Evening star., 1947-08-15

days of rioting there mounted to
! 268 dead and more than 200 injured.
At least SO fires blazed in Lahore
and mobs were reported looting.
Crowds Are Hilarious.
British Gov. Sir Evan jenkins
handed the Punjab government yes
terday to the Congress and Moslem
League Parties on a temporary
basis Of national division" into
East and West Punjab Provinces.
as determined by boundary COM
mission.
| Crowds in this Indian capital were
hilarious They gave Loru Mount
| batten a warm-hearted reception
which the handsome cousin of King
George vi of the United Kingdom,
until today Emperor of India as we'll
returned in kind.
Thousands greeted Lord Mount
batten enthusiastically along the
short route from Government House
where he took the oath Of new OF
fee to the Constituent Assembly
WneTe ne SPOKE
In contrast to the holiday mood in
Delhi, correspondent for the
Statesman wrote that he saw dogs
and VultureS eating bodies of recent
victims of communal rioting while
travelling from Lahore to Amristar
! He said one side of the railway
tracks was Uttered with dead.
Nehru RudeIy Manhandled.
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the
Hindu leader who was sworn in this
morning as the first prime minister
of Hindu, India, and DR.. Rajendra
Prasao, president Of the Constituent
Assembly, we're rudely manhsndled
by unruly celebrating mobs earlier
as they went to notify Lord Mount
! batten that the Assembly had in>
dorsed him as governor general.
They were not injured.
Even Mr.. Gandhi. who is counted
almost saint by his followers, en-
countered hostility and threats OF
violence in Calcutta. A gang of
youths who resented his preachings
of nonviolence hurled stones at his
house. out he was uninjured and
faced them down when he emerged.
Lord Mountbatten, addressing the
Hindu Constituent Assembly after
being sworn in. paid high tribute to
Mr.. Gandhi as Indias architect of
freedom" and to Mr.. Nehru as "a
world-renowned leader of courage
and vision
Quieter In Karachi.
Jubilant Indians in Hindu India
whooped it up on their independence
day, beating drums, lowering the
British flag and replacing it with
their own, parading through the
streets, singing and praying.
In the hot, crowded, dusty city of
Karachi it was quieter. The resi-
dents there did most of their cele-
brating yesterday when Lord Mount
batten went to that new capital to
wish the new state Of Pakistan fu-
! ture happiness and prosperity"
That was the dream of most of
Indias 400, ,000, 900 - Moslem and
Hindu, Christian and Parsi, Sikh
and untouchable. For them it meant
an end to their role as subject
people, an end to three centuries
of British exploitation of India's
rich resources
Hindu India's legislators promptly
picked up the responsibility of au-
thority as the British Raj laid it
down at midnight. As the new day
of independence dawned, officials
waited on Lord Mountbatten to
make him the new dominion's first
governor general.
MOuntbatten Kisses Bible.
In, the famous Durbar Hall Of
Government House, which until to-
day was the yiceregal palace, LORD
Mountbatten stood before the new
chief justice of India and kissed a
Bible to seal his oath, while men,
bers of the first peoples government
of free India watched from seats
which heretofore had been held for
occupancy solely by major princes
of the realm.
Within moments after he was
! sworn in, Lord Moafltbatten an
nounced that he would ask to be
relieved as governor general on
March 81, l948, at the end of what
he called the interim period" fof
completion of details in the division
of India into, Hindu India and Mos
lem Pskistan.
! Heralded by trumpets which rang
through the Durbar Hall, Lord and
Lady Mountbatten, with a guard of
honor, paced slowly down the gold
embroidered, rich red carpet which
| led to two throne chairs around
which centered the swearing in GER
emonies.