Partition: Divide et impera – Divide Conquer and Rule? by Maariah Awan

A project that combines Pre-Partition Pakistani architecture, family memories of Partition
and mixed media.

In August 1947, centuries of conquest and oppression of the British Rule came to an abrupt end. They split the states of Punjab and Bengal to create East and West Pakistan. Over one million people were murdered and killed. There were “blood trains” filled with passengers who had tried and failed to escape their homes having found themselves to be on the wrong side of the borders. 15 million people became refugees in their own home.

People that lived together as brothers and sisters side by side without conflict for generations. So what changed? People that ate the same food, shared the same language and culture were violently split apart. Borders divided communities. Families were torn apart. Lines meant lives. It was one of the deadliest communal massacres of the 20th century. This is Partition. “It’s written in history, people write with gold and silver words. This history was written with blood”