A look back at the partition

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Barath
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Re: A look back at the partition

Post by Barath »

ramana wrote: How four Christian votes made Pakistan possible

...The vote itself was 88 for remaining with India and 91 for joining Pakistan. The three votes (actually four) which created the majority were the three votes of Christian members Dewan Bahadur Singha, Mr. Cecil Gibbon and Mr Fazal Elahi, plus Singha’s additional vote as Assembly Speaker.

And thus it was decided that Punjab would be part of Pakistan.

But the division of Punjab itself – the Great Tragedy of the Partition – now came to the fore. When the proceedings of the Boundary Commission took place, the Christian leaders, led by Singha, recorded their statement that for the demarcation of the Boundaries, the Christian populations should be included with, and in fact termed as, Muslim populations.....

Chaudhary Chandu Lal served as a lawyer for the Christian community, inter alia visiting Pathankot and Gurdaspur districts to obtain a resolution from the Christian populations there that they wished to be included in Pakistan. Mr. Cecil Gibbon appeared before the Commission to demand that the city of Lahore must be considered as part of Western Punjab..
This makes no sense,except as a ridiculously self-serving recall of puffed up past 'importance' of Pakistani Christians.

If Punjab Legislative Assembly voted for Pakistan on 23rd June,then how came it to be partitioned ? The answer, is that Pakistan and Partition was not decided by votes in provincial legislative assembly but outside it. For that matter, the Punjab Province had been ruled by an elected coalition including INC, Akali and UP, until Punjab Muslim League brought about Civil Disobediance unrest resulting in communal violence that caused the imposition of Governor's rule on 5 March

ie The 3 June plan had already decided on Pakistan, Partition and Pakistan and what would be the Radcliffe committee

In this context the Partition Plan of 3 June was announced with a notional partition showing 17 districts of Punjab in Pakistan and 12 districts in India, along with the establishment of a Boundary Commission to decide the final boundary.

Also, the percentage of Christians in (West) Pakistan remained at 1.5% and could not have materially affected the partition. Gurdaspur, which was contiguous to West Punjab, actually had a narrow Muslim majority, and was part of the notional award to Pakistan,was actually awarded to India by Radcliffe along with a couple of other places.


Secondarily, the article might suit some in India who would like to see Christian betrayal of India, but the actual historical import, I think, is clear.

The machinations of the Punjab Legislative Assembly, the 23 June vote, etc were essentially irrelevant.
Last edited by Barath on 08 Dec 2019 21:48, edited 6 times in total.
A_Gupta
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Re: A look back at the partition

Post by A_Gupta »

“Punjab Muslim League brought about Civil Diobediance unrest“. -what a euphemism!
Barath
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Re: A look back at the partition

Post by Barath »

It was a quick draft while I struggled to fix links and spelling errors. It's clear it led directly to communal violence. Mob violence, riots, murder, etc. To make clear the import of them not getting their demands.

Pretty much in spirit of Direct Action Day.

""The power to destroy a thing is the absolute control over it." - Paul Atreides
ShauryaT
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Re: A look back at the partition

Post by ShauryaT »

Barath wrote: Secondarily, the article might suit some in India who would like to see Christian betrayal of India, but the actual historical import, I think, is clear.

The machinations of the Punjab Legislative Assembly, the 23 June vote, etc were essentially irrelevant.
The christian community in large numbers acted as proxies for British rule in India along with the elite classes on all sides. Jinnah was the favored British stooge. It is not difficult to connect the dots from there, as to which side the proxies supported.

The process of voting based on the 1946 provincial elections, was critical to provide legitimacy to the British plan to divide India. It was important enough that Mountbatten schemed a referendum to pass over the objections of Ghafoor Khan and his Khudai Khidmatgars controlled NWFP assembly. The British role in stroking the fires of Islamism with outright bribes and incitement against Hindus is well documented. The Christian community was indeed made the scapegoat of the British policy of divide and rule, resulting in its misery in an Islamized Pakistan. They thrive in a plural India.
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Re: A look back at the partition

Post by SBajwa »

ercentage of Christians in (West) Pakistan remained at and could not have materially affected the partition. Gurdaspur, which was contiguous to West Punjab, actually had a narrow Muslim majority, and was part of the notional award to Pakistan,was actually awarded to India by Radcliffe along with a couple of other places.
There were 4 tehsils, Batala, Gurdaspur, Pathankot and Shakargarh. Shakargarg was awarded to Npakis. While 80%+ property was owned by non-muslims.
Last edited by SBajwa on 09 Dec 2019 19:04, edited 1 time in total.
ShauryaT
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Re: A look back at the partition

Post by ShauryaT »

^Arre Bhai SBajwa: The quoted part is not mine. Please edit. Thanks
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Re: A look back at the partition

Post by Vips »

How the British schemed to give Kashmir to Pakistan.

