Borders And Boundaries Women In Indias Partition History Essay

Borders And Boundaries Women In Indias Partition History Essay There has been immense regional conflict in the regions of India and Pakistan which has affected the population over time in a great way. One of the many events includes the Women’s partition in August of 1947. The concurrent independence of a secular India and creation of the Islamic state of Pakistan created an outbreak of violence along the border areas as Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims fled towards either Pakistan or India. In the process, more than eight million people abandoned their homes and nearly one million died.  Women  were widowed, abducted and murdered. The Novel Borders and boundaries: Women in India’s partition written by Menon,R. and Bhasin, K does an excellent job in describing the events that occurred by showing the perspective of two groups of women. In order to better understand the struggle faced by the women in India during the partition it is first best to understand the historical context of the region and the cause of the partition. The partit ion of India is considered to be on of the greatest tragedies in history. The partition resulted in the division of both the Hindus and the Muslims who had resided together for hundreds of years. This led to immense territorial conflict such as boundary disputes, three wars between both India and Pakistan, a nuclear arms race, and cross border terrorism. Ever since the partition of the Indian subcontinent by the British in 1947, India and Pakistan have been bitter rivals and the Kashmir conflict remains unresolved. During five decades, they have fought four wars. Three of those wars were over the disputed region of Kashmir (including the region of Jammu), which is divided by the â€Å"Line of Control†. â€Å"In 1947-1948, almost immediately after Independence, they fought a long and intense battle over the formerly independent state if Jammu and Kashmir; in 1965 they fought another war over the same piece of land; in 1971 the two engaged during the civil war that severed Eas t Pakistan into the budding state of Bangladesh; and in 1999 they fought once more in the mountains of Kashmir (Trehan209). In addition to these actual wars, twice during the past fifty years the two countries have endured crises that brought them close to war† (Ganguly 2). The effect of the partition was deep rooted and raised many questions and issues. One of the most significant issues was the issue of refugees which resulted in the most painful way for both Pakistan and India. The city of Delhi received the most number of refugees and overall 35000 refugees landed up in the northern parts of India including areas such as Panipat and Kuruhkshetra which were used in camps. Workers who were involved in the recovery programmes. Thousands of women, both Hindu and Muslim, were abducted by men of the other community during the communal riots is common knowledge. That the states of India and Pakistan intervened to recovery total of over 30,000 abducted women from each otherâ€℠¢s territories until 1957 by virtue of the Inter-Dominion Agreement of 1947, and later the Abducted Persons Recovery and Restoration Act 1949, is less well-known. Why these states did so, and what this experience meant for the recovered women, has not been subject to historical analysis until recently. This collective amnesia is no coincidence. It has its roots in the Thus the partition of India, is looked upon as one the most devastating events in both India and Pakistan. The partition affected both the physical location and the psychology of the people. The partition affected the population as a whole in an immense way but it particularly affected women of the specific region. The novel Borders and Boundaries: Women in India’s partition sets up a great framework to describe the brutality and struggle endured by women of this time.