Partition Memoirs From Your Grandparents

[singhalicious]

Yeh yeh yeh am back for abit …anyways yesterday afternoon whilst I was at my grandparents house I decided to ask my grandparents about their recollections of the partition of the Punjab. Well firstly I would like to say that my grandparents are from the Moga area therefore obviously their accounts of violence and the perpetrators of the violence would be different to say someone from Rawalpindi.

My granddad spoke first he talked about the good ties they had with the Muslim community and how they lived side by side for generations. But as violence around them grew, the Muslim villagers of our pind had to flee and the other Sikh villagers wanted to kill these fleeing Muslim villagers. My great granddad however got his best friend/business associate a Muslim by the name of Foja and his 3 sons (Deena, Shahu, Galubu), 2 daughters and 2 daughter in laws and another smaller Muslim family in his house where he swore to protect them with his life since my great granddad was a powerful man and the head villager none of the other villagers dare attacked his house. After keeping the Muslims at his house for 6/7 weeks he took them to a relief camp(I forgot the name but think it began with an S hmm) where they joined a long Muslim convoy that marched on towards Pakistan. At this point i was wondering how my great granddad was feeling leaving his best friend in a long convoy of people who were marching on towards new country with hardly any of their possessions.

Then i questioned my granddad if Muslims were killed in Moga the main town close to us and he told me that fake Sikh military men told the population of Muslims of the surrounding villages to come to Moga and put their possessions; gold etc in a pile and as my granddad recounted this memory he acted out how the Muslim women took off their bangles/earings and tossed them onto a pile after reassurances from the fake military men, that they would get all their possessions back once they arrived in Pakistan. However after they all piled their belongings they were made to stand in line and the fake military men used a sten gun and mowed down many of the Muslims however a few managed to escape. As he explained to me what a sten gun is capable of at killing dozens at a time i was left quite taken back.

I then questioned my granddad about whether there are any Muslims in our village to which he replied a few who survived and hid, still roam about now freely. He also mentioned sardara deh pind which are pinds with large land owning men like Runiya/Uda in these pinds the Sikh men brutally wiped out their Muslim populations. After taking all this in, I decided to ask him what happened to the Mussalmania to which he replied Sikh men took Muslim girls and Muslim men took Sikh/Hindu girls. Then he told me about two Muslim women who stayed back in the Pind and decided to opt to stay with Sikh men, one called Palo and the other called Tejo, after a while military men took Palo against her will to Pakistan, Tejo had brothers in the Military who came for her and she too was taken to Pakistan but Tejo re-crossed the border from Pakistan where she was stopped by Sikh military men who asked her what she was doing there, since shes a Mussalmani and Pakistan was the opposite way, to which my granddad quoted her as saying ‘Mai Mussalmani hai juroor par mai apneh pind Mehne nu jaana,’ and they let her go after she argued with them and she married a Sikh man and their decendants are now in our village. That was my granddads account roughly and most of what he mentioned happened to be Sikh atrocities against Muslims since we come from a Sikh majority area I guess. My grandma who faintly remembers partition and too lives in the Moga area recalled abit about the general violence and she mentioned how Muslim girls who lived behind her house were crying after being forced to leave their ancestral homes to a country they didn’t even ask for. However she also mentioned how Muslims attacked Sikhs in their area.

My granddad blamed the partition on Hindu power greedy government and he blamed them for pitting the Sikhs and Muslims against eachother…he spoke positively about the Muslims and how punjabi Mussalmans are like us etc etc....anyways I think people should reply with their own grandparents accounts. :wub: I left out quite abit I think but damn oh well…it was a shoking insight into what my grandparents had seen during their teen years!

[singhalicious]

btw i probably spelt the names of people and places wrong

[Mehtab Singh]

My family (who are Hindus) lived in Delhi in 1947. My daadee clearly remembers those spine-chilling moments and has narrated some to me.

She says that everyone would stay up all night out of fear, as the streets would roar with war cries of "Sat Sri Akaal", "Har Har Mahadev" and "Allah-u-Akbar". My family was in a Hindu/Sikh dominated area, and witnessed some of the most brutal killing of Muslims. My daadee herself saw a Sikh sitting the throat of a 5 year old Muslim kid, and then he picked up the kid's old grandmother and threw her into a shop that was on fire. My taayaji who was 5 years old stood there watching all this, and she put her hand on his face and turned it away. Girls as young as 14 were dishonored. Another family whom we knew (don't remember if they were family friends or distant relatives) were sleeping on a railway station waiting for the train to come to India and were hacked by Muslims as they slept. Even my dadaji barely escaped when a Muslim hurled a barchhee at him as he was returning home from he market. In my ancestral village in Punjab, Muslims were pulled out of their homes and burnt alive, from what I have heard.

As Muslims from our area got ready to leave, the policemen and soldiers started instigating Hindus, saying "Their people killed so many of ours, and you are going to let them go free?" The people said "What can we do?" The cops and soldiers said "Just start and leave the rest to us". This also I was told by my daadee. Maybe thats when all hell broke loose on the Muslims.