Once accession to Pakistan appeared unlikely, the British instituted Operations Gulmarg and Datta Khel  respectively  to foil possible accession to India.

Kashmir's Untold Story Declassified has not come a day too soon given that no state -- now a Union Territory -- has witnessed so much turmoil and received so much attention in the last 70 years.

Written jointly by Iqbal Chand Malhotra and Maroof Raza , the book  looks at why the Kashmir valley has been in a state of turmoil for 72 years and why China and its client State Pakistan will continue to back militancy in the years to come.

Malhotra, chairman of AIM Television, produced several documentaries on Kashmir before he and Raza, a strategic affairs expert who anchors a programme on this subject for the Times Now television channel, got down to the task of putting this book together.

"By sustaining the militancy and hybrid war currently on in Jammu and Kashmir, China is seeking to permanently thwart India's attempts to use modern hydrology, to prevent us from tapping into the 19.48% of the waters of the Indus that we are entitled to," Malhotra tells Rediff.com Contributor Rashme Sehgal.

Your book  highlights how a conspiracy was hatched around the erstwhile maharaja of J&K Hari Singh  to ensure that he acceded to Pakistan and not India. Why did this plan prove to be a  failure?

 The British deep state of which Lord Hastings Ismay (Viceroy Lord Louis Mountbatten's chief of staff) and  NWFP (North West Frontier Province) Governor Sir George Cunningham were a part  wanted the whole principality of Jammu and Kashmir to accede to Pakistan.

As long as the principality's prime minister Ram Chandra Kak was in the saddle, they were confident that Kak would steer the state towards accession with Pakistan. Once Kak was dismissed by Maharaja Hari Singh and accession to Pakistan appeared unlikely, the British instituted Operations Gulmarg and Datta Khel  respectively  to foil possible accession to India.

This happened because Major Onkar Singh Kalkat, a Sikh officer, gained access to the British devised invasion  plans. Major Kalkat was waiting to hand over charge of the brigade  when a demi-official letter arrived from General Sir Frank Messervy stationed at the general headquarters in Rawalpindi.

Attached to the letter was an appendix titled 'Operation Gulmarg - The Plan for the Invasion and Capture of Kashmir' with the operations expected to commence on October 20 1947. Major Kalkat managed to escape from the frontier settlement of Mir Ali Mirali by the skin of his teeth, arriving in Delhi on October 18 1947. He informed then defence minister Sardar Baldev Singh of this plan on October 19, 1947. Sardar Baldev Singh asked the British staffed intelligence directorate to verify Major Kalkat's account, but they paid no heed to it.

It was only after the invasion had started in full swing that Major Kalkat's warning was taken seriously. He was   taken to meet  Pandit Nehru only on October 24, 1947. It is my guess that  it was  this snafu regarding Major Kalkat that made the British mercenaries, who were originally expected  to  lead the Kabailis or Pathan invaders, to  stand down and not lead the invasion.

The rest is history.

The plan for Operation Gulmarg actually started in 1943.

Yes, planning for Operation Gulmarg started way back in 1943. The British were certain Kashmir would go to Pakistan  and pulled out all the stops in advance to ensure this.Cunningham , in his second term  as governor of NWFP, had initiated the forming of the Tucker  committee  in 1944  that recommended that regular Indian army troops  be withdrawn from the Razmak, Wana and Khyber Pass garrisons and be replaced with scouts and khassadars. The northern boundaries  of British India  were to be defended by Muslim staffed Frontier Scouts and Frontier Constabulary. In 1943, the British withdrew the army from the north western borders and the withdrawal was completed by 1946. They were replaced by khassadars with  basic detachments of  2,000 of these paramilitary troops being officiated by British officers  called district officers.

There were around 25,000 khassadars with 20 to 40 British officers overseeing them. They would have achieved success had it not been for the show of courage shown by Major Kalkat.

Your book also highlights how the British deep state was active in ensuring Gilgit was taken over by Pakistan. Its strategic importance was something Indian rulers seemed oblivious of. 

