Pakistan celebrated its independence on 14 August 1947 as British rule over the Indian subcontinent came to an end. The new country was created through the partition of British India during the final weeks of Britain’s withdrawal.

After the Second World War, Clement Attlee’s Labour government accepted that British rule in India would end. The main Indian political parties remained divided over what independence should produce. The Indian National Congress favoured a united India, while Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s Muslim League demanded a separate state for Muslims.

In February 1947, Britain announced it would transfer power by June 1948. Lord Mountbatten, the last Viceroy, brought the timetable forward. On 3 June, plans were announced for power to pass to two governments, India and Pakistan.

The British Parliament passed the Indian Independence Act in July. Pakistan was created from Muslim-majority areas in the north-west and north-east of British India. The two parts of the new country were separated by more than a thousand miles of Indian territory. The eastern section later became Bangladesh.

Partition required dividing Punjab and Bengal. Boundary commissions chaired by the British lawyer Cyril Radcliffe were given only weeks to decide where the new borders should run.

Pakistan reached independence with Jinnah as Governor-General and Liaquat Ali Khan as Prime Minister. Yet the final boundaries had not been made public.

The boundary awards were announced on 17 August, two days after India’s independence and three days after Pakistan’s celebrations. People in affected areas had entered independence without knowing for certain whether their homes would be in India or Pakistan.

The consequences were severe. Hindus and Sikhs moved towards India while Muslims moved towards Pakistan. More than 15 million people are thought to have crossed the new borders during the following months. Communal violence accompanied the movement, particularly in Punjab, and large numbers were killed.

The British withdrawal had produced two independent states. The lines separating them were published only after independence had begun.