Punjab Boundary Force

The Punjab Boundary Force was an army force set up in 1947 to keep order in the central districts of Punjab while the province was divided between India and Pakistan. Wikipedia says it was created on 17 July 1947 with its headquarters at Lahore and began operating on 1 August. It was commanded by Major General T. W. Rees, with an Indian and a Pakistani brigadier as military advisers, and it answered to the Joint Defence Council of the two new governments.

Its job and its size: the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism says it was given twelve districts of central Punjab, with 14.5 million people in nearly 18,000 towns and villages over 37,500 square miles. The Encyclopaedia calls it a force of over 50,000 Indian troops of mixed units. Wikipedia counts about 15 Indian and 10 Pakistani battalions. A document of 23 August 1947, cited by the historian Robin Jeffrey, gives seven brigades and 23,000 men, apart from about 66,000 troops in the army's Lahore Area. The figures differ by source and by date.

Why it failed: the Encyclopaedia says the killing far exceeded anything expected. The area was too large, the monsoon slowed movement and there was no proper intelligence system. The civil administration had broken down, the police were partisan in West Punjab and deserted or afraid to act in East Punjab, and some troops gave way to communal loyalties. The Tribune's Lt Gen K. J. Singh (retired) puts the failure down to many factors, including the commander's idiosyncrasies, while saying the force still saved many lives. Jeffrey writes that it failed in its task of safeguarding the peace in Punjab.

Key dates

• 17 July 1947: created. 1 August 1947: begins operating.
• 25 August 1947: at a Joint Defence Council meeting in Lahore, Rees says the force is tired and its mood explosive and urges the two governments to take over responsibility for refugee security (Wikipedia).
• 31 August 1947 (Encyclopaedia) or 1 September 1947 (The Tribune): the force is dissolved. Jeffrey counts its life as 32 days, 1 August to 1 September. The two new governments took over the forces on each side of the line.
• 15 September 1947: the Delhi and East Punjab Command is set up under Lt Gen Dudley Russell (The Tribune).

What followed: the Encyclopaedia says about three and a half million Hindus and Sikhs moved from West Punjab to India, and that the Sikhs, who had suffered most from Partition, recovered quickly in East Punjab. The force no longer exists.