Unfortunately, the Indian political leadership of that time led by Pandit Nehru were singularly obsessed with the mistaken notion that Sheikh Abdullah called all the shots. However, Abdullah only represented the valley and no more. Abdullah was unacceptable in the other four regions of the state, namely Gilgit, Ladakh, Jammu and Muzaffarabad.

Gilgit shared an international border with Afghanistan,  Xinjiang  and Tibet.  How was Gilgit actually given over to Pakistan?

The conglomeration of the vassal States of Gilgit,  Puniyal, Koh-e-Khizr, Yasin,  Yashkoman and Chitral were called Gilgit Agency.In 1943, Colonel Roger Bacon took over as political agent in Gilgit.  Lord Mountbatten announced after becoming viceroy of India that the Gilgit lease would be rescinded on July 31 1947 so that it be returned to  Maharaja Hari Singh.

But Lord Ismay, Colonel Bacon and Major Brown in Gilgit had other plans. Major Brown asked the then governor Ghansara Singh, an appointee of Maharaja Hari Singh, to step down which he refused. This made way for Operation Datta Khel on the night of  November 4 , 1947 where Major Brown and his troops took siege of the governor's residence. A fierce gun battle followed and the governor and his staff were forced to surrender.
On November 17 , 1947, a Pakistani flag was flying over the governor's flag staff. It is obvious this operation was the brain child of the British deep state.

This seems to be a common chord  -- call it indifference or unawareness about the strategic importance of the regions around J&K
For example, when China acquired a large chunk of Aksai Chin, alarm bells should have rung in the Indian establishment, but this did not happen.


The Government of India knew about the Chinese intrusions and purported annexation in Aksai Chin from 1952 onwards.

Why then did the Indian government sign the Pancheel Agreement with China in 1954?

Why did India surrender its consulates in Kashgar, Sinkiang and Gartok in Tibet?

The Chinese followed the annexation of Sinkiang and Tibet by annexing a large chunk of Aksai Chin.  The central leadership  chose to ignore it and in fact bent over backwards to cede further sovereign territory in Tibet to China.   This was the principality of Minsar.

China had in 1959, wanted a part of the Gilgit Agency and especially the Shaksgam Valley with its 250 glaciers making it the most glaciated region in the world to be part of China. Were the Chinese conscious even then of the importance of  water that saw them push their expansionist design?

That is obvious, otherwise they wouldn't have entered into a territory swap with Pakistan in 1963;  they wouldn't have chosen Lop  Nor lake in Xinjiang for their nuclear testing site and they wouldn't have annexed the Aksai lake in Aksai Chin  having a catchment area of 8,000 sq  km  as compensation for their planned degradation of Lake Lop Nor  with nuclear waste. 

Subsequent  to  this was that China attacked India on October 20,  1962 because they needed greater strategic depth to build the Aksai Chin highway. 

The attack on October 20, 1962 by China was to politically consolidate their pre-existing annexation of Indian territory from 1952 onwards.
They were  primarily interested in avenging the Treaty of Chushul signed in 1842 between the Sikh empire, Tibet  and the  Daoguang  emperor of China, wherein China had conceded vast tracts in Tibet and Ladakh to the Sikhs.
The Chinese were interested in overthrowing the Treaty of Chushul which had caused them great humiliation and also emboldened the British officered Indian Army to storm the gates of the imperial capital Nanjing and submit the Daoguang emperor to yet another humiliation in the form of The Treaty of Nanjing signed also in 1842.

Making India bleed with a thousand cuts was not a strategy put in place by either  Zulfikar Ali Bhutto or Zia-ul Haq , but had its origins in the tenure of Pakistan's  longest serving ISI chief Major General  Robert Cawthome. 

Major General  Cawthome  was ISI chief from 1949 to 1959 and devised and institutionalised the strategy of 'continuous proxy war' against India. It  was  he who established the fact that India was an existential threat to Pakistan. It was he who reciprocated the overtures of China's chief spymaster in the 1950s, Kang Sheng.

How successful was Zia-ul Haq's  operation? To turn Kashmiris away from sufism to hard line  Wahhabi Islam as also to cleanse  non-Muslims  from the  Kashmir valley? Why were the  valley's leaders and the central establishment napping through all these tumultuous developments? 

Zia-ul Haq's strategy of converting Kashmiris to Wahhabi Islam has been almost 90% successful. His successors were  almost  100% successful in ethnically cleansing the valley of all Kashmiri Pandits. 

