Punjab Blood and Borders 1947: Understanding Partition Violence Through Secret and Archival Records

Description

The Partition of Punjab in 1947 was marked by unprecedented violence, displacement, and social upheaval. This book examines how that violence was not merely spontaneous, but became organized, coordinated, and historically traceable, especially following the July 1947 Nankana Sahib Conference, which marked a decisive turning point.
Using extensive archival records from Britain and South Asia, including administrative reports, intelligence summaries, and military dispatches, the book shows how violence unfolded differently across East and West Punjab. In both regions, communal tensions escalated into targeted campaigns of removal and displacement, reshaping communities and redrawing the demographic landscape.
By focusing on the Nankana Sahib Conference as a central lens, this study offers a clear, archive-based account of Partition violence. It traces how political decisions, local dynamics, and administrative structures combined to produce mass displacement, revealing the processes that made the tragedy of 1947 a defining chapter in South Asian history.

Author Biography

Adnan Tariq is currently serving as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Archive Studies at the Institute of Global and Historical Studies, Government College University Lahore. He completed his undergraduate studies at Forman Christian College, Lahore, followed by his Master’s and MPhil degrees from Government College University Lahore. He earned his PhD from the Department of History and Pakistan Studies at the University of the Punjab. He also completed a postgraduate fellowship at Royal Holloway, University of London, UK. He is the author of Lahore @ Partition: Violence, Cross-Migration and Regeneration, 1947–1961. His research interests include colonial and postcolonial history, archives and memory, violence, political Islam, and the Muslim intellectual history of British North India. He is a regular contributor to The Friday Times, The News International, Nawa-e-Waqt, and Daily 92 News.