
Partition Observed
British Official Reports from South Asia -- 14 August to 31 December 1947
Lionel Carter(Author)
Manohar Publishers and Distributors
Published on 1. December 2011
Book
Hardback
992 pages
978-81-7304-921-7 (ISBN)
Description
These volumes reprint the accounts sent by British diplomats to London on the evolving situation in South Asia following Partition. U.K. diplomats were well placed to report on developments because of close links with Mountbatten's staff and also because many senior administrators and army officers in the new governments were either British nationals or had been former colleagues of the diplomats in pre-Partition India. Included here are accounts of Indian and Pakistan Cabinet meetings as well as of the proceedings of the Indian Cabinet's Emergency Committee set up in the wake of the Delhi disturbances of September 1947. Reports forwarded from the Deputy High Commissioners in Lahore and Peshawar include striking descriptions of the communal and refugee situation in those places. Of particular interest are the notes of discussions with Mountbatten, Jinnah, Nehru, Liaqat Ali Khan, Vallabhbhai Patel, Suhrawardy, Rajagopalachariar, Mrs Sarojini Naidu and other Governors and high officials. The last months of 1947 came to be dominated by events in Kashmir. The documents reproduced contain important background material on the insurgency and fighting including extracts from reports sent by diplomats in Afghanistan.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New Delhi
India
Dimensions
Height: 145 mm
Width: 225 mm
Weight
1565 gr
ISBN-13
978-81-7304-921-7 (9788173049217)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
For more than ten years, Lionel Carter was a member of the team which produced the British Government's series of Documents on the Transfer of Power to India, 1942-47. From 1980 until 1999, Carter served as Secretary and Librarian of the Centre of South Asian Studies at the University of Cambridge.
Content
Volume I: Editors Introduction; Abbreviations; Glossary; Principal Holders of Office, 1939; Notes on the Commonwealth Secretaries and Key British Government Officials; Summaries of Documents; Maps: (1) On the Partition of Punjab; (2) North-West Frontier Province and Kashmir; 1. Joy and despair; Punjab in Turmoil: Documents for 14 August-8 September 1947; 2. The tragedy deepens; crisis in Delhi; Pakistan appeals to the Commonwealth; Nehrus Rejoinder: Documents for 9-23 September 1947; 3. Little let-up in the communal situation; India-Pakistan relations further deteriorate: Documents for 24-30 September 1947; 4. Communal and refugee situation remains tense; storm clouds gather over India-Pakistan relations: Documents for 1-15 October 1947. Volume II: 5. Communal situation eases but Kashmir dispute begins: Documents for 16-31 October 1947; 6. Kashmir takes center stage: Documents for 1-15 November 1947; 7. Attitudes harden but the leaders finally meet: Documents for 16-30 November 1947; 8. A moment of optimism that does not last: Documents for 1-15 December 1947; 9. The year ends badly with fears of an escalation of the Kashmir fighting: Documents for 16-31 December 1947; Appendices; Index.