1947 was a terribly bad time. Blood was spilled like rivers on both sides, with one side being Hindus and Sikhs and the other being Muslims. Some might not like using the word "Sikh" associated with killers/rapists, but sadly thats what happened, as there were numerous of them in Sikhi saroop who committed these inhuman acts. But then again, it was on both sides. The tragedy that struck Hindus and Sikhs coming from Pakistan was equally bad, and perhaps worse in some cases. There was a school in Rawalpindi for Hindu girls. They had a khoo (well) in the school where all the girls jumped in and gave up their lives rather than losing their honor ( a similar story shown in a Doordarshan TV serial: http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=...19&hl=en-GB ). However let me point out that no Muslims were massacred in Muktsar as Sikhs over there safeguarded them due to the fact that the Nawab of Malerkotla Sher Mohammad Khan had protested against dusht Wazir Khan's decision to martyr the Chhote Sahibzaade.

I pray such a time never ever falls any community :WW:

[Mehtab Singh]

http://www.tapoban.org/phorum/read.php?f=1&i=110688&t=34704#reply_110688

On 6th March, 1947 at 12pm a Muslim came and informed us that our village Vahaali was in danger tonight. He asked us to leave immediately. Within seconds this news spread across the village. The Muslims had already attacked the neighbouring villages of Hindus and Sikhs.

All Hindus and Sikhs gathered at the house of Mr. Bal Mukand who was the Superintendent of Police. After the meeting all roads leading to our village were blocked by throwing trees on the roads. Three levels of defence were formed around our village. At each morcha, 20 young-trained Sikhs were asked to defend. Each Morcha had at least one Sikh who understood the Pashtu language (language of Pathaans), so that they may understand what Muslims were saying.

At night about 3-4 thousand armed Muslims came from the side of the small hill. They raised slogans against the Sikhs and in favour of Pakistan. Around 9pm they attacked us. Singhs performed Ardaas and raised “SAT SREE AKAAL†slogans. Singhs gave me (Nirvair Singh) the hukam to fire and I fired 20 rounds. Muslims retreated and took their dead along with them.

After one hour they attacked again and this time they attacked the house of Sardar Dyaal Singh Marwaha. One stone hit Sardar Gurmukh Singh and he was seriously injured. From our side we fired from 3 defence posts (Morchay) and the Muslims again retreated and took their dead along.

They came back and attacked the Haveli (big house) of Sardar Hardit Singh. They tried to set it on fire. Sardar Hardit Singh warned them to stop but they did not. At that point Subedar Gopal Singh fired and they retreated and they again took their dead along.

From there they attacked the house of Bakshi Balwant Singh. They tried to set his house on fire. Bakshi jee along with some young Sikh men (gabhroo) attacked the Muslims with Kirpaans and Spears. The Muslims fled and then did not come back but surrounded the village.

The next day all Sikhs gathered at the Gurdwara Sahib and did Karaah Parshaad for 250 rupees. An ardaas was performed before Satguru to protect the honour (sharam and dharam) of Khalsa. Mr. Bal Mukand along with Sardar Sunder Singh Kandhari went to see the morchay (defence posts). This way the Sikhs repelled their attacks for three days.

ONE ON ONE CHALLENGE BY MUSLIMS

On March 9th, a very prominent and known warrior of Muslims â€" Sharif came with many armed companions and challenged Subedar Gopal Singh jee, “If you are a Sikh of your Guru, then come down and fight meâ€. Subedar Gopal Singh jee did not stop or hesitate and immediately went out in the open and accepted his challenge. Many Sikhs stopped him but he stayed adamant saying that a “Sikh of Guru†had been challenged.

The fight started but soon Sharif and his group fled. Many died and Sharif himself was seriously injured. Now the Muslims went far from the village and waited for more supply. They went to other towns like Pir Diwan Shah and Subedar Lal Khan etc to recruit more Muslims to fight us.

BRAHMINS LEAVE VAHAALI

By March 13, all villages of Hindus and Sikhs had been destroyed but the Sikhs of Vahaali had not been even been scratched by the Muslims. On March 12, Subedar Lal Khan the head of the Muslims started talks with Mr. Bal Mukand the Police Superintendent. He took all Brahmins along with him and had talks with Subedar Lal Khan. On their way there, an angry Brahmin Dhan Raj, fired on the Muslim crowd who had said some derogatory things to the Hindus. The Muslims got hold of Dhan Raj alive and cut him into small pieces right there. They did not say anything to other Brahmins. That night Bal Mukand and other Brahmins left for safe places.

TALKS BETWEEN SIKHS AND MUSLIMS

That night at 8pm the Muslim negotiators Subedar Lal Khan, Subedar Allahdaad Khan, Ghulam Khan etc. came to the Sikhs of Vahaali for talks. They arrived at Sardar Hardit Singh jee house and they all were served tea. Muslims leaders brought Koran Sharifs (Muslim holy books) along and swore on it that they would not harm any Sikh and would let them leave in peace just as the Brahmins were allowed to leave.

