035. Partition Of Punjab in 1947

There are some events in history that always have fascinated me. One of them is the independence and partition of India in 1947. Besides two world wars, it can be counted among the most important events of the twentieth century. This event gave independence to India and eventually three independent countries emerged.

Independence of India was not a simple affair, because it also involved partition of the country. When it came to partition it was actually the partition of two provinces Bengal and Punjab. I first developed my interest in this subject in late 1980s when I was in school and studied in the books of social studies and Pakistan studies about this issue. It was claimed that during the partition in 1947, the last viceroy Mountbatten conspired against Pakistan and influenced Radcliffe to award an unfair decision against Pakistan. But there were no details that exactly how much area according to this claim, was awarded to India unfairly. In the coming years I tried to find the answers but that proved to be a difficult task. First of all there were no maps to be found, and there was no census data as well. However, I kept on searching for more than two decades and finally found most of the pieces of this jigsaw puzzle.

My aim is not to stir a controversy or to forward a claim on any "lost" territory. It is just an academic exercise of a student of history. That is why I have tried to stick to just facts, whether census figures or geographical. I do not claim that these are perfect maps, by a trained cartographer. I made them with the help of dozens of maps I found on internet and books, with the simple tools of MS Paint. But they give a reasonably fair idea and picture of the demographics of Punjab in 1947. All the readers are most welcome to point out inaccuracies or suggest improvements.

Before moving to my subject I would like to give a historical background of the modern political boundaries of Punjab. After the disintegration of the Mughal Empire, Sikh power rapidly rose in central and eastern Punjab in late 1750s. By 1763 they even captured Lahore the capital and the most important city of Punjab. For the next four decades chaos reigned supreme as the whole province became divided among dozens of petty Sikh and Muslim warlords and chieftains. Out of this situation Ranjit Singh of Gujranwala rose rapidly and captured Lahore in 1799. And by the time he died in 1839, he had conquered the whole of Punjab west of Sutlej River, which included the Bist Doab, all of present day Pakistani Punjab (except Bahawalpur division), most of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the Kashmir valley. 

The above map show the boundaries of the State of Maharaja Ranjit Singh in dark and light green colours. The areas marked with dark green lie in Pakistan, while areas in light green lie in present day India. 

At the death of Maharaja Ranjit Singh the Sikh state of Punjab became politically unstable. The British were as usual waiting for such an opportunity and after many hard fought battles in two wars, finally conquered Punjab in 1849, the last independent state in India.From 1849 onward Punjab became a province of British India. In 1857 a mutiny break out in native regiments of the army of East India Company and soon spread over a large area. It was suppressed with great difficulty and much bloodshed. After the end of the mutiny, the British government assumed the direct control of India and annexed Delhi city and other districts between Jamuna and Sutlej to Punjab. This situation remained until 1901, when districts west of Indus river were carved out of Punjab to make a new province, which was named as North Western Frontier Province or NWFP.  

The above map shows the boundaries of Punjab, after the annexation of Delhi and surrounding districts until the establishment of NWFP as a separate province in 1901.

After the establishment of NWFP in 1901, the next change in the boundaries of Punjab came in 1911, when the government of the British India, decided to move the capital from Calcutta to Delhi. After the shift of capital, former district of Delhi was separated from Punjab. Since then Delhi has remained a federally administered area.

As mentioned above after the mutiny a large area west of Jamuna river was annexed to Punjab. But most of this area was not inhabited by Punjabis. In fact most of this area was inhabited by people who speak a dialect of Hindi, called Haryanvi. Almost 80% of the people living in the province of Punjab spoke different dialects of Punjabi, while rest of them a dialect of Hindi, called Haryanvi.

The above match shows the linguistic division of Punjab. The red area is New Delhi, separated from Punjab in 1911 and declared as the new capital of British India.

