News India Live, Digital Desk: Radcliff Line: The international border drawn between India and Pakistan is called the ‘Radcliffe Line’. This limit was determined by British officer Cyril Radcliffe. Historically it is called a border made by haste and poor plans, which affected the lives of millions of people and became the root of many wars between India and Pakistan, with the most prominent Kashmir issue.
Who was Cyril Redcliff?
Cyril John Radcliffe was a British advocate, born in 1899. He studied Philosophy and ancient history from Oxford. The British government selected him to determine the border between India and Pakistan, because they were considered politically neutral. However, Britain was in heavy debt after World War II and was in a hurry to leave India.
Was Redcliff worthy?
Redcliff was a specialist in legal matters, but he had no experience to deal with geographical and demographic problems. He also did not have knowledge of Cartography. He used older data of British rule census for border determination, which was not fully capable of understanding religious, ethnic and cultural diversity.
How to draw the Redcliff Line?
Radcliffe used the census data and the suggestions of the commissions based on the advice of local leaders. His tenure was only five weeks, in which he was to divide a population of 1,75,000 square miles and about 8.8 million people. He drew the boundary line on the basis of geographical characteristics such as hills, rivers and natural boundaries, based on the majority population district -wise.
Hurry results
The hasty assessment of the Redcliff Line forced millions of people to leave their homes. This led to mass migration, mass murders, starvation and partition riots, in which millions of people lost their lives.
Radcliffe regrets
The disastrous consequences after the partition affected Radcliffe mentally. He refused to take an amount of 40 thousand rupees for his work and burnt documents related to it. He was deeply regretted at this hasty decision throughout his life.
Kashmir LoC: India-Pakistan tension at the peak after Pahalgam attack, know the story of becoming Loc
