Independence Day

August 14 and 15 are celebrated in Pakistan and India to commemorate their independence from the British Empire in 1947.  With the Partition of the region into two countries, largely based on assumed religious differences, the occasion was also a tragic time of bloodshed.  As many as a million people, Hindu, Muslim, and Sikh, were slaughtered during the upheavals as millions of people migrated across the new international border separating India and Pakistan.  In Tuscaloosa, the Friends of the Indian Association of Tuscaloosa commemorate Indian Independence Day with a showcase of Indian culture, titled Incredible India, at University Mall beginning at 11 on August 15.