Find How Assets Were Divided In 1947 Partition
After ruling India for three hundred years , the British finally left, and then the subcontinent was partitioned into two independent nation states: Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan. And then begin the tale of partition. But the one question that raises in all minds is that on what basic the partition was done and how Things Were Divided .According to the book Freedom at midnight by Larry Collins and Dominique LaPierre the division of assets happened like …..
#Fight for the trombone The Police Superintendent in Lahore divided everything equally between a Hindu deputy and a Muslim deputy – leggings, turbans, lathis, rifles etc. The last items were the instruments of the police band. These were split up too – a flute for Pakistan, a drum for India, a trumpet for Pakistan, cymbals for India, till there was only 1 item left – a trombone. Before his eyes, the deputies, who had been comrades for years and devoted to each other, got into a fist fight to gain the trombone for his country.
# The division of books Sets of the Encyclopedia Britannica in the Punjab Government library were religiously divided, alternate volumes going to each dominion. Dictionaries were ripped apart, A-K going to India while the rest went to Pakistan. Where only 1 copy was available for any book, librarians were supposed to allot that book based on which country had a greater interest in it. As a result, librarians actually came to blows over which country had a greater interest in Alice in Wonderland or Wuthering Heights.
# Wine cellars ;its mineWine cellars would stay with India, as Pakistan would be an Islamic state where alcohol was haraam. However, Pakistan was to be monetarily compensated for its share of the value of the wine.
# Only printing press There was only one government press that printed currency notes and India refused to hand that over. So Pakistan began its existence with Indian currency notes rubber stamped “Pakistan” over “India”.
#The last item left ceremonial hornThe Viceroy of India had 2 sets of Royal carriages, one set trimmed in gold, the other with silver. Who would get which set was decided by Mountbattens Aide-de-camp by the toss of a coin, with India getting the gold trimmed set. After the harnesses, whips, spurs, uniforms etc were divided, the only item left was a ceremonial horn, used on special occasions. Splitting that into two would have made it useless, and giving it to any one dominion would have caused a fight. In the end, the ADC took it for himself as a souvenir.