India during the British Raj, administratively was a very complicated place. Besides 11 clumsily formed provinces, it had about 565 princely states. Some of them were quite large, but many were so small that it was difficult to represent them even on a very large scale map. Biggest of these was Hyderabad with an area of 214,187 sq. km. But almost 200 states had an area of less than 25 sq. Km. Together these states covered approximately one third of the total area of India and housed one fourth of the total population. If that was not enough many of these were divided into several non contiguous tracts of lands. British Raj controlled these states as the Paramount Power, through its officers called residents.

The above map shows the provinces of British India and also the areas covered by the Princely States. In addition to that it also shows the religious demographics of India. 

Punjab province was no exception in this regard. It also contained 34 princely states, besides the areas directly administered by the British. 

The above map shows the location of British Administered districts and the Princely States, also depicting the religion of the rulers of the states.

This map shows the five administrative divisions of Punjab and respective religious composition, according to the census of 1941. 

The population of Punjab rose rapidly during the fifty years between 1891 - 1941. But this growth in western Punjab was much faster as compare to the eastern Punjab. Reason for this can be explained by the fact that great projects of irrigation were completed in western Punjab and hence a great progress was made in agricultural field in this region, and  "canal colonies" were established.

The above map shows the population growth in Punjab from 1891 - 1941.

British administration had been undertaking census since 1881 regularly in India. The last census in the British Raj was conducted in 1941.

The above map shows the population density of tehsils of Punjab, according to the census of 1941.

The census of 1941 was very important, because this was the last census of united India and on the basis of this census Punjab and Bengal were partitioned between India and Pakistan. In the following set of maps you can see the distribution of population according to their religions. I do not claim these maps to be 100% correct, as boundaries of some princely states are not clear, but these give you a fairly accurate picture.

The above map shows the percentage of Muslim population of Punjab in tehsils, according to the census of 1941.

The above map shows the simple distribution of Muslim population of Punjab, according to the census of 1941.

The above map shows the percentage of Hindu population of Punjab in tehsils, according to the census of 1941. 

The above map shows the simple distribution of Hindu population of Punjab, according to the census of 1941. 

 The above map shows the percentage of Sikh population of Punjab in tehsils, according to the census of 1941.

The above map shows the simple distribution of Sikh population of Punjab, according to the census of 1941.

The above map shows the distribution of Christian population of Punjab, according to the census of 1941.

The last map shows that most of the Christian population of Punjab was concentrated in western Punjab. So when the question of the partition arose, they decided to opt for Pakistan. They were just 1.44 % of the total population and were insignificant in the total equation of Muslim and Hindu/Sikh population. But there was one tehsil, that was Dasuya, where if they joined Muslims, the balance turned in the favour of Muslims. In Dasuya Muslims were 48.35% and Christians were 1.73%, so together they formed a majority of 50.08%. 

In the above map you can see the claims of two parties. Red line shows the extent of Hindu/Sikh claim and green line shows the extent of Muslim/Christian claim.

 In the map given above, I have further compared the territorial claims of both the parties. 

Both parties presented some maps to support their respective claims. The above map was presented by the Muslim League to show some parts of tehsils where the Muslims were in majority.  

When it came clear that the partition was inevitable, the viceroy presented a Partition Plan on June 3, 1947. According to this plan, Punjab was was divided in two provinces of East Punjab and West Punjab. This partition was based on simple district majorities of Muslims and non Muslims. The final partition was to be dependent on the Radcliffe Award, so this division was called Notional Division. 

The above map shows the Notional Division of Punjab based to district majorities of Muslims and non Muslims.

Sir Cyril Radcliffe was an English lawyer and was selected to head the boundary commission to decide the border of Pakistan. The commission was set up on 30 July and was given a deadline of 15 August, 1947, to announce its decision. Muslims league nominated two Punjab High Court judges, Justice Din Muhammad and Justice Muhammad Munir as the two members of this commission to fight its case. While Justice Mehr Chand Mahajan and Justice Teja Singh represented Congress and Sikhs, in this commission. Its terms of reference were defined as thus:

"The Boundary Commission is instructed to demarcate the boundaries of the two parts of the Punjab on the basis of ascertaining the contiguous majority areas of the Muslims and the non Muslims. In doing so it will take into account other factors."

