ChronoFive
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Setting the scene
Muhammad Ali Jinnah's Muslim League had campaigned for a separate homeland amid rising tensions with the Indian National Congress; Lord Louis Mountbatten, the last viceroy, advanced partition timelines that left civil servants scrambling to divide assets, railways, and armies.
What happened
Pakistan became independent on August 14, 1947, with Jinnah sworn in as governor-general in Karachi, one day before India's independence in New Delhi.
Why it still matters
Partition displaced millions across new borders in Punjab and Bengal, with communal massacres and one of history's largest refugee migrations; Pakistan's subsequent constitutional debates over Islam, democracy, and civil-military balance still echo from that hurried midnight birth.
Background
Partition displaced millions across new borders.