First Pakistani student at Harvard University (1947)

First Pakistani student at Harvard University (1947)
Pakistani Harvard student Syed Irshad Hussain is featured in a photograph in the August 16, 1947 issue of The Boston Daily Globe with a report on the creation of India and Pakistan. The event made him the first Pakistani student at the oldest US institution of higher learning.

"Hindus, Moslems End Strife, Celebrate Independence Day" says the headline of a report that also refers to "mutually destructive" rioting and gang warfare between the religious communities in Punjab.

Mr Hussain (L), holding an Indian flag, is accompanied by Hindustan Students Association Secretary Amarjit Singh (R), holding a Pakistani flag, and others.

The photograph is part of a the 1947 Partition Archive (1947partitionarchive.org), a volunteer-based collection of eyewitness accounts from all the ethnic, religious and economic communities affected by the partition of British India.