The commission had a very difficult and complicated task to accomplish in a very limited time and that’s too in a very charged atmosphere. It failed to satisfy anyone. The whole process was kept secret and the award was not published until 17^th August, 1947. The map given below will help you in making an opinion of your own.

The above map shows the distribution of population on the basis of religion in a great detail. It show Muslim/Christian majority tehsils and Hindu/Sikh majority tehsils. It also shows the 34 princely states of Punjab. Note that Muslims were in majority in just two states, ie. Bahawalpur and Kapurthala which was ruled by a Sikh Maharaja. The yellow line represents the final decision of the boundary commission. Click the map for a larger view.  

The above map show that eventually how much area and population both the parties got. 

The above map shows the tehisl of Kausr, in Lahore district. It was the only tehsil which was divided and the larger part was given to India, despite having a clear Muslim/Christian majority. Now that part forms tehsil of Patti of district Taran Taran (ترن تارن)in Indian Punjab. 

The table below gives the religious demographic details of the cities and towns with the population of more than 9 thousands, according to the census of 1941. 

	City	Total	Muslims	%	Hindus	%	Sikh	%	Christians	%
001	Hissar	28,618	11116	38.84	15,921	55.63	390	1.36	166	0.58
002	Hansi	22,590	10166	45.00	10,752	47.60	80	0.35	36	0.16
003	Bhiwani	43,921	9316	21.21	33,774	76.90	360	0.82	160	0.36
004	Sirsa	20,718	6368	30.74	13,083	63.15	831	4.01	72	0.35
005	Rohtak	48,148	25129	52.19	20,458	42.49	315	0.65	63	0.13
006	Jhajhar	13,919	7188	51.64	6,576	47.24	80	0.57	2	0.01
007	Meham	11,145	6170	55.36	4,920	44.15	8	0.07	0	0.00
008	Sonipat	17,781	8933	50.24	7,706	43.34	226	1.27	13	0.07
009	Hidayatpur	9,945	3758	37.79	5,434	54.64	144	1.45	296	2.98
010	Palwal	13,606	4404	32.37	8,831	64.91	30	0.22	244	1.79
011	Rewari	30,673	15605	50.88	14,058	45.83	46	0.15	101	0.33
012	Karnal	37,444	15844	42.31	20,462	54.65	647	1.73	125	0.33
013	Panipat	37,837	28371	74.98	8,584	22.69	90	0.24	12	0.03
014	Kaithal	22,325	10263	45.97	11,593	51.93	261	1.17	49	0.22
015	Shahabad	14,745	10096	68.47	4,000	27.13	643	4.36	2	0.01
016	Ambala	44,964	25913	57.63	16,040	35.67	1581	3.52	348	0.77
017	Ambala C	29,191	10431	35.73	14,768	50.59	2456	8.41	617	2.11
018	Kalka	9,766	3129	32.04	5,766	59.04	660	6.76	71	0.73
019	Jagadhri	16,422	4958	30.19	10,906	66.41	208	1.27	180	1.10
020	Rupar	10,385	5300	51.04	3,354	32.30	1262	12.15	158	1.52
021	Simla	18,348	5651	30.80	11,173	60.89	751	4.09	349	1.90
022	Dharmsala	9,653	1294	13.41	8,024	83.12	229	2.37	62	0.64
023	Hoshiarpur	35,345	16834	47.63	15,478	43.79	2242	6.34	252	0.71
024	Dasuya	9,206	6595	71.64	2,400	26.07	163	1.77	44	0.48
025	Urmar Tanda	12,734	8,037	63.11	3,687	28.95	797	6.26	51	0.40
