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Forum Post
Feb 17, 2024
In Photographs
Hindu and Sikh refugees from Pakistan in makeshift camps in eastern Punjab.
Refugees from West Punjab content media
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Forum Post
Feb 05, 2024
In Photographs
An armoured car of the Wiltshire Regiment leaving City Police headquarters on a peace-keeping patrol after communal riots in Amritsar, Punjab, March 1947. The first train to be attacked was in Amritsar on 6th of March, 1947, when a Muslim mob stopped a train coming from Pathankot in the suburb of Sharifpura and murdered hapless men, women and children. Similar train attacks were carried out on trains coming from Jullundur and Narowal as well. On the 5th March, when the attack opened, the Muslims attacked only such Hindu-Sikh areas as were mostly surrounded by heavy Muslim zones, such as Sattowali Gali, Gokal New Abadi in Kila Bhangian, Deviwali Gali, Chhaju Misr's Gali, Islamabad, Hall Bazar etc. All this shows pre-planning. Battle of Amritsar(https://www.sikhiwiki.org/index.php/The_Battle_for_Amritsar,_1947)
Amritsar, March 1947 content media
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Forum Post
Jan 27, 2024
In Online Articles & Books
Reference article; https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Network-of-Canal-in-Thal-1954-Source-One-of-the-network-canal-which-turned-an-area_fig1_371540584(https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Network-of-Canal-in-Thal-1954-Source-One-of-the-network-canal-which-turned-an-area_fig1_371540584) Excerpts: This article explains the post partition scenario in East and West of the Pakistani Punjab.This imperative research includes the details of disturbances in Sargodha (a city of Punjab) through primary and secondary sources along with facts and figures. Pattern of settlement has been explained following by the developmental projects in this region. In September 1947, there was a significant record of assault in the Mianwali locale, the greater part of the Hindu and Sikh populace (being 6000  men, ladies, and kids) were  slaughtered and consumed  alive.  Youngsters  were  grabbed  away  from their mom's arms and tossed into the bubbling oil. Many ladies saved their distinction by hopping into wells and hurling themselves entirely into consuming houses. Young ladies of 8 to 10 years old were assaulted within the sight of their folks and afterward put absurdly brutally (Major, 1995). Monstrosities  were  on  their  pinnacle,  individuals  were  tormented  both  truly  and intellectually,  the  bosoms  of  ladies were  sliced  and  they  were  made  to  walk  all exposed in lines of five in the marketplaces of Harnoli, Mianwali. Around 800 young ladies and ladies were  stolen and little youngsters were meandering stripped in the wildernesses  and  were  hijacked  by  the  passers-by.  Trains had additionally been assaulted in Mianwali and there was a report about the plundering of a whole train on the Khushab-Kundian line someplace close to the Mianwali line. A tough spot  was  made because of  Muslim zeal  in Soon  Valley of  Khushab. In Mianwali district, trans-border Pathans proved a menace. the local Pathans with their encounters pillaged non-Muslim  villages, especially in  Police Stations Piplan and  Harnoli,  Mianwali.  Non-Muslims  got  panicked,  at  the  latter  place  took  up positions  and  opened  indiscriminate  firing,  injuring  two  soldiers,  despite  a Magistrate‟s efforts. Firing was eventually exchanged by the Magistrate‟s party and it  continued  for 36  hours before  the  non-Muslims  gave  up.  