Wednesday is the 60th anniversary of the independence and partition of India and Pakistan. Debbie Waite spoke to two men who witnessed the 20th century's largest of uprooting of people at first hand: "There can be no question of coercing any large areas in which one community has a majority to live against their will under a government in which another community has a majority. And the only alternative to coercion is partition."

These words, from the last Viceroy of British India, Lord Mountbatten, would result in the single largest movement of people in the 20th century - and in the deaths of more than a quarter of a million of them.

Britain's attempts to devise a constitution which preserved India's unity, while offering safeguards for the Muslim minority, had failed. And on August 14, 1947, the independent nation of Pakistan was created.

That same evening, at the stroke of midnight, India won its freedom from Britain after 350 years of colonial rule.

The country was split - or partitioned - along religious lines, with mainly Hindu areas allocated to India and mainly Muslim areas allocated to Pakistan. Jawaharlal Nehru became prime minister of India, and Muhammed Ali Jinnah governor-general of Pakistan.

Between 10 and 14 million people left their homes to take up residence across the new borders. But hostilities erupted among the communities and an estimated quarter of a million people died.

Habib Ahmed, now 71, and living in Littlehay Road, Cowley, Oxford, was 11 years old when partition took place, but is still haunted by the memory. He said: "I lived with my family in Hassan Abdal, just three miles from a large former Army base, which would be used to house migrants.

"I was excited by the prospect of what was to happen and all these new people. But I had also heard the concerns of the elders about what might happen when partition took place."

Mr Ahmed still becomes tearful when he recalls the people arriving in Pakistan. He said: "I do not know why, but the partition caused much hatred in many people's hearts and terrible violence took place in some parts of India, with Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus slaughtering each other.

"Even before the migrants arrived, we heard tales of rivers full of blood and bodies. The government had planned nothing for what might happen and I will never forget the people and their suffering. Many arriving in my city had walked for miles, with no shoes. Some had not eaten for days. Some were terribly injured."

He added: "People helped the people who had migrated, providing clothes, food and shelter.

"But for the next 10 years it was very hard. There were food and job shortages. Thankfully ours was a country of argriculture, but it was a very hard life for many.

"There are two pictures of partition - one of a beautiful new country being born, and another, of violence and death on all sides. I believe in what partition tried to achieve, but it was not handled properly and, as a result, many people suffered."

For Riaz Khan, of Hollow Way, Oxford, who was 16 years old in 1947, partition meant separation from many of his childhood friends. He said: "Our village, Tetri, was 100 miles from Lahore and was a peaceful community of Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and Christians, living together in harmony.

"Indeed, we lived next to each other, went to school together and respected each other. Everyone was so excited by the thought of partition, but unprepared for the mass movement of people and the killings and lootings that would come with it.

"When partition came, the non-Muslims in our village became worried and stayed at home, scared they would lose their rights and liberty if they lived in Pakistan.

"Some of our elders urged them to stay with us, but they were encouraged to leave their businesses and homes and make the journey to India, not knowing what they would find there.

"I remember them leaving. They were weeping. We were all terribly upset. They were our friends. The elders stayed in touch with many of them for years afterwards."

He added: "The killing and looting that took place in other parts of the country were terrible. But there were places, like my village, where people of all religions lived in harmony and ever since then, my family and I have retained close ties with Hindu families especially.

"I am glad partition happened, because it created my country, Pakistan. But I am sad about the trouble it caused, and this week I will remember those who lost their lives."

Muslim fears led to partition: Demands for self-rule for India dated back back to the 19th century, but grew stronger in the 1920s and 1930s under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi.

By 1945, and the end of the Second World War, self-rule seemed imminent, but implementing it was a huge task.

Many in India's large Muslim minority felt they would be at a disadvantage in a mainly Hindu nation and the Muslim League, led by Muhammed Ali Jinnah, pictured, who practised as a barrister in England, took up the issue.

In 1940 the league started demanding a separate nation for the region's Muslims - Pakistan. Seven years later they got their wish, when the British left and established Pakistan, which was in two parts, in the north-west of the Indian sub-continent and in the north-east around the Bay of Bengal.

But at independence, millions of Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs found themselves on the 'wrong' side of the new border between India and Pakistan, trouble flared and terrible atrocities took place.

Britain has been blamed for hurrying through the process too quickly and without proper planning - the frontiers between the two nations were decided in just seven weeks.

Within months of partition, India and Pakistan were at war in Kashmir, which had been divided between them. The dispute over who controls the region continues to this day.

Later, Pakistan itself split into two nations, with East Pakistan declaring its independence as Bangladesh in 1971.