026	Jullundur	135,283	80,242	59.31	48375	35.76	4,676	3.46	977	0.72
027	Kartarpur	12,150	4,522	37.22	6362	52.36	1,250	10.29	16	0.13
028	Nawanshahr	10,275	2,950	28.71	6552	63.77	689	6.71	1	0.01
029	Banga	9,112	1,976	21.69	4832	53.03	1,949	21.39	4	0.04
030	Phillaur	9,011	4,918	54.58	3574	39.66	479	5.32	34	0.38
031	Nakodar	10,981	5,322	48.47	4385	39.93	358	3.26	-	0.00
032	Ludhiana	11,639	70,182	62.87	34704	31.09	5,273	4.72	596	0.53
033	Jagraon	26,704	14,004	52.44	9341	34.98	3,096	11.59	72	0.27
034	Raikot	13,777	9,344	67.82	3063	22.23	892	6.47	-	0.00
035	Ferozepore	82,502	38,390	46.53	34543	41.87	6,457	7.83	900	1.09
036	Moga	27,785	7,016	25.25	11,790	42.43	8,477	30.51	490	1.76
037	Muktsar	20,651	5,340	25.86	10,015	48.50	5,121	24.80	31	0.15
038	Fazilka	28,262	8,246	29.18	18,771	66.42	1,107	3.92	25	0.09
039	Abohar	21,222	5216	24.58	14,980	70.59	846	3.99	59	0.28
040	Lahore	671,659	433,170	64.49	179,422	26.71	34,021	5.07	21,495	3.20
041	Chunian	10,093	5,292	52.43	4,329	42.89	472	4.68	-	0.00
042	Mandi Pattoki	1,114	2,641	23.76	6,227	56.03	2,083	18.74	163	1.47
043	Kasur	53,101	39,295	74.00	10,752	20.25	2,034	3.83	562	1.06
044	Patti	17,595	12,879	73.20	2,823	16.04	1,495	8.50	37	0.21
045	Amritsar	391,010	184,055	47.07	44,522	36.96	58,769	15.03	2,611	0.67
046	Jandiala	11,520	6,893	59.84	2,691	23.36	1,004	8.72	75	0.65
047	Majitha	9,004	5,200	57.75	2,061	22.89	1,655	18.38	38	0.42
048	Tarn Taran	16,607	7,006	42.19	3,796	22.86	5,520	33.24	279	1.68
049	Gurdaspur	6,641	8,263	49.65	5,920	35.57	1,711	10.28	721	4.33
050	Batala	44,458	29,859	67.16	12,043	27.09	2,109	4.74	446	1.00
051	Pathankot	12,354	6,716	54.36	4,833	39.12	406	3.29	379	3.07
052	Sialkot	138,708	90,706	65.39	29,662	21.38	8,431	6.08	5,157	3.72
053	Pasrur	10,523	7,586	72.09	1,937	18.41	205	1.95	689	6.55
054	Narowal	12,021	6,759	56.23	2,863	23.82	1,301	10.82	854	7.10
055	Daska	13,719	7,394	53.90	3,279	23.90	2,249	16.39	719	5.24
056	Gujranwala	84,545	45,904	54.30	24,378	28.83	11016	13.03	1,893	2.24
057	Kamonki	11,602	3,575	30.81	5,177	44.62	2445	21.07	405	3.49
058	Wazirabad	27,079	19,132	70.65	5,739	21.19	1359	5.02	845	3.12
059	Hafizabad	17,093	9,727	56.91	5,660	33.11	1080	6.32	610	3.57
060	Sheikhupura	22,272	10,755	48.29	7,070	31.74	3609	16.20	829	3.72
061	Nankana Sahib	12,981	2,900	22.34	4,440	34.20	5427	41.81	206	1.59
062	Gujrat	30,899	24,681	79.88	5,011	16.22	630	2.04	553	1.79
063	Jalalpur Jattan	16,663	12,779	76.69	3,524	21.15	149	0.89	211	1.27
064	Lala Musa	12,163	6,484	53.31	3,615	29.72	1833	15.07	231	1.90
065	M. Bahauddin	12,752	2,269	17.79	6,146	48.20	4277	33.54	61	0.48
066	Khushab	17,141	13,609	79.39	3,044	17.76	479	2.79	7	0.04
067	Bhera	20,219	15,489	76.61	4,388	21.70	335	1.66	6	0.03
068	Sargodha	36,420	12,060	33.11	7,405	47.79	5920	16.25	998	2.74
069	Jhelum	33,191	19,416	58.50	8,936	26.92	3950	11.90	619	1.86
