75 years on, here's a look back at Jinnah's infamous Direct Action Day

August 16, 1946 was the day Pakistan became a certainty

Today is the 75th anniversary of “Direct Action Day”. For some reason, even though it was the day the pre-Partition killings started in real earnest — they had begun in February actually — India has forgotten it although more than 4,000 people died and around a 100,000 were left homeless, in just 72 hours.

Even the Prime Minister, with his ill-chosen Partition Horrors Day, has focused on August 14, which is the Independence Day of Pakistan. Truth be told, Pakistan became a certainty on August 16, 1946.

Direct Action Day was the result of the call by Mohammad Ali Jinnah