They  suffered  heavy causalities. Very critical situation was averted at Sargodha by the timely arrival of police when Gurkha  soldiers  entered  the  local  Juma  mosque  on  information  that  forcible conversions of  Hindus  were taking  place. Muslim mobs looted Hindus  houses  in Chak Ram Dass, Mehga Jhawarian and Miani in the district. In Miani, they killed 74 non-Muslims including women and children but Police were able to arrest 283 of the attackers and recovered looted  property and arms.  About 45  non-Muslims moving from Kinderabad to Sargodha were killed en-route. From  Mianwali, a  gun  with  25  cartridges,  a  303  bore  revolver with 4  rounds,  18 bottles  bomb,  two  acid  bottles  and  sharp-edged  weapons  were  recovered  from Hindus, 8 of whom were arrested.6 A sudden attack was appeared by a heavily armed Muslim mob on Mianwali town was checked after a night long battle of police and military. Fifty Hindus and 12 Muslims were killed and 35 Hindus were injured. In Mianwali district,  the Hindu and  Sikh concentration at  Kalabagh was  attacked  by Muslims, as a result of which 8 Hindus and 2 Muslims got died and 12 Hindus got injured. A Hindu station Master of Shah Alam, Mianwali district, and his wife were killed and their property were looted. A mob attacked the evacuee‟s camp at Nawan  Jandanwala in the same district killing two non-Muslims. Two of the raiders were wounded by the troops, who opened fire. Armed Muslim mobs raiding Darya Khan on two  occasions succeeded  in killing 84 Hindus but  left 24  dead by  military and police stationed there.  An attempt by a  Muslim mob to attack the evacuees‟ camp at Darya Khan was failed by police and military firing. About 600 Muslims intended to attack a military special train at Daud Khel railway station in Mianwali district were dispersed by troops. In Sargodha, a mob of 20 Muslims carrying spears killed three Hindus and  three Sikhs on  their way  from Farooqa to Sillanwali. A dozen armed Muslims killed the Head Postmaster at Sodhi, P.S Nowshera district Khushab along with  his  wife  and  two  little  daughters,  they  had  embraced  Islam  but  wanted evacuation.  Some  armed  local  goondas  exchanged  shots  with  a  police  patrol  in Nowshera village without casualties.
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Forum Post
Jan 27, 2024
In Geography & Demographics
Much before the calamitous events of Aug-Sept 1947, the north-eastern region of what is now Pakistan saw targeted attacks on Sikh villages. Born and brought up in Nowshera Cantonment in Peshawar, I was 14 at the time of Partition. An important cantonment of British India, it had the Royal Air Force Centre and the Sikh Regimental Centre. The city was home to a small civilian population and was surrounded by Pakhtun villages. We were taught Urdu and Persian in school and my father conversed with his patients in fluent Pashto. Nowshera was famous for the great battle in 1823 that resulted in a decisive victory for Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s army against the Afghans, with the annexation of Peshawar valley beyond Khyber. Both my parents belonged to Choha Khalsa in Kahuta tehsil of Rawalpindi district in Pothohar, a plateau in north-eastern Pakistan comprising the districts of Rawalpindi, Attock and Jhelum. Sikh villages and towns were scattered in this region. Muslims formed 80 per cent of the population. The Sikhs were well-off, respected and trusted. Article reference: https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/comment/the-march-massacre-in-pothohar-443900#google_vignette(https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/comment/the-march-massacre-in-pothohar-443900#google_vignette) Some of the villages highlighted for reference (map)(https://www.google.com/maps/place/Thoha+Khalsa,+Rawalpindi,+Punjab,+Pakistan/@33.4511148,73.3793337,12z/data=!4m6!3m5!1s0x38dffd005e5ffe5d:0xbc01ec2ab05f8505!8m2!3d33.5113069!4d73.4327538!16s%2Fm%2F04gh9xl?entry=ttu).
