For nearly a century, Britain ruled the South Asian subcontinent from the Arabian Sea to the Bay of Bengal. After World War II,however, the vast Indian colony became ungovernable from London and the British hastily departed, leaving behind conditions that led to communal rioting and unfathomable violence. In the midnight hours of August 14, 1947, as hastily drawn borders carved the region into the independent nations of Pakistan and India, more than a million people fled across the lines of Partition in both directions. In 1971, when civil war transformed East Pakistan into the independent nation of Bangladesh, communal violence erupted again. The horrors of Partition did not end with the migrations and resettlements of 1947 and 1971, however.On several occasions, open warfare has broken out between Pakistan and India.Kashmir’s borders remain in dispute, and across the region, rioting continues to erupt.

The stories in Crossing Over depict the responses and emotions of ordinary people caught in the tragedy of Partition, when tolerance, respect, and compassion broke down. Written by some of the region’s finest authors—in Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, and English—these works make us aware of the possible responses to ethnic, religious, and national divisiveness. Reading the literature of Partition is bound to arouse comparisons with situations in other parts of the world,where sectarian violence seems unstoppable and solutions intractable. Where will we find the wisdom to create a new future? Crossing Over suggests some answers—and the consequences if we fail.

Authors include Abul Bashar, Samaresh Basu, Rajinder Singh Bedi, Urvashi Butalia,Gulzar, Rashid Haider, Intizar Husain,Kamleshwar, Saadat Hasan Manto, Khadija Mastur, Joginder Paul, Mohan Rakesh, Prafulla Roy, and Bhisham Sahni. Period photographs from a Karachi family album illustrate the effects of Partition on a Goan Catholic community.