Farewell to Shimla

While I am sorry that Sikhs attacked and killed your reliatives. But let me tell you that they were just criminals not Sikhs because Sikhism does not allow any kind of violence(like Jihad etc).

My family came from Quetta, Kohalla, Noshki and Darri. Five woman members were raped and cannibalised by Jinnah's Razakdars. Despite horrendous violence I dont hate Pakistanis and neither did my grand parents.
It is sad indeed. BTW, do you know where did you live in Mall Road? Was it upper or lower?
What was your grand father's name and which civil service(ICS?)?

Hassan Sahib,
Very interesting article and one containing both vivid reminders of the lush greenery, horrible and murderous partition, and a welcome return to normalcy. Hopefully, we have learned from all this not to let a few self-centered ambitious politicians ruin our lives, our countries, and our souls. Good luck and thanks for sharing.

Though a lot has changed in Shimla because of its expansion and many multistoreyed buildings, but parts of it still retain the original charm and as locals in Shimla say, if you have lived there for a while, it grows on you and when you leave, you can feel the pangs and always try to caome back.
I worked in Shimla for about 2 years a decade ago, and it is still like 2nd home in India.

Delhiwallah,

Yawn. Despite your pathetic attempts to add a personal touch to Indian spin (I remember you telling me that your family was from Lyallpur not Quetta but such inconsistencies don't bother liars like you do they?)... the fact remains that violence happened in Punjab primarily because of the last minute change by Mountbatten in the Radcliffe award at the behest of the Congress Party which left Muslims of Gurdaspur at the mercy of Sikh fanatics egged on by the Congress leadership. Hence it was predominantly Muslims who became the victims of violence during that period.

To try and turn around and put it on the one man who is credited for actually quelling communal trouble effectively (i.e. Jinnah) in the whole lot is a novel way of arguing but what is even more amazing is to deny militancy amongst our Sikh Mitrs and their faith. Pray tell what the Kirpan stands for, if Sikhism is non-violent?

Delhiwallah and Manto,

Both of you guys are telling the truth. Both Sikhs and Muslims suffered during partition. Who suffered how much it can never be determined. What you guys are suffering from is called Parallax error in perspective. FYI, I am a big fan of liberal Quaid-i-Azam

haideri

haideri mian,

Having researched the issue, I think it can be determined exactly how much which community suffered. The answer is quite easy if you consider the map of Gurdaspur, Ferozpur and the tehsils and their population numbers ... the main victims of the violence were those Muslims (inter alia Ahmadis who were then considered Muslims by Pakistan) ... who despite being a majority in their district... found themselves stranded in India...

Whether this would make a difference is an entirely different issue.

1947 was a violent time.......atrocities were committed by all sides. During, the partition riot, my Grandmothers father was a police magistrate. His house was attacked in Ferozepur by Sikhs while he was on vacation. He got on the roof top and shot and killed a Sikh trying to climb the wall of his house using his service revolver. The others ran away vowing to come back with vengeance.

Later in the day the local Hindu thanedar came to the house and unarmed my great grandfather for the reason that it’s for keeping peace in his jurisdiction. When he clearly knew that a weapon in those times was a necessity for self protection.

That same night the band of Sikhs returned they burnt the house and kidnapped my grandmother’s sister. One can deduce she was possibly raped and murdered or forcefully converted to Sikhism the family never found out. The rest of the family fled in terror to Pakistan by train and on the train station my father who was a young child almost went missing while playing near the train tracks in clear view of a jatha of armed Sikhs who were planning to attack the train but fortunately the British officer guarding the train got it out safely from the train station.

While my grandfather who was born in Delhi had already migrated to Pakistan and was posted in Quetta as he had opted to join Pakistan army as a major leaving his Indian army career behind and a legacy of freedom fight under Subhash Chander Bose 's Indian National Army in the jungles of Burma. He never regretted coming to Pakistan but he did miss hi alma-mater Aligarh University and his paternal home in Ambala which he never returned to see again.

The horrific stories of partition are many and no sane person and claim higher moral ground on the basis of religion or otherwise.

Nasim Hassan, Pakwolf, haideri:

I very much admire the spirit and tone of your article/comments. As you have said, we all suffered tremendously and it's silly to try to rehash and pin point who was more brutal at the time.