Pothohar Massacres in March, 1947 content media
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Forum Post
Jan 06, 2024
In Online Articles & Books
Reference: https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/do133-591.jpg(https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/do133-591.jpg)
September disturbances, wire reports content media
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Forum Post
Dec 08, 2023
In Geography & Demographics
Photographs of pre-partition havelis of Kalanaur, Rohtak. https://issuu.com/wokalmag/docs/issue_2_final_editted_1-pages-1-65-merged-pages-1-/s/10987644 (https://issuu.com/wokalmag/docs/issue_2_final_editted_1-pages-1-65-merged-pages-1-/s/10987644) Kalanaur, Rohtak
Pre-Partition Havelis of Kalanaur, Rohtak content media
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Forum Post
Jul 30, 2023
In Online Articles & Books
A collection of historical books on Punjab has been meticulously digitized and are available here in the Panjab Digital Library (based in Chandigarh, Punjab). There are series of books on the subject of Partition such as growing religious tensions in 1946, the Punjab Boundary Comission reports of 1947, train massacres in West and East Punjab, and personal accounts of the refugees. This library provides a wealth of information for your own research and knowledge. http://www.panjabdigilib.org/webuser/searches/mainpage.jsp?CategoryID=1&Searched=partition&typebox=1
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Forum Post
Jun 26, 2023
In Online Articles & Books
edited by Radhika Mohanram, Anindya Raychaudhuri Analysis of violence during Partition. A well researched book on the genesis of violence and some of the key events that took place in west and east Punjab. On the killings in Sheikhupura, here's an excerpt.
Partitions and Their Afterlives: Violence, Memories, Living content media
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Forum Post
Jun 26, 2023
In Online Articles & Books
Niranjan Singh, a Sikh tea merchant, had served a brew to his friend, a Muslim leather worker, for decades. However, the week after he found his shop part of a new country the man came running in one morning with a gang shouting, “Kill him! Kill him!”. One cut Singh’s leg with his sword; others killed his 90-year-old father and only son. The last thing Singh could recall was his teenage daughter being abducted and carried off on the back of “a man to whom he’d been serving tea for 15 years”. The tea merchant’s story took place in Lahore 70 years ago in August 1947 as Muslim-majority Pakistan was carved from Hindu-majority India, dividing the region of Punjab in half. Sikhs, Muslims and Hindus. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/murder-migration-and-forced-conversion-in-post-partition-india-b65t8dmt9
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Forum Post
May 26, 2023
In Geography & Demographics
In his report, Justice Mehar Chand Mahajan recommended that the boundary line should be near the Ravi including Lahore in the East Punjab and Justice Teja Singh advocated that the boundary line should be near the Chenab, including parts of the districts of Sheikhupura and Gujranwala, Montgomery and Lyall- pur in the East Punjab. The Hindu-Sikh case rested on the economic conditions as the non-Muslim had played a major part in the development of the Central Punjab. The Bari Doab and more particularly the districts of Gurdaspur, Amritsar and Lahore had been described by historians and settlement officers as the “home land of the Sikhs* who owned more than two-thirds of the ai ea and paid more than two-thirds of the land revenue of this tract.^® This Sikh peasant proprietors’ tract had been developed as a single unit along the Upper Bari Doab Canal which had been dug, it was ingeneously claimed, to resettle the disbanded Sikh soldiers after the Anglo-Sikh Wars. The districts of Lyall- pur and Montgomery had been colonized by the sturdy Sikh Jats of Ambala, Jullundur and Amritsar districts. In a tract known as Shahidi-Bar, comprising a part of the districts of Gujranwala, Sheikhupura and Lyallpur was mostly owned by the Sikh peasants who paid more than twice the land revenue paid by the Muslims.^® Historically, this was the most important tract for the Sikhs as one of their most sacred shrines, Nanakana Sahib, was situated in it. The Hindus and the Sikhs had played a major role in the development of industry, commerce and trade of Lahore the metropolis of the Punjab. More than 75 per cent of commerce, banks and commercial institutions were in the hands of the non- Muslims. The survey of Lahore carried out by the Punjab. Government Board of Economic Enquiry indicated that 80 per cent registered factories in Lahore belonged to the non-Muslims. Of the total capital investment in Lahore, viz. Rs. 6.29 crores, the non-Muslim’s share was Rs. 5.12 crores. Of the 90 bank branches, only 3 belonged to the Muslims. Of the 80 offices of insurance companies, only two belonged to the Muslims. Of the 36th High Schools only four were run by the Muslims.^^ It was argued that about one-third of the Muslim population was not rooted in the soil and was essentially of a floating chara¬ cter, consisting of faqirs, weavers, herdsmen, cobblers, potters, carpenters, oilmen, bards, barbers, blacksmiths, washermen, butchers and w/raj/5. According to the Census Report of 1931, out of the total Muslim population of 14,929,896, this class of persons numbered about 45 per cent and were divided as under :— Faqirs ... 256,533 Jullaha (weavers) . ■ • • • • 512.579 Cobblers ••« ••• 464,218 Kumhars (potters) • • • • • • 423,617 (Chamar converts)... 412,300 Carpenters • • • • • • 346,948 Oilmen • • • • • • 344,927 Bards • • • • • • 244,320 Barbers • • • • • • 196,104 Blacksmiths • • • • • • 241,972 Washermen • • • • • • 162,224 Butchers • • • • • • 127,198 Mirasis • • • • • • 243,330 Herdsmen • • • • • • 421,347^8 In case the line of argument followed by the Hindu and Sikh members was accepted, the main consideration would have been economic factors rather than the population factor. Kirpal Singh "Partition of India" https://archive.org/details/the-partition-of-the-punjab/page/82/mode/2up?view=theater
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Forum Post
May 26, 2023
In Photographs
Sikh refugees Seems late August or September.