070	P. Dadan Khan	11,445	7,803	68.18	3,318	28.99	305	2.66	6	0.05
071	Chakwal	11,835	6,684	56.48	2,799	23.65	2388	20.18	40	0.34
072	Rawalpindi	185,042	81,038	43.79	62,393	33.72	32054	17.32	3,668	1.98
073	Cambellpur	13,999	7,408	52.92	4,312	30.80	2031	14.51	223	1.59
074	Hazro	11,186	7,411	66.25	2,752	24.60	1013	9.06	10	0.09
075	Pindigheb	12,641	8,708	68.89	3,007	23.79	924	7.31	2	0.02
076	Mianwali	22,825	13,041	57.13	8,940	39.17	633	2.77	210	0.92
077	Bhakkar	9,006	4,060	45.08	2,712	30.11	173	1.92	18	0.20
078	Montgomery	38,345	14,860	38.75	17,435	45.47	5,254	13.70	746	1.95
079	Okara	19,315	5,216	27.00	10,378	53.73	3,113	16.12	601	3.11
080	Pakpattan	17,852	9,516	53.30	7,432	41.63	839	4.70	55	0.31
081	Lyallpur	69,930	23,003	32.89	32,896	47.04	10,897	15.58	3,027	4.33
082	Gojra	12,964	3,253	25.09	6,891	53.15	1,302	10.04	1,167	9.00
083	Kamalia	14,295	6,011	42.05	6,906	48.31	1,459	10.21	75	0.52
084	Jaranwala	9,833	2,534	25.77	5,693	57.90	2,215	22.53	67	0.68
085	Jhang	50,051	24,506	48.96	23,246	46.44	217	0.43	39	0.08
086	Chiniot	34,437	23,050	66.93	11,158	32.40	58	0.17	12	0.03
087	Multan	142,768	81,393	57.01	56,477	39.56	2,665	1.87	680	0.48
088	Kahror	11,348	4,620	40.71	6,701	59.05	26	0.23	-	0.00
089	Khanewal	17,036	5,710	33.52	9,283	54.49	1,664	9.77	278	1.63
090	Leiah	13,087	7,372	56.33	5,683	43.42	28	0.21	4	0.03
091	D. Ghazi Khan	32,139	18,810	58.53	12,989	40.42	157	0.49	37	0.12
092	Jampur	11,862	7,975	67.23	2,260	19.05	24	0.20	3	0.03
093	Mandi	9,033	333	3.69	8,218	90.98	141	1.56	-	0.00
094	Kapurthala	26,067	15,093	57.90	8,968	34.40	1,594	6.12	20	0.08
095	Sultanpur	10,168	6,203	61.01	3,394	33.38	470	4.62	-	0.00
096	Phagwara	16,194	4,724	29.17	8,256	50.98	2,355	14.54	11	0.07
097	Maler Kotla	29,321	22,296	76.04	6,270	21.38	456	1.56	39	0.13
098	Faridkot	20,375	10,228	50.20	4,742	23.27	4,608	22.62	50	0.25
099	Kot Kapura	20,584	8,107	39.38	7,280	35.37	5,154	25.04	35	0.17
100	Patiala	69,850	26,116	37.39	27,361	39.17	5,894	22.75	-	0.00
101	Bassi	14,400	9,742	67.65	3,978	27.63	680	4.72	-	0.00
102	Samana	14,912	11,037	74.01	3,701	24.82	130	0.87	3	0.02
103	Sunam	14,187	5,329	37.56	5,166	36.41	3,439	24.24	17	0.12
104	Barnala	12,341	2,848	23.08	4,734	38.36	4,688	37.99	6	0.05
105	Bhatinda	24,833	8,431	33.95	9,828	39.58	5,645	22.73	-	0.00
106	Narnaul	23,063	9,750	42.28	8,080	35.03	81	0.35	2	0.01
107	Mohindargarh	9,771	4,492	45.97	5,180	53.01	98	1.00	1	0.01
108	Sangur	17,132	3,182	18.57	8,211	47.93	3,198	18.67	59	0.34
109	Jind	14,909	4,934	33.09	9,326	62.55	256	1.72	22	0.15
110	Nabha	22,625	8,942	39.52	9,735	43.03	2,307	10.20	12	0.05
111	Phul	9,515	1,480	15.55	5,854	61.52	1,324	13.91	7	0.07
112	Jaitu	11,435	2,450	21.43	5,776	50.51	3,174	27.76		0.00
113	Dhanaula	9,560	3,244	33.93	2,356	24.64	3,960	41.42	-	0.00
114	Bahwalpur	40,015	28,946	72.34	10,836	27.08	208	0.52	25	0.06
115	Ahmadpur East	12,255	6,920	56.47	5,303	43.27	32	0.26	-	0.00

