The Indian
Independence Act 15 July 1947 of the Parliament of the United Kingdom
partitioned British India into the two new independent dominions of India and
Pakistan.
The Prime
Minister of the United Kingdom, Clement Attlee, announced on 20 February 1947
that:
1. British
Government would grant full self-government to British India by June 1948 at
the latest,
2. The
future of Princely States would be decided after the date of the final transfer is
decided.
The Act
received the royal assent on 18 July 1947, Pakistan and India came into being
on August 15, as two new countries.
The
legislation was formulated by the government of Prime Minister Clement Attlee,
after representatives of the Indian National Congress, the Muslim League, and
the Sikh community came to an agreement with the Viceroy of India, Lord
Mountbatten of Burma, on what has come to be known as the 3 June 1947 Plan or
Mountbatten Plan.
British
India had 17 provinces and 565 princely states. Upon the Partition of British
India into the Dominion of India and Dominion of Pakistan according to the
Indian Independence Act 1947, 11 provinces; 1. Ajmer-Merwara-Kekri 2. Andaman
and Nicobar Islands 3. Bihar 4. Bombay 5. Central Provinces and Berar 6. Coorg
7. Delhi 8. Madras 9. Panth-Piploda 10. Orissa 11. United Provinces were
included in India, 3 provinces; 1. Baluchistan 2. North-West Frontier 3. Sindh
was included in Pakistan on 15 August 1947, and 3 provinces; 1. Punjab 2.
Bengal 3. Assam was partitioned between India and Pakistan on 17 August1947.
On 4 June
1947, Viceroy of British India, Lord Mountbatten held a press conference in
which he addressed the question of the princely states, of which there was then
a total of 565. The treaty relations between Britain and the Indian States
would come to an end, and on 15 August 1947, the suzerainty of the British
Crown was to lapse. Consequently, the princely states would assume independent
status. They would be free to choose to accede to one or the other of the new
dominions.
Out of 565
princely states of British India, 550 joined India and 11 states; Amb, Chitral,
Dir, Phulra, Swat, Bahawalpur, Khairpur, Kalat, Kharan, Lasbela, Makran, signed
an instrument of accession to join Pakistan.
The states
of Junagadh, Manavadar, and Hyderabad, with majority Hindu populations but with
Muslim rulers were annexed to India after military actions by Indian Army soon
after Lord Mountbatten left India in 1948.
The state
of Jammu and Kashmir, which was expected to accede to Pakistan on account of
it's 77% Muslim majority and its cultural and commercial links to West Punjab
(Pakistan), but whose Hindu ruler chose to accede to India, became a disputed
territory.
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