Indian and Pakistan - 60 years of independence

The independence of India 60 years ago today saw a country previously ruled by Britain handed back to Indian citizens.

India was declared independent and another country, Pakistan, was born.

Reporter Nafeesa Shan explores the memories of those who were at the forefront of the fight for independence - and 60 years on they are as prominent now as they were then.

BEFORE 1947 India and its people had been ruled by Britain for nearly 200 years.

The British Raj is widely believed to have begun in 1757, when the British army defeated the Nawab, or king, of Bengal at the Battle of Plassey.

British rulers were met with revolution after revolution from Indian people in their bid to be free once again.

In 1857 for example, there was an uprising in northern and central India against British rule, although quashed within a year the consequences were felt for decades between Indian soldiers and their British officers.

But it wasn't until one man, Mahatma Ghandi, a British educated lawyer, inspired and led a movement for Britain to Quit India' that independence returned.

Unlike previous unsuccessful revolutions, Ghandi used his legal expertise and reconquered India from 1942 through a process of Civil Disobedience - an active refusal to obey laws, demands and commands of an occupying power without resorting to physical violence.

World War Two broke out and a new Labour Government Prime Minister Clement Attlee was appointed in 1945.

He announced to decolonisation of India two years later and India was declared it free on August 15, 1947.

The transition was difficult for the Indian people and many thousands were killed, mainly due to the chaos and anger caused by the creation of a Muslim state, Pakistan, which officially divided religions in the country.

South Asian people living in East Lancashire today remember being involved in the turmoil and living in India before and as soon as independence was granted.

Madhusudan Dave, 79, of Billlinge Avenue, Blackburn, was 19-year-old a college student living in Ahmadabad in 1947 and was involved in anti-British demonstrations as a teenager.

He said: "I joined thousands to demonstrate against British occupation.

"British soldiers beat me and others.

"Gandhi wanted a non violent protest and so I couldn't fight back, I had to accept.

"My beating made me stronger and more determined to get an independent India."

"I did want to fight back but that would have gone against what Gandhi taught us all.

"We were told by Gandhi when he left to go on his protest marches, that he would return with a free India.

"But when he did we said - We are free but now divided.' "I did not agree with the partition but like others I rejoiced at the independence we gained from the British.

"I went to the Hindu temple to thank God.

"But I wanted it without partition. We are stronger as one nation."

"Before the partition, I remember we used to all eat, live and celebrate as one but that feeling has gone.

"We should never ever forget the principles of Gandhi."

Abdul Piracha, 81, of Queens Park Close, Blackburn was 21 years old when news of partition broke.

He said: "During the months of July and August my assignment was to go to Bombay and find out what was going on at grassroots level in the city. "However as the situation deteriorated my close friend, a Hindu, told me to leave the city for my own safety.

"I was warned against the Bombay to Lahore train because very few people were surviving.

"Travelling, we saw a lot of dead bodies on the road and in the canal.

"It wasn't safe to travel at night and we couldn't sleep because we were so scared."

"My parents at the time were in what is now Pakistan.

"The journey back however was very dangerous.

"The train to Lahore was via Jodhpur to Hyderabad.

"There were many killings going on.

"So I put on my Gandhi cap and sat amongst the Hindus.

"On my way the train was stopped and I got asked if I was a Hindu? I simply pointed at my cap.

"Luckily I survived.

"The whole journey lasted two days.

"When the boundaries were finally approved it turned out my mum and sisters' children were in Gurdaspur, near Amritsar. I decided to go back and look for them.

"I found them and on the way back the convoy was stopped.

"Shooting started but luckily we survived.

"My feeling then was Muslims would not be free under a Hindu majority.

"Maybe with hindsight three independent states under the umbrella of India would have been better and would have avoided the violence."

Ali Ahmed, 87, of Cornholme, Burnley, joined the Navy in 1941 and served on the HMPS Godavari in missions across South East Asia until 1947.

"The Navy was made up of many different religions however on our ship there were mainly Muslims from certain areas of the Punjab.

"As the war intensified in 1943 more Hindus joined and we fought alongside each other.

"A week before the partition I was in Bombay which at the time as you can understand a volatile place with demonstrations occurring on a daily basis.

"I returned home days before Independence day.

"After 1947 I joined the border police for five years.

Faiz Ahmed, 86, of Sackville Street, Brierfield, said: " I remember life being much simpler.

"There were those of other religions who lived nearby and we all got on together.

"Our local shopkeeper was a Sikh.

"You must remember that we essentially had one culture and one language and had many things in common.

"Rumour it seemed was the greatest enemy.

"Once it was said the Sikhs were coming to our village.

"Groups gathered on the outskirts of the village.

"Nothing happened and no-one came.

Ahmed Din Ansari, 76, of Whalley Range, Blackburn, a volunteer in Malerkotla civic hospital,said: "In 1947 I was 16 and attending school.

"When word broke out that Muslims wanted their own separate country rioting broke out in India.

"This meant that all schools had to close. I lived in Malerkotla a Muslim Pathan state of Punjab.

"While the whole of India was in flames Malerkotla did not witness a single incidence of violence.

"As word spread of this fact all injured in the rioting would come to this Punjab state for treatment.

"I took on work in the civil hospital as a volunteer.

"There I bore witness to such carnage, scenes that I shall never forget.

"The family then left India for Lyallpur now known as Faisalabad, Pakistan."

Mohammed Din, 74, of Lancaster Place, Blackburn, said: "What people don't know is Lalamusa, where I lived at the time was predominantly made up of Hindus and Sikhs - almost 90%.

"As a teenager I saw both the good and bad in human kind.

"Some were willing to forgive whilst others were only interested in revenge.

"Rumours seemed to fuel the violence.

"Communication was bad - there was no electricity so groups used to gather on the outskirts of villages to discuss the ongoing events.

"One time after hearing that a train of Muslims from Amritsar had been stopped and the occupants slaughtered local Muslims took revenge on those "Hindus and Sikhs travelling in the opposite direction.

"A train stopped at Gujrat station and the occupants were killed.

"It was very sad.

Nasreen Anjum, 65, from Blackburn, said: "My mother was a nurse at the Railway Hospital Multan.

"We were living in an accommodation provided by railway.

"My aunt and her family came to stay with us.

"We used to sleep on the roof in summer nights and one night the dog was barking most of the time.

"Next morning Dr Rashid from Railway Hospital told us that he met some people who told him that they came to kill a Sikh family because they thought we were Sikh but the dog was barking and did not let them enter the house.

"Dr Rashid told them that we were Muslims from Mohra Shrif.

"My dad was coming home from Lahore. His porter at the station was an old man and by the time he arrived at the platform the train for Molten had left.

"My dad was very upset with the porter but later on he was told that everyone in that train was murder by rioters.

Charan Singh Bhamrah, 75, a member of the Blackburn with Darwen Interfaith council, of St Frances Close, Blackburn said: "There was great anti-British feeling around and during the time Mahatma Gandhi visited our region and thousands upon thousands gathered to catch a glimpse of him.

"It was truly a sight to behold.

"We were happy - the country finally belonged to us "I remember Ghandi was travelling third class and as the train stopped in our village he came out to say hello to everyone.

"It was a great moment. I will never forget it."

"The progress India has made is remarkable.

"There are better jobs, improved literacy rates and the overall standard of living has improved.

"Children from a young age today are taught that India and Pakistan are two very different countries where one is the enemy to the other, which is sad."

"There is no one like Gandhi left "There was one leader. Now there is no one to bring the two nations together."