In your book you state that militancy in Kashmir is set to intensify.

China is never going to give up on the waters of the Indus river.By sustaining the militancy and hybrid war currently on in Jammu and Kashmir, China is seeking to permanently thwart India's attempts to use modern hydrology, to prevent us from tapping into the 19.48% of the waters of the Indus that we are entitled to. 

In your book you state that abrogation of Article 370 and the removal of Article 35A as well as freeing J&K  from the 'tyranny of   majoritarianism'  and  the  transformation of a state into UTs  will see a new political discourse in J&K  Has this happened or is it set to happen?

It is too early to comment on this.Let the delimitation of all the constituencies in the newly formed Union Territories first take place.
vishvak
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Re: A look back at the partition

Post by vishvak »

Fuzzy ways to deal with genocidal crimes
Wrt ISIS in Syria. Transitional justice etc. Nothing better than being prepared and aware of things.
ramana
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Re: A look back at the partition

Post by ramana »

Vips,
Allof the British officers mentioned: Tucker, Cawthorne, Messervy were all part of Viceroy Study Group (VSG) chaired by Olaf Caroe since 1942. All the papers were carted away after 1947.
I don't know if Cunningham and Ismay were also part of the group.

I know Ismay was on Churchill's staff.

LINK
Peregrine
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A look back at the partition

Post by Peregrine »

Vips wrote:How the British schemed to give Kashmir to Pakistan.

Once accession to Pakistan appeared unlikely, the British instituted Operations Gulmarg and Datta Khel  respectively  to foil possible accession to India.

Kashmir's Untold Story Declassified has not come a day too soon given that no state -- now a Union Territory -- has witnessed so much turmoil and received so much attention in the last 70 years.
.
.
It is too early to comment on this.Let the delimitation of all the constituencies in the newly formed Union Territories first take place.
Vips Ji :

I have searched for the Book and found the following :

Kashmir's Untold Story Declassified - by Iqbal Chand Malhotra, Maroof Raza

Synopsis

Why has this state of siege in the Kashmir valley continued for 72 years since the Partition of India?

What role has Pakistan played in it all of these years? And will there ever be a resolution to the militancy in the state?

How will Islamabad get the forces of Islamic jihad-nurtured and based in Pakistan-to ever reconcile to the existing boundaries of J&K?

How important is the ownership of the waters of the rivers of the Indus system for Pakistan-despite generous supplies under the Indus Waters Treaty-in determining an end to the siege within Kashmir?

What are China's interests in J&K and how does the success of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) for oil and gas supplies hinge on Pakistan's occupation of northern areas of Kashmir?

Why does the future survival and growth of the Chinese microchip industry depend upon the continuance of China's control of the waters and dams in the Indus river system?

Kashmir's Untold Story Declassified : Declassified provides answers to these gripping questions and joins the dots in presenting the matrix of a consistent and compelling argument regarding the future of the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Today, the state's water resources are coveted by the beleaguered Chinese microchip industry and it appears that this is going to determine the continuing militancy in the state. Malhotra and Raza argue that China and its client Pakistan will actively back the militancy, come what may.

Delving deeper, the book also reveals amazing insights into the Government of India's policy towards the state, right from 1889, when it first imposed central rule and dispossessed the rule of the then Maharaja, till date. Owing to its strategic location, the intrigues within the state and the machinations of its neighbours have resulted in the government directly administering its affairs, one way or the other, for the last 130 years.

It is a riveting account of the history of Jammu and Kashmir, from the time of its political and geographic consolidation under Maharaja Gulab Singh to present-day India.

I am unable to get the Book from Amazon.

I would be grateful if you can share with the source from where I can get this book.

Many Thanks in Advance

Cheers Image
Vips
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Re: A look back at the partition

Post by Vips »

Thanks Ramana Saar and Pergrineji.
Peregrine
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Re: A look back at the partition

Post by Peregrine »

ramana wrote:Vips,
Allof the British officers mentioned: Tucker, Cawthorne, Messervy were all part of Viceroy Study Group (VSG) chaired by Olaf Caroe since 1942. All the papers were carted away after 1947.
I don't know if Cunningham and Ismay were also part of the group.

I know Ismay was on Churchill's staff.

LINK
ramana Ji:

Do you have have the Article "THE NORTH WEST FRONTIER By Sir Olaf Caroe"

I will try to Fax it to you but would need your Fax Number by E-Mail so that I can FAX it to you.

