Why do Pakistan and India celebrate Independence Day one day apart?
At midnight on August 14, 1947, the Indian Independence Act came into being, effectively ending 200 years of British colonialism and splitting the country into India and Pakistan . “As from the fifteenth day of August, nineteen hundred and forty-seven, two independent Dominions shall be set up in India, to be known respectively as India and Pakistan,” the Act states. But why does Pakistan…
On August 14, 1947, the Indian Independence Act officially came into effect, dividing the country into India and Pakistan. However, Pakistan observes its Independence Day on August 14, one day prior to India. This discrepancy was due to the schedule of Lord Louis Mountbatten, the final viceroy of British India. Lord Mountbatten opted to celebrate India's independence at midnight on August 14, making it impossible for him to attend both events simultaneously.
He therefore advanced his visit to Karachi, where he transferred power to Pakistan's founding father, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, on the same day. In India, Jawaharlal Nehru delivered his famous Tryst with Destiny speech at midnight, marking the dawn of a new independent nation. The partition of India that year led to significant violence and millions of migrations based on religion, fostering deep-seated animosity and distrust between the two nations that persists to this day.
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