Viceroy Mountbatten visited Karachi for the formal transfer of power ceremony.

Viceroy and Vicereine Mounbatten in Karachi, 14 August 1947

Source: BBC Urdu, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Celebrations were marred by communal violence that had taken hold of the newly created nations. The Manchester Guardian reported on the formal ceremonies and outbreaks of violence side-by-side as seen in the following article:

“ON THE EVE IN INDIA

To-day’s Ceremonies

THE PUNJAB TORN BY RIOTING

Karachi, August 13.

Lord and Lady Mountbatten arrived in Karachi by air this evening. The Viceroy presided over a meeting of the Pakistan Cabinet, and later there was a state dinner at Government House followed by a reception.

To-morrow morning the Viceroy will address the Pakistan Constituent Assembly, including in his speech a message from the King, and then he and Mr. Jinnah, Governor-General designate of Pakistan will make a ceremonial drive through the streets of Karachi. The Viceregal party will leave before noon in order to reach Delhi in time for the elaborate ceremonies arranged for to-morrow night and Friday morning marking the coming into being of the Dominion of India.

‘The Times’ & ‘Manchester Guardian’ Services

MR. JINNAH’S TRIBUTES

Karachi, August 13

Mr. Jinnah, in proposing the toast of the King at to-night’s state dinner, said that Pakistan would work to create and maintain goodwill and friendship with Britain, India, and the other Dominions. He said:

The decision of his majesty’s government will mark the fulfilment of the great ideal set forth by the formation of the Commonwealth with the avowed object of making all nations and countries which formed part of the British Empire self-governing independent States free from the domination of any other nation.

Mr. Jinnah paid tribute to Mr. Attlee and the British Government ‘and above all the British nation, which enthusiastically and whole-heartedly helped the people of India to be free.’ Of Lord Mountbatten he said: ‘Pakistan and India will always remember you, and your name will remain cherished not only in the two Dominions but will find a place in the history of the world as one who performed his task and duties magnificently.’–Reuter.

RIOTS AND FIRES IN LAHORE

Sikhs the Main Victims

Lahore, August 13

Sixty people were killed and more than a hundred injured to-day in communal rioting in Lahore, capital of the Punjab, one of the provinces which after to-morrow will be partitioned between India and Pakistan. Most of to-day’s victims were again Sikhs.

There are two brigades of troops inside the city, and another brigade is being sent there to-morrow. Police and troops fired several times to-day. To-night many fires were raging, but the rioting was under control.

In the Amritsar area to-day troops shot dead 61 Sikh raiders armed with mortars, Bren and Sten guns. In Amritsar itself there were many cases of arson and troops and police fired several times.–Reuter.

MOBS STONES MR. GANDHI’S HUT

Calcutta, August 13.

Mr. Gandhi and Mr. Suhrawardy, the Moslem Premier of Bengal, to-day moved into a working-class hut in a suburb of Calcutta, where they were going to live to try to restore communal harmony in the area.

To-night a crowd of about 1,000 Hindu youths stoned the house and broke the windows, and flying glass hit Mr. Horace Alexander, of the Friends Ambulance Unit, in the head.

The demonstrators shouted to Mr. Gandhi to go and settle in Park Circus, a predominately Moslem area where many Hindu houses are vacant and in ruins.

The police used force to disperse the crowd, but it gathered again at dusk, forced open the gates of the house, and clambered up the windows. Mr. Gandhi, appearing at a window, said: ‘If you apply force you are only able to remove the lifeless frame of my body and not my living body. If you convince me I am mistaken I will immediately shift from here.’ A commotion followed and the demonstrators threw a volley of brickbats at the house smashing the windows.–Reuter.”

Source: ‘On the Eve in India’, Manchester Guardian, 13 Aug 1947, p. 5