The morning of 14th August 1947 was no ordinary morning for young Mrs. Lily Soni. Her worst fears had come true, and the most dreaded announcement had been made. Her free and independent India had now become a divided nation.
(The left image represents the Hindu Majority Regions while the image on the right represents Muslim dominated areas. Darker Shades represent greater majority)
Roaming about the valleys of Kashmir, and enjoying the romantic moments of her newly married life, she was caught off guard when Lord Mountbatten declared India as a divided nation and East Punjab, her ancestral home, a part of another country. So while she was safely tucked away with her newly married husband in Bombay, her parents residing in the epicentre of riots – Punjab, lived the most excruciating moments of their life. Being a believer of Hindu religion, none of her family had to go through the precarious journey to Pakistan. However some of her relatives, namely her aunt late Mrs. Akshari Uppal had to take the treacherous path back to her home, India and as could be expected, the going was not easy.
With the declaration of the Partition, nearly 14.5 million people crossed the border to reach their new homeland based on their religion. According to a 1951 Census, nearly 7,226,000 Muslims went to Pakistan from India while 7,249,000 Hindus and Sikhs moved to India from Pakistan immediately after partition. It is said to be one of the largest population movements ever in recorded history. It also became the first and possibly the largest massacre in the history of the two independent nations.
With so many people hurrying to cross the border in search of a safer home, people left behind not just a land full of memories but also all their belongings, properties and hard earned wealth, hoping for a new start in a new land. At least this was the case with the cousin of a distinguished Indian Prince, who left behind her all her riches and entered India in rags, devoid of all her jewellery save those which she had successfully stolen into the nation, hidden from the prying eyes of the many robbers and looters on the way. So tough was it to carry one’s own belongings with them that many preferred to throw them deep inside their well in the hope that they shall soon return to collect it. But precious metals weren’t the only thing that the raiders were after; the sight of a pretty woman was more desirable than any gold. Because of which women too had to be hidden at the bottom of their caravan, covered by quilt, beneath one’s foot to escape the lustful eyes of the strangers. Despite this many young Hindu women were forcefully dragged away to a life of slavery at the hands of Muslim men. Rape and sexual assault had become common practice. Death too didn’t come easy for many, the ruthless nature of a mob ensured that there religious enemies died a torturous death by pulling their body of in opposite the directions until the body split into two. The sight of train full of human carcass rolling into the station was not that infrequent. Slavery, forced marriages, riots, manslaughter; they all became a regular event. Official figures peg the loss of life in the ensuing days of partition at above 1 million. The Hindus claim it was the Muslims who started the killing, while the Muslims maintain that it was the Hindu Sikhs who took to the sword first. Violence truly reached its peak in the inaugural days of independence. Ironic for a nation, that achieved its independence through non-violence.
But on the upside, the native Hindu & Muslim on either side showed a lot of compassion and benevolence towards the newly migrated refugees. Refugee camps were set up all over the country to assist those who have just entered the nation as well as for those who wish to deport to the other side. Free food and living space was provided to the residents of these refugee camps, it also served as an important place to trade properties of that they had left behind with a living quarter in their new country. Special colonies were built to accommodate the refugees. A number of schemes such as the provision of education, employment opportunities and easy loans were provided at national level to help start businesses at all-India levels. Yet many who had sprawling businesses in their pre-partition times had to make a fresh beginning from the scratch. “Mr. S C Kohli, a reputed film distributor of Pakistan, was one of the many people who maintained that partition would never take place and thus had not made any arrangements for when it eventually did happen. He was thereby forced to leave his prosperous business of film distribution in Lahore and embark on a new life in India by starting from the scratch” said Mrs. Soni.
It was only after Nathuram Godse assassinated Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi that riots and infighting truly came to an end. It took the death of the most peace loving person ever to teach the nation the lesson and importance of non-violence.
