Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge...At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance from Jawaharlal Nehrus Speech On the Granting of Indian Independence , midnight 14 August 1947

Whole communities were destroyed, not just families torn asunder by political manoeuvring Ujjal Singh, Manchester

Imperial War Museum North presents a small but powerful display of around 30 photographs and accompanying events to mark the 60th anniversary of the Independence of India and foundation of Pakistan one of the major events of the 20th century.

Using archive photographs from Imperial War Museums collections together with personal stories and photographs of local people, Life and Freedom provides a fascinating glimpse of the enormous contributions made by Indian people during the Second World War at home and on many fighting fronts and how the momentous events of Independence and Partition have shaped individual lives.

2007 sees the 60th Anniversary of the Independence of India from the British Empire and partition of India and Pakistan. These two events are extremely significant in world history, resulting in huge population shifts and accelerating the pace of British withdrawal from Empire. The course of Independence was bound up with Indias participation in the British Empires war effort in the Second World War especially.

Indias contribution to the Allied cause in the Second World War was immense. Over 2.3 million men and women volunteered for the Indian armed services, of whom 24, 338 were killed on active service. India became the major base for British operations against Japan, and Indias war economy provided vast amounts of supplies.

The new Labour government elected in July 1945 resolved to grant independence to India as soon as possible. In India a bitter struggle took place between political and religious factions over what form an independent India should take. India was eventually partitioned along religious lines in 1947, creating two separate states Pakistan with a mainly Muslim population, and India with a largely Hindu population.

After Partition, over 15 million people moved over the new borders. Outbreaks of extreme violence occurred and possibly as many as one million people were killed. -- www.iwm.org.uk