India and Pakistan become independent

After more than a century, British colonial rule over the Indian sub-continent comes to an end: On 15 August 1947 British Prime Minister Clement R. Attlee announces the independence and the  – controversial – division of India into the secular nation of India and the Islamic nation of Pakistan. Consequently ca. four million Muslims flee in the direction of Pakistan, while ca. seven million Hindus and Sikhs start moving in endless columns toward India. Up to 750,000 people lose their lives either from acts of violence or because of the stresses of the journey. In the following years both young nations become involved in several wars over border disputes in Kashmir which lead to millions of deaths.

Source: rakshak Indian patrol crossing the Baramula-Uri road in Kashmir, which is of high strategic value, 1948