Cheers Image
Shanmukh
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Re: A look back at the partition

Post by Shanmukh »

Here, Saswati Sarkar, Dikgaj and I bust some propaganda about the number of Muslims killed/expelled from Jammu. As usual, all comments and criticisms are welcome.

https://sringeribelur.wordpress.com/the ... d-kashmir/
ramana
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Re: A look back at the partition

Post by ramana »

I have the book on Pathans by Caroe.

Convert that into pdf and will send my email to you!
Shanmukh
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Re: A look back at the partition

Post by Shanmukh »

@Ramana-garu,
Is that Olaf Caroe's book? If so, it is available on archive here.

https://ia802600.us.archive.org/17/item ... 306822.pdf
wig
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Re: A look back at the partition

Post by wig »

https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/featu ... ura-396917
this article is worth reading in full. it describes the fortitude and perseverance with which the penniless migrants who survived the migration, pulled themselves up to establish themselves as a thriving well of community


Partition: Bahawalpuris' long journey to Rajpura
The prosperous community from Pakistan left everything in 1947 and came to India, where a new township was to become their home
excerpted
the human loss
According to GD Khosla, former Chief Justice of the then Punjab High Court and chairman of the fact-finding commission on events of Partition, of a total of 2.5 lakh non-Muslims, only 70,000 were left alive in Bahawalpur. “Between 70,000-80,000 migrated to India and the rest (1 lakh) could not be accounted for. They had either perished in the mass massacres or had been forcibly converted to Islam,” he writes in his book ‘Stern Reckoning’.
g.sarkar
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Re: A look back at the partition

Post by g.sarkar »

Wigji,
The article mentions Ranchi in Jharkhand where Bhawalpuris settled. Some of my Sardar school mates in Ranchi (where I went to Central School) were from refugee families. One of my friend's father opened a small bicycle repair shop (repairing punctures etc.) after migrating from Pakistan. Others were running small roadside businesses. Fortunately, all of them were established within one generation. I am not sure from which part of West Pakistan they came from though.
Gautam
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Re: A look back at the partition

Post by Abhi_G »

While it is good to celebrate the resilience and perseverance of the Punjabi community, it is also important to understand that Bengali Hindus affected by the partition of Bengal were not that fortunate.

They were tagged as 'Permanent Liability' and placed in Permanent Liability Camps (PLC) with no help from GoI of JLN.

https://twitter.com/kanchangupta/status ... 3267435527

@Kanchan Gupta
Bengali Hindu refugees were disparagingly labelled 'Permanent Liability' by Nehru. Refugee camps were called PLCs or Permanent Liability Camps.
Free India is set to turn 75.
It is Nehru's clan which qualifies as 'Permanent Liability', funded by taxes we refugees are proud to pay.
JLN used the Nehru-Liaquat treaty to block Bengali Hindus from entering India while protecting Muslims in 'secular' India. So the pogroms and genocide continued and continues until today. I am taken aback at the kind of conscience of the baboos who would have no compunction at leaving an entire community at peril. Probably, these Hindus were/are the untermenschen of Bharatvarsha; so it is justified to be like this with them and ignore any responsibility towards these people.

Bengali Hindu refugees were 'gifted' the 'Dandakaranya Project' for settlement, far far way from Bengal and in an arid, draught stricken region where crops would not grow. No support from successive Congress Govts. The Bengali Hindus supplanted there were mostly agriculturists; so it was like pushing them to a famine and look the other way. The resilience of these people brought them back to Bengal. But destiny had something more sinister in store for them.

Image

Jyoti Basu, his comrades and IG's Congress government were the perpetrators of the ghastly Marichjhapi massacre in 1979.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marichjhapi_massacre
wig
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Re: A look back at the partition

Post by wig »