Partition Series of Photographs of refugees filmed near Delhi content media
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Forum Post
Nov 30, 2022
In Videos
Narinder Singh Kapoor is well known Punjabi Prose Writer from Patiala, Punjab, India. He talks about the Partition experience and its lasting impact on our lives.
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Forum Post
Nov 19, 2022
In Online Articles & Books
Ian Talbot analysis the development trends of Lahore and Amritsar post-partition. In contrast to the resurgence of Lahore, Amritsar saw its economy deteriorate due to lack of trade links with Karachi and Central Asia. Most of the supply of raw materials and business relationships with Lahore and western Punjab were now cut-off due to Partition. This resulted in Ludhiana becoming the major industrial hub of east Punjab and Amritsar becoming a border outpost with very little economic vitality. Journal can be access in JSTOR (requires registration). Some excerpts.
JOURNAL ARTICLE
A Tale of Two Cities: The Aftermath of Partition for Lahore and Amritsar 1947-1957 content media
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Forum Post
Nov 19, 2022
In Photographs
Sikh and Hindu refugees arriving on ships at Bombay Port, 1947. Also refer to this article for more details on how these refugees arrived from Karachi, https://www.gatewayhouse.in/bombay-karachi-linked/
Punjabi Refugees arriving in Bombay, 1947 content media
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Forum Post
Nov 18, 2022
In Videos
Irfan Habib, Romila Thapar and Harbans Mukhia
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Forum Post
May 01, 2022
In Online Articles & Books
In the book "The Great Tragedy of India's Partition" by S.S. Sharma. The idea of two-nation theory was also supported by the likes of Savarkar and Lala Lajpat Rai. The book is an essential read for those who want to learn more about this topic, and it methodically goes into the stages that led to the division of the country. Link to book review
Tragedy of Partition: Book Review content media
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Forum Post
Apr 14, 2022
In Photographs
Wrecked buildings after communal riots in Amritsar in 1947 - (c) Keystone Features
Amritsar, August 1947 content media
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Forum Post
Apr 11, 2022
In Geography & Demographics
In this article "When Emperors turned on Gurus", author Parvez Mahmood writes about the historical injustices suffered by the Sikhs that caused a growing rift between the two communities in Punjab. Excerpt ⓒThe Friday Times: The seeds of animosity between the two communities, Muslim and Sikh, that led to the eruption of such harrowing violence were planted three-and-a-half centuries earlier by an unfortunate episode during the unsuccessful rebellion of Prince Khusrau against his father, the newly enthroned Emperor Jahangir, and nourished by bloody events during the reign of Emperor Aurangzeb and later during the invasions of Ahmed Shah Abdali. As will be observed later in this article, the people of Punjab of all faiths had continued to live in peace with each other during those cataclysmic events in the 17th and 18th centuries and had suffered in equal measures at the hands of Turkic and Afghan invaders.
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