In 1946 the British agreed a date for their withdrawal from India and the transfer of power. From as early as 1930 the All India Muslim League had been campaigning for the establishment of a separate Muslim state. Many, including Mohandas (Mahatma) Ghandi, opposed partition. However, after protracted negotiations between the Indian political parties and the British, it was agreed that the two states would simultaneously come into existence upon independence. Rulers of the regional principalities had to choose to which country they would cede their land.

India was partitioned on 14th August 1947, the day before independence. The partition was roughly on religious grounds – the population of India was predominantly Hindu and that of Pakistan mostly Muslim. It is estimated that over ten million people were displaced and up to one million died in the communal violence that erupted between Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims as populations struggled to leave areas where they were not in the religious majority.

Partition did not take history into account. Much of the region’s great Islamic architecture falls within the borders of India and the archaeological sites which prove India’s great antiquity are mostly in Pakistan. Moreover, ‘India’ historically refers to the areas around the River Indus, which are now mostly located in Pakistan.