Daily Times

The Partition of India seems to be a closed chapter of history for the majority of young people nowadays. They often ignore the bloodshed, losses and mass migrations by repeating the same phrase: it is over now, a thing of the past and forget it. For those who were the actual victims of that tragedy, there was a different reality, mainly on the aspects of communal tensions, violence, forced migration and religious bigotry. The contemporary realities of life can be gauged on the complexities of cross-religious marriages on either side, as they can heavily cause tensions among the communities as a whole if they break up, so currently, the partition cannot be ignored in that regard.

After deeply delving into the tragic impact on the lives of people as a result of the Partition, I have come to realise that it was more than a mere political divide. After all, for those who were victims of terrible events, things are not over for them yet. To find how people actually felt the pain and how they survived and rebuilt their lives, how they coped with mental and physical trauma, I started visiting places in Rawalpindi and its suburbs to locate the witnesses who had seen the events unfolding. To investigate and form a picture of that era, I met both natives and migrants. I am deeply interested in recording the experiences of eye-witnesses.

Due to the 1946 elections, all the political players in Rawalpindi were engaged in nurturing and expanding their political activities, mainly the Muslim League National Guards (MLNG), Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Khaksars and Akalis. Time and again, provocative statements were issued by all sides. Political leaders added fuel to the fire, and became a factor in increasing communal tension in the region.

Political developments happened speedily by the elections. On February 20, 1947, the British government announced that it would withdraw from India by June 1948. This announcement greatly increased the political ferment in Punjab. Khizr Hayat Tiwana’s Punjab government resigned under the pressure of the Muslim League’s demonstrations, and due to direct actions on March 2 and the political heat, things changed rapidly on the political front. The Rawalpindi district was overwhelmingly Muslim. According to the 1941 population census, the total population of Rawalpindi district was 785,231, out of which 628,193 were Muslims, making 80 percent of the entire population, while other communities — Sikhs, Hindus, scheduled castes, Christians and others — were 157,038 (that is 20 percent).

I conducted five interviews of local witnesses within the vicinity of Rawalpindi city, excluding towns and tehsils. They narrated the bloody March events in the city around areas of Lal Kurti, the famous Murree Road, Raja Bazaar and Saddar. Although Rawalpindi was politically and strategically a lively city, on March 5, Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims clashed. And thus an uncertain situation was created. Master Tara Singh, the prominent Akali leader from the village of Harnal, Rawalpindi, made inflammatory statements on March 3 outside the Punjab Assembly building in Lahore. Rawalpindi, being his native place, suffered serious effects on both sides of the community. That statement triggered communal hatred among Sikhs and Muslims. The SGPC report explained that incident.

On March 5, 1947, on hearing of the firing on Hindu and Sikh students of Lahore, the Hindu-Sikh students of Rawalpindi took out a procession, protesting against the Muslim attempt at the formation of a communal (Muslim League) ministry in the Punjab, and the police firing on the non-violent procession of Hindu and Sikh students. This procession was attacked by Muslim Leaguers. There was a free fight, of which the Muslims got the worst of it. Then a huge Muslim mob from the countryside, incited for an attack on Hindus and Sikhs by the Pir of Golra, a Muslim religious head and a leader of this area, fell upon the town. But the Hindus and Sikhs fought them from their mohallas in trenches, and the Muslims lost again (P.78, SGPC Report).

I visited Chotta Bazaar Saddar, Rawalpindi on March 26 and 27, from dawn to dusk. On the first day, I did not succeed in meeting any witnesses, but after asking around, I came to know about Ghulam Abbas, an old man running a shop with his grandsons. He narrated the happenings in his residential area and the Raja Bazaar. Here is the excerpt from his interview:

“I was born on June 1922, in Rawalpindi. All communities — Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs — were living peacefully in our residential area. We had very good relations with our Hindu neighbours, and Sikhs in our mohalla. Om Parkash and Lala Parshad Ram were bankers; we had one common wall between our houses, and women from both sides exchanged gossip. We were all living like brothers and sisters. The situation deteriorated when Master Tara Singh spoke against the Muslim League in Lahore, and issued a proactive statement. If he hadn’t done that, immediate violence had not taken place. It was early March days when I went to the Raja Bazaar to buy goods from a Sikh wholesale trader. I was in their mohalla, it was 12:00 pm, and clashes began. We had business relations with that Sardar, and he immediately went with me and hid me inside his room. He advised me to keep calm, and told me that if some other Sikhs knew about my presence there, they would kill me. I was afraid, but he took care of me. When the curfew was over, he said to me that the situation was better, and I must leave. I stayed inside his house for 45 minutes.”

The exodus of colonial power, ironically, coincided with extreme sufferings, large scale bloodshed, massacre, and the biggest migration of masses in history, on both sides of the divide. The countries that emerged at the same time as Pakistan and India are intolerant of each other in their views and thinking. We should take concrete steps to get rid of the hatred leading to violence taught in textbooks. Peace and humane moral values should replace the lessons of violence and hatred, to turn our country into a region of peace, to make the darker events go into oblivion. This will result in maintaining peace between the two nations that were both equally responsible for the bloodied communal riots. The grudge between the two nations cannot go unless the discourse is corrected for them.

The writer is a freelance columnist, and an independent researcher on the Partition 1947 events. He can be reached at janjuaharoon01@gmail.com