Goal of these exchanges should be to understand others' pain. For example, I did not know before chowk how much muslims suffered in this whole forced exchange program. Hopefully, having read many stories about Hindu/Sikhs you have some appreciation of our pain too.

Let's focus on future and see what we can do to live like civilized neighbors.

"forced exchange program"

only if people understand that partition and resultant migration was totally forced upon them and no matter what they call it--'independence', creatuion of 'home' for a particular community of asia or whatever, there can be no real justification!!

YLH

so you are saying that muslims suffered more on partition... Which is fair I think - no pain no gain... you muslims got a brand new country - you can't get a country for nothing, you have to pay with something, right?...

But then - I have heard you pakis saying "hans ke liya pakiland"... so apprently, the "suffering" wasn't that bad really...

Mohar,

Are we supposed to believe Manto 'research' (rolling eyes)?

Yasser, show us some mercy. U can fool the gullible.

Ur research is meant to showcase ur lopsided viewpoint. There's nothing like impartiality in ur viewpoints or arguments.


Jinnah quelled the violence?

I was wondering that we have always read about the victims and their harrowing tales from partition. How come we have never heard from the vast hordes of people who actually committed those crimes on either side? What was going on in their mind? What motivated them?

After all they were ordinary people who were living peacefully one day and the next day had turned into killers and rapists. Was the transition instantaneous? Did it build up over a period of time? Did they get motivated by Jinnah or the mullahs or RSS or Akalis?

Herein lies the rub... despite your claims that I am not worthy of being "trusted", to date you haven't proved a single one of my assertions wrong. The point is that you go check the specifics of partition yourself.

As for Jinnah- many historians credit him for making a super-human effort to bring things under control. Granted he did not embark on a fast unto death... but we've already established that such drama was below him.

I found Jinnah Sahib addressing the crowds. He had passionately spoken for about 10 to 15 minutes. He had his famous “Jinnah cap” in his hands upside down, extended towards the crowds, imploring them to desist from bloodshed and not to make Hindus the target of their wrath. His unforgettable words spoken in Urdu, which ring in my ears even today, were about Pakistan not having been created for the massacre of Hindus who had an equal right to live with Muslims and others in this “pak” (pure) land not to be made “napak” (impure) by killing them.

He desired the crowds to return and help in returning all the loot to their area police stations. He had sternly warned the masses that shoot-at-sight orders were being given to deal with offenders. And that did have a salutary effect as under the direct orders of the then military chief, the military did open fire a few times on the miscreants and riots came to a halt much to the relief of everyone including our family. It was a pleasant surprise to find the crowds returning the “loot” which piled up at Eidgah Maidan to form a mini hillock.

That was the only time I had seen and heard the creator of Pakistan. I owe my life to him and to my Muslim neighbours, the migrants from India.

Hira Gulrajani, Mumbai


This can be confirmed independently from Jinnah's speeches and statements as well as Jinnah papers, which shows that Jinnah was at the thick of things yet again... trying to quell trouble.

Re: # 10

The majority of the violence happened in Gurdaspur region. The majority of the victims were Muslims. This is a fact of history.

I don't know about slogans... but what is on the record is that the Pakistan Government raised the issue at the UN... while the Indian government tried to sweep it under the rug by decribing them as "mere disturbances".

Ofcourse 50 years later it is the Hindus and Sikhs who have become the victims suddenly.

Yasser,

I was referring to ur 'research' on the topic cof partition. If u want to know, there's an established literature on the topic. I shall remind u that we read that stuff. If u want to call it research, well, u can claim that.

'As for Jinnah- many historians credit him for making a super-human effort to bring things under control.'

This is a bombastic claim. U sweep it and ascribe the credit as given by 'many historians'. AND u quote a latter written by a Sindhi refugee.

Dear Manto, the real bloodshed happened in Punjab and u quote Jinnah's 'superhuman effort' of giving a speech in Karachi as 'effectively quelling bloodshed'. I tell u that giving a speech doesnt amount to 'effectivly quelling bloodshed'.

VRV,

Read H V Hodson's "Great Divide"... Hector Bolitho's "Jinnah the creator of Pakistan", Wolpert's "Jinnah of Pakistan" for confirmation of Sindhi refugee's point of view.

Jinnah with Sir Francis Mudie brought the trouble under control. In any event, it was the Indian government denying that there was something wrong while Pakistan government was appealing to the UN. That should tell you something.