https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/comme ... ive-408919

How we came out alive
On September 19, 1947, a caravan consisting of over a thousand women, children and men started for the refugee camp at Akalgarh, about 6 miles away. The move was incident-free till we reached the outskirts of Akalgarh. There we found ourselves face-to-face with almost the entire male Muslim population of the town with weapons in hands, baying for our blood.
extracts
On August 15, 1947, houses of Hindus and Sikhs in Ramnagar were looted and set on fire, but no harm came to us. My father, Amar Singh Chattha, was a popular local leader. He had done yeoman’s service and enjoyed a good rapport with the local officials, prominent Muslim residents of the town, and notable Muslim Chatthas of the area, primarily of the neighbouring Salhoke and Burj villages. Our village had about 400 residents, consisting mainly of Sikhs. Till mid-September that year, no one touched us. However, by then, it had become clear that we had no alternative but to migrate to India. The Rajput Sikhs of nearby Bela (riverine) area also joined us, raising the numbers to approximately a thousand. My father went to the refugee camp at Akalgarh (now renamed Alipur) and requested the military officer in charge there to provide an escort of a few jawans for our safe passage to the camp there. He also sent a note to the tonga adda in-charge in the town for sending seven to eight tongas to carry essential clothing, etc.
The escort and tongas arrived on September 19. Chaudhry Mohd Khan Chattha and his nephew from Burj also willingly came, mounted on horses and armed with guns, to ensure that no harm came to us. So, on September 19, a caravan consisting of over a thousand women, children and men started for the refugee camp at Akalgarh, about 6 miles away. The move was incident-free till we reached the outskirts of Akalgarh. There, we found ourselves face-to-face with almost the entire male Muslim population of the town with weapons in hands, baying for our blood. On seeing us, they started shouting “Ya Ali!” and “Allah Hu Akbar”. The Sikhs, not to be outdone, countered with “Bole So Nihal, Sat Sri Akal”. A deadly clash appeared inevitable. Mohd Khan Chattha announced that they will create history by laying down their lives fighting for their Sikh brethren. Realisation soon dawned on us that we stood to lose our lives in that Muslim-majority heartland, deep inside Pakistan. Hence, the escorting soldiers were rushed to the military camp with an SOS message.

Promptly, a Subedar of the Dogra Regiment arrived there with seven to eight armed jawans. He ordered the jawans to take up firing positions and announced loudly that anyone coming forward will be shot dead by the soldiers. That had a salutary impact as the army was held in great awe. A few Muslim leaders came forward and spelled out their two conditions for our safe passage. Firstly, all Sikhs should be completely disarmed immediately. Secondly, they could not be allowed to join the existing camps. As such, they will have to go to the railway station area (about a mile away) and set up their separate camp there. These were agreed to after some consultations, as the Subedar assured full protection to the Sikhs. Accordingly, the Sikhs handed over their swords, spears and sticks. After that, we were escorted to the railway station area and told to set up a new refugee camp inside a deserted rice mill within a walled compound.


After two to three days, the Dogras were replaced by a contingent of the Baluch regiment. The Baluchis were known to be highly communal. The Sikh elders apprehended danger. Since we had been disarmed, we needed something for our self-defence. It was decided to use bricks as a weapon. All the men and women were told to dismantle a bricked platform inside the compound, and place the bricks along the perimeter wall. Duties were assigned to man the perimeter round the clock, so that anyone trying to scale the wall from outside could be dealt with using the bricks. Sandbags were also filled up and kept ready to strengthen the entry gate.

Food articles had to be purchased from outside. The shopkeepers had been prohibited from selling anything to the Sikhs. Even after police intervention, Muslim leaders relented only with impossible conditions. Mercifully, a locked room inside the compound was broken open. To our delight, we found it full of rice bags. These saved our lives.

After about a week, one day we woke up to find that the Baluchis had suddenly deserted us. We were now more vulnerable to attacks by the rampaging crowds outside the compound. The elders put their heads together and decided to take two more measures. Firstly, there were five to six former soldiers who had been recently demobilised after World War II. They had their old uniforms with them. They were told to put on military uniforms and stand on duty at the entry gate and on top of the building. My airgun, which looked like a carbine, was given to them. Others picked up pipe pieces and other such objects to appear as guns from a distance. Word was also spread surreptitiously that during the previous night, Sikh troops had come to us from Sialkot. That ruse worked!
ndly, the hair of two able-bodied Sikh youths was clipped, and they were sent to Amritsar, in disguise, for help. One of the two who entrained at night from the railway station of Gajar Gola had to jump out of the running train to save his life from young Muslims who spotted him as a Nau Muslim (recent convert). Badly bruised and bleeding, he lay there till a passing Muslim potter heard his cries. Taking pity on him, he put him on his donkey and brought him to our camp gate. The other person who was sent out just managed to escape to Sialkot and then to Jammu.

We managed to survive on our own for about a week. Then, one day, a contingent of the Maratha Regiment came to Akalgarh. Their Captain came to our camp with some soldiers and assured us full protection. He lauded the way we had survived on our own. He also called our ex-soldiers and thumped their backs. Seeing our plight, he promised to evacuate us on priority.
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