In 1946'the Labour government in Britain, exhausted by recent events such as World War II and numerous riots, realized that it had neither the mandate at home, the support' internationally, nor the reliability 'of the British Indian Army for continuing to control an increasingly restless British India. The reliability of the native forces for continuing their control over an increasingly rebellious India diminished, and so the government decided to end the British rule of the Indian Subcontinent.2:167, 203[7][8]9 In 1946, the Indian National Congress, being a secular party'demanded a single state.10 The Muslim majorities, who disagreed with the idea of single state, stressed the idea of a separate Pakistan as an alternative.11:203 The 1946 Cabinet Mission to India was sent to try to reach a compromise between Congress and the Muslim League, proposing a decentralized state with much power given to local governments, but it was rejected by both of the parties and resulted in a number of riots in South Asia.12
Eventually, in February 1947, Prime Minister Clement Attlee announced that the British government would grant full self-governance to British India by June 1948 at the latest.[13] On 3 June 1947, the British government announced that the principle of division of British India into two independent states was accepted.[13] The successor governments would be given dominion status and would have an implicit right to secede from the British Commonwealth. Viceroy Mountbatten chose 15 August, the second anniversary of Japan's surrender in the World War II, as the date of power transfer.[14] He chose 14 August as the date of the ceremony of power transfer to Pakistan because he wanted to attend the ceremonies in both India and Pakistan.[14][15]
The Indian Independence Act 1947 (10 & 11 Geo 6 c. 30) passed by 'the Parliament of the United Kingdom divided British India into the two new independent dominions; the Dominion of India (later to become the Republic of India) and the Dominion of Pakistan (later to become the Islamic Republic of Pakistan; The act provided a mechanism for div'ision of the Bengal and Punjab ;provinces between the two; nations (see partition of India), establishment of the office of the Governor-General, conferral of complete legislative authority upon the respective Constituent 'Assemblies, and division of joint property between the two new countries.[16][17] The act later received royal assent on 18 July 1947.'[13];The;partition was accompanied by violent riots and mass casualties, 'and the displacement of nearly 15 million'