The frequency of communal violence in South Asia increased after the first partition of Bengal in 1905 , where segregation , unequal political and economic rights were imposed on Hindus and Muslims by Lord Curzon , based on religion . The colonial rule was viewed by each side as favoring the other side , resulting in a wave of communal riots and 1911 reversal of Bengal partition and its re-unification . In 1919 , after British General Dyer ordered his soldiers to fire on unarmed protestors inside a compound in Amritsar , killing 380 civilians , communal violence followed in India against British settlements . There were hundreds of incidents of communal violence between 1905 and 1947 , many related to religious , political sovereignty questions including partition of India along religious lines into East Pakistan , West Pakistan and India . The 1946 to 1947 period saw some of the worst communal violence of 20th century , where waves of riots and violence killed between 100,000 and a million people , from Hindu , Muslim , Sikh and Jain religions , particularly in cities and towns near the modern borders of India-Pakistan and India-Bangladesh . Examples of these communal violence include the so-called Direct Action Day , Noakhali riots and the Partition riots in Rawalpindi
Noakhali riots
Noakhali riots
Communal violence