India and Pakistan Partition 1947

1. India and Pakistan Partition1947 Simranjit Bal BhavneetKaur Language and Culture: India Group Project

2. History of partition of India 1947 • On August 15th 1947, India received its independence from the British rule. This followed an absurd tyrannical path, ending in two distinct countries, India and Pakistan. • The partition was a climax of persistent and organized violence in the name of Hindus and Muslims for several generations before 1947. • The partition led to massive bloodshed and extreme turmoil, which left both India and Pakistan devastated. • Muslims raped Hindu women, and Hindus raped Muslim women. Trains were filled with dead bodies. It was a gruesome time. People who treated each other like family were suddenly against each other • The Partition of India in 1947 is one of the largest episodes of the uprooting of people in modern history, as about twelve million refugees poured across the borders to regions completely foreign to them. • The Partition has remains the cause of much tension on Indian subcontinent today.

3. India was divided into India and Pakistan after India received independence from British rule.

4. Muslims had to move to Pakistan and Hindus had to move to India after India got its Independence from British rule

5. This is the migration of Muslims from India to Pakistan

6. There were many dead bodies of Hindus and Muslims found in trains. Muslims attacked the Hindus and Hindus attacked the Muslims.

7. the tension between India and Pakistan after partition • Many years have passed, yet the two nations are still trying to heal the wounds; many are still in search of an identity and a history left behind beyond an impenetrable boundary. • India has witnessed large-scale violence sparkled by underlying tensions between Hindu and Muslim communities. • The two countries have been to way twice since partition. • In recent times, the most violent events took place during the Gujarat riots in 2002, where an estimated one thousand Muslims were killed. Muslim communities in India have suffered a widespread communal violence.

8. Role of media • Media such as newspaper, textbooks, journals and films play a role in keeping the context of history alive. Such media is important as it is informative about the horrible violence that happened during the partition; thus the sympathy would prevent history to repeat itself. • Misconceptions also have been portrayed in media about Hindu-Muslim tension. • Facts are mixed with opinions and information becomes biased. • Misrepresentations lead to dangerous outcomes as it evokes more religious tension. • News channels and Bollywood films are such medias that lead to misconceptions. • Many news channels in India are very hostile towards Pakistan and show stories that would evoke people against the country. It also works the other way around, as Pakistan would find something to pick on against India.

9. 1947 partition in Bollywood films • Bollywood films is a beneficial source that speaks history to the audience, as well as a source of entertainment. • People pay more attention to films, especially the younger generation, as they would find watching a film more entertaining that reading a textbook on history. • The narration of the 1947 Partition is visualized through various stories within the context of families and provides a human dimension to the political process. • Bollywood films show excellent historical context, but sometime these films create misconceptions as they are biased towards Muslims and Pakistan.

10. Pinjar

11. Pinjar • Pinjar is a film by Chandra Prakash Dwiveda that tells the story of a Hindu girl, Puro. She lives a lovely life with a promising family, before all of it is taken away when a Muslim man, Rashid kidnaps her. There is much sympathy shown towards, Puro’s Hindu family, while Rashid’s Muslim family is shown as a cruel one. • The film also shows the effects of the partition. The partition is only showed one-sided, and the Muslims are shown as the ones killinng the Hindus and raping women. The misconception of the film is that Muslims are the bad people, whereas in reality, both India and Pakistan killed and looted families and raped women of the opposite side. • Other misconceptions about women are also shown in the film– that women in India cannot stand up for themselves. This is not trues as there have been many powerful women figures in the history of India.

12. EARTH 1947

13. EARTH 1947 • Earth 1947 is another movie about the partition of India and Pakistan. This movie shows the lifestyle in India before and after the partition. Everything changes when the British gives India its independence. Muslims, Hindus, and Sikhs are no longer getting along and they begin giving each other harsh remarks over religion. There are many horrific scenes in the movie. One for example is a scene in which a train is shown filled with dead Muslim people. Another scene is when the arms and legs of a Hindu man are tied to two cars and pulled in opposite directions . This movie did a great job showing the environment at that time and the events that took place. • One of the biggest misconceptions in this film was that it was bias against the Muslims. There were more scenes with Muslims attacking the Hindus, than the Hindus attacking the Muslims. Even in the end a Hindu girl, Shanta, was dragged out of her house by a Muslim mob and never seen again. Muslims and Hindus were equally at fault so the film should not have been one-sided.

14. The movies Pinjar and Earth 1947 were bias against the Muslims. Most scenes included the Muslims attacking the Hindus. Both films should not have been one-sided. There should have been equal parts of violence done by both Muslims and Hindus. The films made the Muslims look like the people that instigated the whole thing and that is not true.

15. Conclusion • Media plays a tremendous role on how Pakistan and India view each other today. • Media can be both beneficial and harmful. India and Pakistan has come a long way, and media is one source that can be beneficial in diminishing the tensions that exist between the two countries. • It is important for media not to say something biased or against the other country, as it can evoke dangerous outcomes.