[Update: Several new items continue to be added below. Comments welcome...]
Happy birthday, independent India and Pakistan! [the tiny Reuters photo on the left is by Amit Dave - see the caption and full photo here.]
August 14-15 marks 60 years since the British left their former colony of India, leaving behind two free nations (eventually becoming three when East Pakistan became Bangladesh in 1971) and one of the most horrific bloodbaths in history.
We are collecting web links to various stories from around the world about the anniversary, so please post them below or e-mail saja[at]columbia.edu. Your analysis of the coverage is also welcome.
First, some history: Stories from 1947
- NYT: Front page story on Aug. 15, 1947 by Robert Trumbull (see replica of front page below)
Other NYT stories that ran in 1947 - Time: India: Liberty & Death - Oct. 12, 1947 (see replica of cover below)
- SAJAforum collection of South Asian magazine covers includes several from 1947 - just click back in time on the slideshow
Also see SAJA collection of historic front page stories
(other links welcome!)
Coverage from 1997, the 50th anniversary
- CNN: India & Pakistan: 50 Years of Independence (big package)
- Time: Special package of stories
The Price of Freedom: 50 Years Later, the Scars of Division Remain
Mahatma's Miracle: How Gandhi spent Aug. 15, 1947
Land of Plenty: Salman Rushdie Finds Reason to Celebrate - Hurrying Midnight by Larry Collins & Dominique Lapierre
also see a Time review of the authors' "Freedom at Midnight," from 1975 - PBS Newshour: Pakistan Celebrates (transcript of news story)
India Turns 50 (David Gergen interviews Shashi Tharoor) - Harappa.com: 50 years of India, Pakistan & Sri Lanka movies/newsreels
Coverage from 2007
- Time International's cover story & several stories: India Charges Ahead (ran last week in Asia, Europe; did not run in US edition, which had a Katrina package)
- Forbes package includes several stories, op-eds (by Amartya Sen and others), even a video
- Financial Times: several reports and features, including a slideshow
- The Guardian: several stories on India & Pakistan
- BBC: several stories linked at Partition: A Quick Guide
Stories:
- SAJAforum: Posting about The Observer on Coopers Camp, the refugees at the easter border of India by Dan McDougall
- VOA: Pain of Partition Lingers by Steve Herman (audio & text)
- NPR: India, Pakistan Mark 60 Years of Independence (audio)
- From Guns to Cereal, Military Dominates Pakistan (audio & text)
- Yahoo: Pakistan Marks Independence Day
- Forbes: At 60: Pakistan's Potential & Pakistan's Conundrums by Ruth David
- Reuters: India, Born in Violence, Celebrates Miraculous Survival by Simon Denyer
- Reuters: Pakistan Celebrates, Warns of Meddling by Augustine Anthony
- The Journal News (NY): Rockland's India Independence Day Festivities by Amisha Padnani
- Asbury Park Press: India-Pak Enmity Evaporates in Melting Pot by Shruti L. Mathur
Opinion, editorials, etc:
- Slate: The Parallels Between India '47 and Iraq '07 by Fred Kaplan
- The New Yorker: Exit Wounds: The Legacy of Partition - review of "Indian Summer" by Alex Von Tunzelmann, reviewed by Pankaj Mishra
- The Economist: The Unruly End of Empire - review of "The Great Partition" by Yasmin Khan
- Indivual-Land: Pakistan at Sixty
- IHT: Pakistan's First Three Generations by Mohsin Hamid
- SAJAforum: Essay on the anniversary by Ambreen Ali
- IHT: India's democratic Path by Salil Tripathi
- Dorf on Law: Now we are Six(ty) by Prof. Anil Kalhan of Fordham Law
- BBC: Have Your Say - What is the Legacy of Partition?
- Daily Candy: Indian Summer
- Wild River Review: In A State of Partition (a novel excerpt) by Aneesha Capur
- Boston Globe: The Pakistan Problem by H.D.S. Greenway
- CFR.org: India & Pakistan at 50 by Lee Hudson Teslik
- NYT: India's Internal Partition by Ramachandra Guha
- After 60 Years, Will Pakistan Be Reborn? by Mohsin Hamid
- The Guardian: The "Poor" Neighbour by William Dalrymple
- Every one of is a minority by Shashi Tharoor
- Baltimore Sun: India Beat the Odds to Achieve Democracy by Shashi Tharoor
- Time: The India Advantage by Ishaan Tharoor
- Forbes: India and the United States by Mira Kamdar (see her new blog)
- India @ 60 by Amartya Sen
- India's 40 Richest
- NPR: Media emboldened under Musharraf by Fasi Zaka
Please post your links and comments below!
Some old covers & front pages below. First, Time magazine on Partition: Oct. 12, 1947 (read text).
Second, NYT front page on Aug. 15, 1947 (read text).
Also see: SAJAforum collection of South Asian magazine covers includes several from 1947 - just click back in time on the slideshow
