The Uttar Pradesh government is set to commemorate Partition Horrors Remembrance Day on August 14.

In a letter dispatched to all officers concerned, Chief Secretary Manoj Kumar Singh said, “Like last year, paying homage to those who lost their lives during the partition of India, it has been decided to commemorate Partition Horrors Remembrance Day on August 14, 2024 in their memory.”

The letter further said that the partition of the country was no less than a tragedy.

“Millions of Indians sacrificed their lives to achieve Independence, at such a time the pain of the country being divided into two parts struck millions of families like a wound. At the same time Bengal was also partitioned. In this, the eastern part of Bengal was separated from India and East Pakistan was formed; which became an independent nation in 1971 as Bangladesh,” the chief secretary said in a letter.

This geographical partition of India shook the people of the country socially, culturally, economically and mentally, the letter mentioned.

The partition horrors memorial day not only reminds us to end discrimination, animosity and ill will but also inspires unity, social harmony and human empowerment,” the chief secretary added.

As in the past, the state government will organise various events/programmes in the entire state on the occasion of Partition Horrors Remembrance Day on August 14 in all 75 districts of the state, including Lucknow.

The letter stated that the members of families displaced during the Partition should be invited and a two-minute silence should be observed in memory of those who sacrificed their lives during the tragedy.

The letter said that an exhibition related to Partition should be organised in a large auditorium in which photographs of the then events, newspaper clippings, literature, government records, preserved material of displaced families, etc. should be displayed.

The chief secretary further said that the displaced families affected by the Partition should also be requested to come to the exhibition site so that they could share the sufferings their families had faced.

“In all the 75 districts of the state, films/documentaries related to the Partition should be screened in schools/colleges/universities and at the exhibition sites. Students of various educational institutions should be taken on a tour of these exhibitions and they should be made aware of this historical event,” the letter added.