Daily Times

The barbaric burning to death of a young Christian couple by demented vigilantes on the grounds of alleged blasphemy is yet again a reminder of the fact that Pakistan is a failed state insofar as protecting its citizens is concerned. Protecting citizens in a war is not the only responsibility of the state; this has to be done on a daily basis. Many concerned and conscientious Pakistani Muslims have raised their voices against not only this recent murder of the Christian couple but similar crimes committed earlier against Christians and other minority groups. With the best of intentions they have tried to highlight that Pakistani Christians have rendered glorious services to Pakistan. Legendary fighter pilot and hero of the 1965 war Group Captain Cecil Chaudhry is one example. Quality schools, colleges and hospitals can also be mentioned as most meritorious services of the Christians of Pakistan. However, in this enthusiasm, an enduring myth has also taken birth. Its most recent invocation appears in Dr Samiullah Koreshi’s letter to the editor to an English language daily on November 13, 2014. He writes:

“At that time (that is, in 1947 before the partition took place) S K Singha (should be S P Singha), a Christian was the speaker of the Punjab Assembly. He cast the casting vote for Pakistan. Thus he played a role in Punjab going to Pakistan. On this occasion, Master Tara Singh jumped out of the assembly waving his kirpan as a signal for taking revenge on Muslims. His words were reported by the press. Thus, a Christian vote led to the democratic choice in making Punjab a part of Pakistan.”

First of all, the notorious bravado of Master Tara Singh outside the Punjab Assembly took place on March 3, 1947, in the wake of the direct action unleashed by the Punjab Muslim League with a view to bringing down the coalition government led by Sir Khizr Hayat Khan Tiwana. During January 24 to February 26, pre-partition Punjab was rocked by a mass civil disobedience movement. The agitation became increasingly explosive and some violent atrocities also took place. On March 2, Sir Khizr resigned even though the agitation had been called off on February 26. The master’s histrionics took place on the 3rd when it seemed the Muslim League would bully itself into power. Tara Singh then flaunted his kirpan (dagger) in a threatening manner and shouted “Pakistan murdabad” (death to Pakistan) and indeed upped the ante in the developing confrontation. On March 4, violent clashes took place in Lahore and Amritsar followed by more violence in Multan and Rawalpindi the next day. Punjab was never to return to normality again but the decision to partition India was still some months ahead. It was not until June 3, 1947 that Viceroy Louis Mountbatten, after having held extended talks with Indian leaders of all shades, announced the Partition Plan. It definitively sealed the fate of a united India and Pakistan was to be created in the northeastern and northwestern zones of the subcontinent.

It is very important to note that when the Muslim League demanded in March 1940 the creation of Muslim states in the Muslim-majority northwestern and northeastern zones in the subcontinent, the Sikhs of Punjab immediately, almost as a knee-jerk reaction, declared that they would oppose the partition tooth-and-nail and if it became inevitable then they would insist that the non-Muslim majority portions of eastern Punjab be excluded from Pakistan and given to India. On the other hand, the Indian National Congress kept on pressing for a united India until March 8, 1947 but then changed course and passed a resolution supporting the Sikh demand for the partition of Punjab.

However, it was only after the last viceroy, Lord Louis Mountbatten, had held extended talks with Indian leaders of all varieties that he concluded that the partition of India was inevitable. It resulted in the June 3, 1947 Partition Plan. It stipulated that the Bengal and Punjab assemblies would also vote on whether their provinces should remain united or be partitioned on a religious basis. The procedure adopted to ascertain the will of the two assemblies was that they be divided into two blocs: Muslim and non-Muslim majority blocs to vote. Even if one bloc in a province voted for partition, it was to be implemented.

Accordingly the members of the Punjab Legislative Assembly, organised separately into the Muslim-majority western bloc and Hindu-Sikh majority eastern bloc (based on a notional basis in accordance with the 1941 census), voted on June 23 on the question of partitioning the province. The voting of the western bloc was presided over by the Christian speaker of the assembly, Diwan Bahadur S P Singha, while Deputy Speaker Sardar Kapur Singh presided over the vote of the eastern bloc. The western bloc (comprising 17 districts of Punjab) rejected a motion to partition the Punjab by 69 votes to 27 while the eastern bloc (comprising 12 districts) rejected by 50 votes to 22 a motion by the Muslim League leader, the Khan of Mamdot, to keep the province united. Therefore, no tie occurred in the Punjab Assembly that S P Singha’s vote could tilt decisively in favour of Pakistan. The eastern bloc had voted for partition and it was to be accepted and implemented.

In communal terms, 88 Muslims, including Khizr Tiwana and seven other members of the Unionist Party, two Indian Christians (S P Singha and Fazal Elahi) and one Anglo-Indian Christian (Mr Gibbon), voted for a united Punjab. Hindu, Sikh and scheduled castes members of the assembly, numbering altogether 77, voted for partitioning the Punjab. All these details are given in my book, The Punjab Bloodied, Partitioned and Cleansed: Unravelling the 1947 Tragedy through Secret British Reports and First-Person Accounts (Oxford University Press, 2012 and 2014). The complete list of members of the assembly is also given at the end of the book.

However, later in July 1947, when different parties in Punjab presented their respective cases before the Punjab Boundary Commission, S P Singha and Gibbon spoke in favour of Punjab remaining united but, if it were to be divided then they preferred their community to be placed in Pakistan. A rival Christian group led by Mr Banerjee argued that they wanted a united India but, if partition took place, then they would want to be in India. The Christians were a minuscule minority in Punjab. The main Punjab leadership of the Christians was definitely based in Lahore and S P Singha was their leader. They wanted Punjab to remain in Pakistan but such support did not translate into the decisive casting vote on July 23, 1947 as is often mentioned erroneously in Pakistan.

The writer is a visiting professor, LUMS, Pakistan, professor emeritus of Political Science, Stockholm University, and honorary senior fellow, Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore. Latest publications: Winner of the Best Non-Fiction Book award at the Karachi Literature Festival: The Punjab Bloodied, Partitioned and Cleansed, Oxford, 2012; and Pakistan: The Garrison State, Origins, Evolution, Consequences (1947-2011), Oxford, 2013. He can be reached at: billumian@gmail.com