Re: Share your 1947 Migration to Pakistan Stories
Ancestrally most of my family has lived in the northern Punjab area (bordering NWFP). Because of the geographical location I don’t think there was that much rioting and violence compared to the rest of the country; well not within the village at least. However I have heard that in the bigger towns around the area, which had a larger and more mixed population, there were incidents of Muslim violence against the Hindus and Sikhs. Some of the young guys (very very old budday now) from the village used to go and cruise around looking for trouble. Obviously a lot of the hindus and sikhs left in a hurry. Quite a lot of these houses which these people left behind are still around (although occupied) – they have big havelis with two or three storey wooden frames and structures etc, they are beautifully designed. It seems the hindus and Sikhs were probably slightly better off than the general muslim population.
However despite all the violence at that time, I have a partition story that I am proud of. My Nana was an imam and landowner with some influence in the local area. Where other people were busy causing trouble, he was quietly helping people who needed it. Until recently we had letters and other documents exchanged between my grandad and a sikh guy. My granddad had protected the family and eventually helped to arrange for their safe journey. He looked after the family’s property, land etc until they dealt with it, sold it or whatever. He must have looked after it for a while because some of the letters were from the guys sons…years later.
Whatever the ideological basis of partition, I think it was a very bad idea which took a turn for the very worse because of the political bureaucracy involved…No matter how many times your draw and redraw lines of a map, it never takes into account the human cost involved. And that’s the sadness of it all, no matter where it takes place.