Editing Radcliffe Line (section)

===Local knowledge===
Before his appointment, Radcliffe had never visited India and knew no one there. To the British and the feuding politicians alike, this neutrality was looked upon as an asset; he was considered to be unbiased toward any of the parties, except of course Britain.<ref name="Read, p. 482" /> Only his private secretary, Christopher Beaumont, was familiar with the administration and life in Punjab. Wanting to preserve the appearance of impartiality, Radcliffe also kept his distance from [[Lord Mountbatten|Viceroy Mountbatten]].<ref name="Read, p.483" />

No amount of knowledge could produce a line that would completely avoid conflict; already, "sectarian riots in Punjab and Bengal dimmed hopes for a quick and dignified British withdrawal".<ref>{{harvnb|Mishra, Exit Wounds|2007|loc=para. 4}}</ref> "Many of the seeds of postcolonial disorder in South Asia were sown much earlier, in a century and half of direct and indirect British control of large part of the region, but, as book after book has demonstrated, nothing in the complex tragedy of partition was inevitable."<ref>{{harvnb|Mishra, Exit Wounds|2007|loc=para. 5}}</ref>