While doing my research I noted many points that startled me, and I felt that the allegations of unfair award of the boundary commission and favouring India on this account, have solid grounds.

1.      Eight Muslim/Christian majority tehsils that were contiguous to Pakistan were given to India, on the pretext of "other factors".

2.      Not a single non Muslim majority tehsil was given to Pakistan.

3.   A large part of Kausr tehsil was awarded to India on the flimsy ground of protecting Amritsar city.

4. Due to the above mentioned reasons, state of Kapurthala, with clear Muslim majority and surrounded by Muslim majority tehsils, fell into India.

Tehsil	ArKm2	Population	Muslims	%	Hindus	%	Sikhs	%	Christians	%
Dasuya	1,298	273,246	132,105	48.35	95,572	34.98	40,509	14.83	4,729	1.7
Jullundur	1,008	443,010	226,623	51.16	123,718	27.93	86,996	19.64	4,656	1.05
Nakodar	945	228,783	135,918	59.41	39,766	17.38	52,037	22.75	929	0.41
Ferozepore	1,761	290,286	160,371	55.25	53,520	18.44	70,782	24.38	3,847	1.33
Zira	1,279	210,819	137,586	65.26	18,863	8.95	50,209	23.82	3,801	1.80
Ajnala	1,083	237,049	140,939	59.46	15,415	6.50	67,986	28.68	12,708	5.36
Gurdaspur	1,287	328,819	171,498	52.16	57,281	17.42	76,695	23.32	22,506	6.84
Batala	1,235	380,053	209,277	55.07	33,610	8.84	116,413	30.63	20,670	5.44
Kapurthala	1,712	378,380	213,754	56.49	61,546	16.27	88,350	23.35	1,643	0.43
Total	11,608	2,770,445	1,528,071	55.16	499,291	18.02	649,977	23.46	75,489	2.72

The above table clearly shows that the in these 9 units, Muslims/Christians had a clear majority of 57.88%, against Hindus/Sikhs population of 41.5%. But the question arises that in case all these tehsils were awarded to Pakistan, two non Muslim majority tehsils of Amritsar and Taran Taran would have formed an enclave inside Pakistan. First, these two tehsils were not contiguous to other non Muslim areas. Second even if they have fallen in Pakistan, the Muslim population was so large, that the whole block (consider the above area as Block A) would have still retained Muslim majority. As the table below shows:

