quality:correction, stylistic:tone, structural:scholar_edition, structural:reformatting
Regions affected by partition

The newly formed governments had not anticipated, and were completely unequipped for, a two-way migration of such staggering magnitude. Massive violence and slaughter occurred on both sides of the new India–Pakistan border.

On 13 January 1948, Mahatma Gandhi started his fast with the goal of stopping the violence. Over 100 religious leaders gathered at Birla House and accepted the conditions of Gandhi. Thousands of Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs gathered outside Birla house to uphold peace and unity. Representatives of organisations including Hindu Mahasabha, Jamait-ul-Ulema, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), visited Birla house to pledge communal harmony and the end of violence. Maulana Azad, Jawaharlal Nehru and Pakistan's High Commissioner to India Zahid Hussain also made their visit. By 18 January, Gandhi agreed to break his fast. This fast is credited for putting an end to communal violence.

While estimates of the number of deaths vary greatly, ranging from 200,000 to 2,000,000, most of the scholars accept approximately 1 million died in the partition violence. The worst case of violence among all regions is concluded to have taken place in Punjab.