plan provided for the establishment of a Boundary Commission to demarcate the boundaries of the two parts of the United Punjab and the United Bengal.
The question of the boundary between West and East Punjab and between East and West Bengal was, in fact, the most contentious issue between Congress and the Muslim League. For the demarcation of the boundaries, Jinnah's first choice was to ask the United Nations to undertake the task. Nehru objected to this on the ground that UN procedure would result in unacceptable delay. Jinnah then proposed that the boundary commission to consist of three Law Lords (members of House of Lords). But it was found that the members would be too old to withstand the heat of Indian summer.
Mountbatten proposed that Sir Cyril Radcliffe be appointed to head both the Boundary Commissions for Punjab and Bengal. It has not been possible to determine how and why Radcliffe was selected. Radcliffe was educated at Eaton and Oxford, became a leading barrister in England and had worked with Mountbatten before and since he had never been to British India, he was considered to be unbiased. Both Nehru and Jinnah agreed to the appointment which was formally approved by the Partition Council. At the time of his appointment, Radcliffe was Vice-President of London BAR Association. Pakistan nominated Justice Din Muhammad and Justice Muhammad Munir as members of Punjab Boundary Commission while India nominated Justice Mehr Chand Mahajan and Justice Teja Singh. The Bengal Boundary Commission consisted of Justice Abu Saleh Akram, Justice SA Rehman (Pakistan nominees), Justice CC Biswas and Justice BK Mukherji (Indian nominees). All the nominees were high court judges. Both the boundary commissions were constituted before the arrival of Radcliffe on the 8th, July 1947. Christopher Beaumont, ICS was appointed Radcliffe's private secretary. Beaumont had joined the India Civil Service in 1933 and was serving as a district officer in Punjab.
The boundary commissions held public sittings in which lawyers on behalf of the Congress, the Muslim League, the Sikhs and other interested parties presented their cases. It is significant to record that Radcliffe did not preside over the public sittings, but only studied the records of the proceedings. As both the commissions did not reach an agreement, Radcliffe alone gave the awards, demarcating the boundaries of Punjab, Bengal and Sylhet District. Radcliffe made his awards for Bengal and Punjab on August 12 and for Sylhet on August 13. Mountbatten, however, did not release the Awards till the afternoon of August 16, 1947. Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah's comments on the Radcliffe Award were: "We have been squeezed in as much as it was possible." The most significant objections regarding the Radcliffe Award were that the tehsils of Ferozepur and Zira in Ferozepur districts, Nakodar and Jalandhar in Jalandhar district, Ajnala in Amritsar district and Gurdaspur and Batala in Gurdaspur district had Muslim majority and were almost contiguous to West Punjab, yet they were given to East Punjab or the Indian Punjab. The whole of the Muslim majority district of Murshidabad and the greater part of Muslim majority district of Nadia, which were contiguous to East Bengal, were awarded to West Bengal in India.
The documents and information now available show:
- Sir Cyril Radcliffe admitted that he showed the original draft of the proposed Award to the authorities in Delhi and that, on further consideration, he made the Award in terms which departed from the first draft.
- This point was confirmed by Chaudhry Muhammad Ali (later Prime Minister of Pakistan) who states that on 9 August he saw a map in Mountbatten's chief of staff Lord Ismay's room showing the boundary of West Punjab as given in the Award on 16, August.
- Sir Francis Mudie, ICS the first Governor of West Punjab (Pakistan) found a map received from the Viceroy's private secretary on August 8, showing the Ferozepur and Zira tehsils in West Punjab (Pakistan), but in the Award they went to East Punjab (India).
- Christopher Beaumont, the private secretary of Radcliffe confirmed that frontiers had been secretly redrawn to Pakistan's disadvantage.
- Prime Minister Attlee had asked the Secretary of State for Commonwealth, Noel-Baker to look into the allegation by Sir Zafrulla Khan ICS, foreign minister of Pakistan, who had denounced the alterations in the Radcliffe Award in the Security Council. In the report to PM Sir Clement Attlee it was stated that Sir Radcliffe admitted that he had shown the Award to authorities in Delhi (Lord Ismay and Lord Mountbatten) and thereafter it was changed and the revelations by Christopher Beaumont, the private secretary of Radcliffe, conclusively prove the same.
Sir Radcliffe left India on August 14, 1947, to never return to the Imperial land he divided. It is said that he had been forewarned by an astrologer that he would be brutally killed if he ever visited either India or the Pakistan's. He died in July 1978 in England.
To the Bharatis credit for saving the precious territory goes to the then Indian leaders, especially Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru whose sagacity and wisdom-through which they convinced Lord Mountbatten about Republic of India's illegitimate claims-which a grateful nation of nations and generations of Indians would be grateful to remember with it as their pride.
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