Bilateral Solutions

Abstract

In this chapter, I highlight how the administrative response to the immediate fallout of the partition, was determined foremost by how it could be bilaterally handled, rather than being governed by any other consideration—including, for instance, the necessity of bringing immediate relief to the law and order question. I examine how the Partition Council approached the question of setting up the foreign ministries for India and Pakistan in August, 1947, and the importance that was given to having a diplomatic architecture in place that could handle the inter-face between India and Pakistan on issues relating to abducted women, and the Punjab Boundary Force. In many ways, notwithstanding the glaring inadequacies of the state apparatus in being able to contain the violence around partition, what was given importance was the ability to produce a bilateral mechanism to deal with partition’s fallout.