"Moreover, the British Labour government had decided to relinquish the burdens of its vast empire. However, its hasty and ill-prepared withdrawals precipitated ethnic and religious violence in South Asia and the Middle East. The partition of the Indian subcontinent was followed by a ruinous civil war between Hindus and Muslims, creating millions of casualties and refugees and two rival successor states, India and Pakistan, whose border disputes (particularly over the fate of partitioned Kashmir) kept the region in turmoil."