Sikander -Baldev Pact was one such pact which came as an appeasement to the growing communal tension which resulted with non inclusion of Sikhs in decision making body to be formed after the war. As the transfer of power was expected to take place between the Congress and the Muslim League, it frightened the position of the Sikhs who also formed a major section of minorities within the Indian domain. This state remained relevant as it was one of the largest provinces of the Indian subcontinent. As it doubted the intention of both the stronger parties regarding their sincerity towards the Sikh community, this group demanded the signing of Sikander -Baldev Pact which gave some relief to their people.

Background of Sikander - Baldev Pact, 1942
When the entire nation was captured by the rivalries between Gandhi and Jinnah and now between Rajagopalachari, Gandhi and the existing government; the other party which was affected by the Cripps Mission was the community of Sikhs .The Cripps Mission was the first to have made provisions for partition of Indian subcontinent into two parts which will mainly include areas of Punjab, Bengal, Sindh and Jammu & Kashmir. While vividly the areas affected were not mentioned during the time of the Mission it was however declared that the main parties who will be included for transfer of power would be Indian National Congress and the Muslim League and the status of Sikhs would be decided through agreement between these parties with their Sikh leaders .Cripps tried to convince them that in order to increase their majority in the Constituent Assembly both will be interested to include the Sikh community within their side. This may further provide them with a new semi- autonomous state in the style of Soviet Union. This could not pacify the Sikh community of their security as there was no mention of such demands in favours of the Sikhs in the report of the mission.

As a result the communal tensions were indeed intensified as various groups began to reorganize their own means of security. Day by day the level of insecurity increased between the Muslims and the Sikhs. A new organisation called the UP League appointed various committee to oppose the Hindu resolutions but in the course of time these stood in opposition to the Sikhs as well. Though the Alkalis were relieved with the withdrawal of Cripps mission; yet all the parties created their own defensive mechanism which would help them at the time of crisis. The sudden acceptance of a new nation called Pakistan by the leading Congress men startled the Sikh community who could no more rely on the Congress for its future. When undermined by the congress leaders now sort to improve their relations with the British at one hand and the Muslim Unionist on the other hand. Baldev Singh, a Sikh political leader who later on became the first Defence Minister went with a pact with Sikander, a Muslim unionist which later on came to be known as the Sikander-Baldev Pact of June 1942.

Provisions of Sikander-Baldev Pact
The Sikander-Baldev Pact which came in the month of June 1942 included certain provisions particularly keeping the Sikhs in mind. This included providing jhatka meat for all the government institution which are expected to provide separate canteens to those who prefer jhatka meat; include Gurmukhi language as an official second language in all schools and colleges where adequate students prefer it; to create a new convention that in matters concerning a particular community the right to vote should be reserved only for those members of the community and the representation of Sikh community should be not less than 20 percent in the Executive Council supported by the Unionists.

The division of Punjab surrounded around three major factors which would upset the basic demography of the region. As for the population was concerned the division would not have been that difficult as the west of Punjab was mainly populated by the Muslims and the east of Punjab with non-Muslim Sikhs. As such a clear dividing line between Lahore and Amritsar would separate the communities. In case of economy the partition line would disturb the economy of the land which was mainly irrigated through artificial canal system contributed by all the Punjabis. The division would leave the prosperous area with one part of Punjab while the other will have only the desserts to irrigate. Again the division would lead to a huge sector of `Holy Sikh Land` with west Punjab which is supposed to be now Muslim populated. For the Sikhs about two million men with their property, land as well as holy Sikh shrines would have been left on the Pakistan side. This created the reason for the Sikander-Baldev pact which gave some status to the Sikh community.

Thus, the Sikander-Baldev pact holds its relevance in the modern Indian history as it was the only representation which came from the Sikh community for partition. In a brief evaluation it can be said that positively it was one step of the Muslim Union to approach the Sikhs and reconcile them for better cooperation.