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Revision as of 11:07, 10 October 2005 by Jpbowen (talk | contribs) (Tidying, added links and categories)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)The border line between newly created India and Pakistan in 1947 was called as the Radcliffe Line. It was roughly based on the proposals of Lord Wavell and was drawn by Viscount Cyril Radcliffe. Radcliffe had never visited India and didn't know anybody in India before his arrival. Thus, because of his unbiased views, he was considered one of the best people to do the job.
There were a few disputes regarding the Radcliffe Line, the two major ones being Chittagong Hill Tracts and Gurdaspur District. Chittagong Hill Tracts had a higher non-Muslim population, but was given to Pakistan while Gurdaspur, with a Muslim majority was given to India. The rational of giving Chittagong Hill Tracts to Pakistan was to provide some buffer to Chittagong (in Bangladesh) a major city and port. In the initial proposal of Radcliffe, Gurdaspur District was to be in Pakistan, but it was changed later at the request of Lord Mountbatten. The reasons mentioned were that, if the kingdom of Kashmir wanted to integrate with the Indian Union, it would be inaccessible to India. At the same time it would provide buffer to the Sikh holy city of Amritsar which otherwise would be surrounded by Muslim territory.
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