[1] This violence is not a recent aberration, but a consequence of the 1947 Radcliffe Line. Important Features of the Radcliffe Line That Generated Long Term ConflictPerhaps the most prominent structural weakness in fashioning the Radcliffe Line was the astonishing reliance on outdated geographical data sets, mainly 1931 census, (from The Imperial Gazetteer of India)[12] because relatively recent numbers were considered “unreliable” due to wartime disruption. The border line had suddenly cut across markets, fields, villages and even farms[32] with barbed wire. In 1947, the Radcliffe line did not just divide territory, but inaugurated a regime of border control characterised by animosity and chronic governmental intervention. The legacy of the Radcliffe line, therefore, is not merely a historical error, but an active political problem whose consequences are still being lived.

Source: The Telegraph January 14, 2026 19:39 UTC