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Borders and bloodshed: The making of India and Pakistan
Jawaharlal Nehru (left) and Mahatma Gandhi (right) deep in conversation in Bombay, now Mumbai, India, in August 1942.
India had been under the rule of the British since 1858, but had been agitating for self-governance for years. The country finally gained independence in August 1947. Nehru was a prominent Indian politician who became independent India's first prime minister. Nehru was a close friend of Gandhi, whose non-violent movement was fundamental to India's attainment of independence.
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Leading members of the Indian National Congress: Gandhi (left), prominent nationalist leader Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose (center right) and independent India's first Deputy Prime Minister Vallabhai Patel (right) during a meeting on March 2, 1938 in Haripura, India.
Founded in 1885, the Indian National Congress is a political party that campaigned for the country's independence from Britain.
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Shown in an undated photo, Kasturba Gandhi was the wife of Mahatma Gandhi.
Along with many other prominent women of these times, she fought for India's independence from the British.
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Indian women volunteers carry flags and parade through the streets of Madras, south India, protesting for the country's self-governance on November 6, 1945.
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Leader of the Muslim League, Muhammad Ali Jinnah (center), holds a press conference in Mumbai, India, in July 1946.
The Muslim League formed in 1906 to look after the interests of India's minority Muslim community. Jinnah demanded the creation of a separate Muslim nation called Pakistan by the time Britain handed over its power.
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Leading female members of the Muslim League attend a meeting on plans for India's independence in May 1946.
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Armed rioters walk through the streets of Calcutta, now known as Kolkata, in August, 1946.
Communal violence between Hindus and Muslims broke out during Direct Action Day, called by the Muslim League as a day of strikes, although it was open to different interpretations. The violence lasted for days and it is estimated that at least 4,000 died in Kolkata.
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Vultures feed on corpses lying abandoned in an alleyway after the rioting between Hindus and Muslims in Kolkata in 1946.
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Burnt-out shops line a street after the Hindu-Muslim rioting in Kolkata on August 28, 1946.
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A nurse with two children who were rescued and taken to a hospital during communal unrest in Amritsar, Punjab, north India, in March 1947.
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Afghan traders leave Amritsar, Punjab, in the north of India with all their belongings after communal violence broke out between Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus in March 1947.
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Nehru (left), Lord Louis Mountbatten (center), Mountbatten's chief of staff Lord Ismay (center left) and Jinnah (right) negotiate the division of India in the capital of New Delhi in June 1947.
In March 1947, Mountbatten became the viceroy of India, responsible for overseeing the handover of power from Britain back to its colony.
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Nehru, then-vice president of the Indian National Congress party, presents the national flag of the nation during a meeting of the constituent assembly in July 1947.
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Nehru delivers his famous "Tryst with Destiny" speech and declares India's independence in the Constituent Assembly in New Delhi just before midnight on August 15, 1947.
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The first Indian Independence Day celebrations are held in Mumbai on August 15, 1947.
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Jinnah is sworn in as the first Governor-General of the new Muslim nation of Pakistan at Government House in Karachi, Pakistan, on August 17, 1947.
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Hundreds of Muslim refugees crowd on top of a train leaving New Delhi for Pakistan in September 1947.
Partition led to millions being forced to migrate across the subcontinent. It's estimated that 500,000 - 1 million men, women and children perished in partition, although this figure varies.
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During intense rioting, a soldier sits with a Bren light machine gun at the entrance to Paharganj bazaar, New Delhi, on September 16, 1947.
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Gandhi (center) visits Muslim refugees as they prepare to depart for Pakistan at Purana Qila fort, New Delhi, on September 22, 1947.
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Hindu and Sikh women arrive in Mumbai with their children on a British-India liner after flying from Pakistan on October 9, 1947.
Women were the victims of brutal violence during partition. It is estimated that 75,000 women were abducted and raped.
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Nehru and Liaquat Ali Khan, Pakistan's first Prime Minister, sign an agreement between India and Pakistan confirming minority and refugee rights in April, 1950 in New Delhi.
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Then-Pakistani President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (center) shakes hands with then-Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi (left). Gandhi succeeded her late father, Nehru, who passed away on May 27, 1964. Bhutto's daughter, Benazir (second right), and former Indian Foreign Minister Swaran Singh (right) look on in Shimla, a city in the Himalayan foothills of India on June, 28, 1972.
The visit took place after a war broke out between the two nations in 1971, that led to the creation of Bangladesh, formerly known as East Pakistan. Bhutto visited India to meet Gandhi and negotiated a formal peace agreement. The two leaders signed the Shimla Agreement, which committed both nations to establish a Line of Control in Kashmir and obligated them to resolve disputes peacefully through bilateral talks. Three more wars later, the last fought in 1999, peace is yet to be established.
