Foreign Office Files for India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, 1947-1980
Foreign Office Files for India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, 1947-1980 consists of the complete run of documents in the series DO 133, DO 134 and FCO 37, as well as all documents covering the Indian subcontinent in the FO 371 series. Events covered include independence and partition, the Indian annexation of Hyderabad and Goa, war between India and Pakistan, tensions and war between India and China, the consolidation of power of the Congress Party in India, military rule in Pakistan, the turbulent independence of Bangladesh and the development of nuclear weapons in the region. – Publisher
Section I: Independence, Partition and the Nehru Era, 1947-64
This section covers the period of the birth and development of the Indian and Pakistani states from the run-up to partition in August 1947 until the death of Jawarhalal Nehru, India’s first prime minister, in 1964. The region’s two principal states underwent a traumatic birth, with the violence and displacements of partition followed by tensions between India and Pakistan over Kashmir which erupted periodically into both skirmishes and full-blown warfare. The period also saw India clash militarily with Hyderabad in the wake of its ruler’s attempts to maintain independence, with Portugal over its unwillingness to give up Goa and its other Indian possessions and, less successfully, with China over disputed territories in the Himalayas. The majority of files in this section are from the FO 371 series, with smaller numbers from DO 133 and DO 134. – Publisher
Section II: South Asian Conflicts and Independence for Bangladesh, 1965-71
This section covers the period from Nehru’s death to the separation of Bangladesh from Pakistan and the subsequent war and humanitarian crisis. The period also saw renewed war between India and Pakistan over Kashmir (August-September 1965), the accession to power in India of Indira Gandhi, Nehru’s daughter, and the continuance of military government in Pakistan under Yahya Khan. Most files in this section are from the FCO 37 series, with small numbers from DO 133, DO 134 and FO 371. – Publisher
Section III: Afghanistan and the Cold War, Emergency Rule in India, and the Resumption of Civilian Rule in Pakistan, 1972-80
This last section covers the 1970s, a decade in which all the main states of the Indian subcontinent all experienced political upheavals and repression in varying degrees. Bangladesh emerged as an independent state but failed to achieve political stability, and Pakistan returned to civilian rule, in the wake of the military’s failure to prevent Bangladesh’s secession, before another military coup returned the army to power five years later. In India, the government of Indira Gandhi became increasingly dictatorial, jailing hundreds of opponents and declaring a state of emergency in 1975. In 1977, Gandhi’s government fell and India elected its first non-Congress prime minister. Events also began in Afghanistan which foreshadowed the chaotic conditions there of the 1980s and 1990s: the monarchy was overthrown by a coup in 1973, and a further coup in 1978 brought a communist regime to power. This was followed by internecine fighting within the government and a Soviet invasion in 1979, heralding a long, brutal civil war. The 1970s also saw India develop nuclear weapons and Pakistan begin development in response. All files in this section are from the FCO 37 series. – Publisher
