Sagas of Partition
Belu Jain Maheshwari

(Tribune India)

IN the Indian subcontinent, no historical event has left a greater impact then Partition. The vivisection of the country continues to find an echo in the collective minds of the people of this region even 60 years later. The scars of the holocaust run deep; its ramification can be felt in every sphere — social, political, religious or economic.

India and Pakistan both bear their own burdens, with many issues still smouldering. The issue of Kashmir, fanning of terrorism, spiralling defence budgets, which neither country can ill-afford, to defend the no-man’s land. The many wars fought to no avail, resulting loss of young lives on the borders. The political use of the bogey called Pakistan by Indian politicians and vice versa. But the deepest, the unkindest is the use of Partition, to stigmatise the minority community on both sides.

Partition did not solve any problems, it fostered more. Communalism became entrenched in the politico-religious consciousness of the people. The psyche of the nation was destroyed. As we all know, it is not the bricks and mortar which make a nation, it is the feeling of oneness, of shared consciousness of a nation state, and that is what was shattered.

Partition has evoked a great body of work, be it films, poetry, literature or arts. As an event, it has attracted historians of all hues. Some works have been very well researched, not only by historians of the sub-continent but by exceptional researchers’ world over. The theme has been woven in many languages; the collective works would fill a library.

So, when I got this volume, written jointly by a young researcher from India, Tridivesh Singh Maini, and two Pakistani journalist, Tahir Malik and Ali Farooq Malik, I thought another one on the done-to-death topic, but the book drew my attention right from the cover itself. As the stories unfolded, the significance and the timing of the book were brought home.

The book is relevant because since the Kargil war, a churning of minds is taking place. It is not state sponsored, it is not overt, but it is still palpable. People are coming to terms with the Radcliffe Award; the idea of two nation states co-existing with peace is taking root among individuals of both countries.

This volume is another brick in the process of healing. It does not dismiss the holocaust; it actually addresses pertinent questions that had been left unanswered. Did social barriers exist between the Hindus and Muslims even before Partition was announced? Was the centuries-old animosity the reason for acts of barbarism during Partition?

The book is well researched; the methodology used is oral history. The authors are aware of the pitfalls of this source but agree with Urvashi Butalia, that such narratives "often flow into each other in terms of temporal time, they blur the somewhat rigid time frames within which history situates itself". Post-memory is also used, but with the knowledge that it subsumes the space for remembrance, more broadly available through cultural and public and not merely individual and personal acts of remembrance, identification and projection.

There are 12 Indian and 11 Pakistani interviewees. The stories are well documented, with drama kept to the minimum. They reveal that even amidst chaos and barbarianism, there are human beings who keep alive the spirit of courage, generosity even at the risk of losing their own lives. The concept of Punjabiat has been analysed succinctly. The common language, customs, shared traditions, love of the land helps in understanding Punjabiat.

This book is timely as both communities have used communal violence to fight and settle old and new scores. The authors bring out the point that religious differences were not the reason for Partition, but was a depraved act of an outgoing colonial power ignited from below by the lumpen elements. One of the narratives of Amar Singh Dhillon, going from village to village to build public opinion against perpetuating atrocities against the Muslims left in the Sikh territory, shows what good leadership can achieve. How places of worship became rescue shelters even during the worst phase of religious obscurantism and fanaticism.

In today’s fast-changing, inter-connected and technology-driven world, if the two developing countries have to modernise and provide decent living to their citizens, they have to bury the old hatchet and signal peace and tolerance. The generation next needs to work as a catalyst to healing the wounds. The book is a must read, for it keeps hope alive; it is history with a human angle told from the heart.

Changing mindsets

By SYED ALI NAQVI

(The Nation, Pakistan)

One might cry out, humanity is dead if there was any, in disgust and disbelief after going through the events of the partition of the subcontinent. It is hard to believe that hatred and instinctual savagery can derive men to the edge of morality. Politics, religious bias and ethnicity do have the poison to make men so vulnerable that they get ready to put everything at stake.  
Partition of the Indian subcontinent is seen as one of the most brutal and unfortunate events in the world history. There are incidents of mass murder by every religious and ethnic community of each other as well as rapes and abductions of women, looting and separation of families during the migration. Despite all these regrettable episodes humanity could not be overshadowed by violence and insanity. But history hardly caters to the efforts of peace, therefore the humane and positive episodes during the partition riots are not part of the recorded history.
The fiction written during and after the partition depicts the humane side of the partition. The works of Kartar Singh Duggal, Manto and Khuswant develop characters that rise above their religious and ethnic identity and serve the cause of humanity. The book under review Humanity Amidst Insanity, edited by Tridivesh Singh Maini, Tahir Malik and Ali Farooq Malik is also an attempt to bring humane and positive episodes of the 1947 partition holocaust to the fore. The book is a compilation of interviews of the survivors of Indo-Pak partition.
In the introduction of the book the editors make it very clear that the purpose behind such a work is not to forget the trauma and atrocities of the partition but the idea is to look at the positives in order to bridge the gap between the two countries. There is no organised database of the survivors who had positive experiences so the editors had to rely on their personal efforts that certainly paid of.
On the Indian side individuals who are settled in Ludhiana, Delhi, Chandigarh, Amritsar and Kurukshetra were interviewed. They had migrated from Sargodha, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Gujranwala, Kahuta, Sialkot and Bahawalpur. Individuals like Brigadier SS Chowdhary have tales of selflessness and compassion to tell. SS Chowdhary was deputed to as Additional SP at Rohtak at the time of the partition. He was responsible for the safe evacuation of the Muslim refugees in the district. He said that he was approached by various Hindus asking him to allow them to loot the caravans of the Muslims. About his determination to rescue the Muslims he said that it was his duty to give the refugees a safe passage. He even fired at those groups who tried to hurt the Muslim refugees.
Individuals from Lahore, Kasur and Faisalabad were interviewed on the Pakistani side. Shaukat Ali Awan, chief Meteorologist from Sargodha, was born a year after the partition he recollects the stories of her father who rescued the non-Muslims. His father Malik Ghazanfar Awan was a sub-inspector in the police department of the United Punjab Government in 1947. His father also got a chance to meet Sikh Leader Master Tara Singh after sixteen years of the partition. Out of sheer gratitude Tara Singh embraced Awan for what he did for the non-Muslims.
Other interviews including Taj Bibi, Fameeda Bano, Chutal Khan, Rana Ameer Khan, Ahmed Salim, Professor Rafique Muhammad, Umer Farooq Malik, Khursheed Bibi, Mirza Nasir-ud-Din and Dr Asif Nisar are worth reading. Their recollections are vivid with a blend of nostalgia and anxiety.  
Louis W Goodman Dean, school of International Service American University has commented on the book by saying that “Awareness of “positive episodes,” as described in this book, can inspire positive acts by others under stress and can help leaders bring out the best in themselves and those that depend on them for guidance”. Works such as this can certainly change the mindset of the people and changing mindsets is akin to changing the world.
Humanity Amid Insanity is a book of its kind. It is a commendable effort by Tariq Malik, Tridivesh Singh Maini and Ali Farooq Malik to give hope to the people of India and Pakistan that we can coexist. It is not only the sufferings of the partition that the editors has tried to evade but also the enmity that still lingers on between the two countries.  
The road to progress, prosperity and above all peace for both India and Pakistan is the spirit of compassion and tolerance. India and Pakistan has fought three wars since partition that led only to destruction, chaos and hatred. Its never late to mend.

Comments (1)

	1. 09-03-2009 20:08
	Thanks for the info about this book. Registered

Shaak

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