Tehsil	ArKm2	Population	Muslims	%	Hindus	%	Sikhs	%	Christians	%
Block A	11,608	2,770,380	1,528,071	55.16	499,291	18.02	649,977	23.46	75,489	2.72
Amritsar	1,414	789,159	359,025	45.49	175,771	22.27	243,297	30.83	8,948	1.14
Taran Taran	1,546	387,668	157,731	40.69	26,245	6.77	199,562	51.48	3,654	0.94
Total	14,658	3,947,207	2,044,827	51.80	701,307	17.77	1,092,836	27.69	88,091	2.23

There is one more point worth noting that tehsil Ferozepore consisted of two non contiguous part. It had an enclave of Nathana, which was a considerable area, in 1959 it was transferred to district Bathinda. Nathana and surrounding areas were predominantly non Muslims. I don't have figures for these two parts (Ferozepore & Nathana) separately, but I am sure that if we take the figures of Ferozepore proper only, the Muslim majority in this area must had been greater than 55.25%, which is for the whole tehsil, like neighbouring Zira (65.26%), or even more. 

There as another point which caught my attention is that Sikhs tried to  to portray themselves as the worst victims of this partition which cut their community into two halves. They still stress upon this point. But that is not the truth. Here too Muslims were the worst effected, as the figures given below show:

	Muslims	%	Hindus	%	Sikhs	%	Christians	%
Falling in Pakistan	12,600,912	69.71	2,307,435	22.39	1,365,288	26.90	340,860	72.54
Falling in India	5,474,625	30.29	7,995,952	77.61	3,709,518	73.10	129,053	27.46

So of all the communities Muslims had the highest percentage to fall on the wrong side of the new border. Actually this misunderstanding on part of Sikhs is probably due to the fact that while calculating their population they take figures of population falling only in British administered areas and ignore the population living in the princely states, where a large proportion of Sikhs lived.

	Muslims	%	Hindus	%	Sikhs	%	Christians	%
The whole Punjab	18,259,744	53.22	10,336,549	30.13	5,115,185	14.91	493,081	1.44
British Punjab	16,217,242	57.07	7,894,087	27.78	3,757,401,	13.22	486,038	1.71
Princely States	2,042,744	34.67	2,442,942	41.46	1,358,784	23.07	7,043	0.12

As I mentioned above a large part in the eastern Punjab and Himalayan mountains was populated by Hindi/Urdu speaking people. Which were about 20 per cent of the total population of Punjab. The following table shows the religious composition based on language spoken by the people.

	Muslims	%	Hindus	%	Sikhs	%	Christians	%
The whole Punjab	18,259,744	53.22	10,336,549	30.13	5,115,185	14.91	493,083	1.44
Punjabi Speaking	16,827,041	61.97	4,841,874	17.83	4,916,950	18.11	485,292	1.79
Hindi/Urdu Speak.	1,432,708	20.00	5,490,353	76.63	199,234	2.78	8,789	0.12

The above given table shows a very interesting fact that the of the Punjabi nation 62% were Muslim according to the census of 1941, while Sikhs and Hindus were almost equal, with Sikhs slightly bigger percentage. 

After doing all this research, collecting data and making maps, I kept on thinking that what should have been a more just and fair award? Or what would have been my decision? So I came up with the following map:

If I were to decide the partition, I would have allocated some additional areas, shaded in light blue.

The basic rationale behind this proposal is to give Amritsar, being the holiest place for Sikhs, to India. While giving most of the Muslim majority areas to Pakistan, including some other areas in lieu of Muslim majority areas in Bist Doab. This additional territory I have marked with light blue colour. 

You are most welcome to send me you own suggestions, of course with reasons and arguments. I shall put them on this blog with your name and place. Sure this invitation is to my friends on the "other side" of the Radcliffe Line as well. Similarly I shall appreciate your suggestions to improve this article further or pointing out any inaccuracies. 

 Tariq Amir

23 October, 2014.

Doha - Qatar