The innocent and simple minded sangat believed what the Muslims leaders were saying but Sardar Nanak Singh and Sardar Gopal Singh vehemently opposed saying, “Don’t believe their pledges and swearing even if they do so thousand timesâ€. Majority of sangat believed what Muslims were telling them. The Muslims laid down following conditions for peace:

1) The Sikhs who had killed Muslims in fight are to be handed over to the Muslims.

2) They asked for 12,000 rupees.

3) They asked for all weapons including guns.

The first condition was hard to accept because the Sikhs who killed attacking Muslims were daas (Nirvair Singh) and Subedar Gopal Singh and they were the most prominent Sikhs. The Sangat after much deliberation agreed to hand us over to them. We too agreed and bowed our heads to the decision of sangat. We thought that if by sacrificing our life, the lives of sangat can be saved, then it is not a bad decision.

We handed over our guns to sangat. Otherwise too we were going to run out of bullets very shortly. The money was handed over to the Khans who took the money the same night and left.

BROKEN PROMISES

That night after the Khans left, some more Muslims came around 12am and told us, “We are not going to let you off the hook so easily. Until you read Kalma and become Muslims, we will not let you leave alive. So hurry up and accept Islam, become Muslims. Don’t delay. If you delay, you all will dieâ€.

Sangat heard all this in horror and replied that they will let the Muslims know by 4am next morning.

GREAT TRAGEDY AT THE GURDWARA SAHIB

The next morning all Sikhs gathered at the Gurdwara Sahib and a huge cremation ground was prepared there. About 10,000 kilograms of wood was piled up there and many drums of Deshi Ghee were poured over it. All bibiyaan did ishnaan and wore new clothes. They started doing paath and were now getting ready to jump in burning fire alive.

After ardaas and distributing Karaah Parshaad, Sikh women started jumping in the burning fire. No Sikh bibi was seen crying. Bibiyaan lost the sense of moh (motherly love or attachment) up to such extent that bibiyaan did not even bid farewell to their families. No bibi gave pyaar (love for last time) to their children. They had only one aim and that was to protect their bodies from getting raped by the Muslim tyrants. These women knew that they were not fighters and they would get gang raped as Hindu and Sikh women in some villages got raped and were then sent to brothels. These women had no choice but to die. (They must have wished that they knew how to fight).

Sardar Harbans Singh Gandhi and Sardar Labh Singh themselves killed their women and children to save them from getting raped and tortured in the hands of Muslims. Whichever bibi asked to be killed was killed at her behest.(It is hard to imagine the mentality of Sikhs at that time)

In the meantime Sardar Chand Suniyaara brought 12 bombs that he had himself made at home. When the attacker came to attack the Gurdwara Sahib, these bombs were thrown at them. Many Muslims were killed as a result of this bombing.

HAND TO HAND COMBAT

The young Sikhs men and women, who were skilled in martial arts, attacked the Muslims with swords, spears and other weapons. The attackers were many whereas the Sikhs were only few. In this hand to hand combat the Sikhs got martyred, killing countless Muslims. Sikhs were fighting for their honour whereas the Muslims were looters. The Muslims were not able to fight with the vigour that Sikhs had.

GREAT SHAHEEDI OF SARDAR DHERA SINGH

Weapons of some singhs broke while they were fighting and they were captured alive. Muslims killed these Singhs after many tortures.

Sardar Dhera Singh was captured alive and he was asked to utter the Kalma and become Muslim.

They said, “Utter Kalma just once and we will spare youâ€.

Sardar Dhera Singh in response cried out, “SATNAAM SREE VAHEGURUâ€.

They hit him with an axe and severely injured him and then again asked him to say Kalma.

Sardar Dhera Singh at the top of his voice said, “SATNAAM SREE VAHEGURUâ€.

They kept hitting him with axe but Sardar Dhera Singh did not stop saying “Satnaam Sree Vaheguruâ€. He got shaheed this way, enduring countless axe attacks.

SHAHEEDI OF SARDAR DIWAN PAL SINGH AND SARDAR BHAGAT SINGH

Sardar Diwan Pal Singh was captured alive. They asked him to say Kalma. He in turn said “SATNAAM SREE VAHEGURUâ€. They took out his eye using a spear and poured salt in his eye. He still continued saying Vaheguru Vaheguru but did not yield to their demand of becoming a Muslim. He got shaheed enduring countless tortures.

Sardar Bhagat Singh was fighting with great valour and was causing great damage to them. His body was repeatedly hit with spears and swords but he just would not fall. He kept fighting. In the end, the angry attackers shot him to death.

Teacher, Bibi Raj Kaur got shaheed fighting with great valour and so did Bibi Hira Deyee jee.

Bapoo Trilok Singh was killed very mercilessly.

Bakshi Balwant Singh who was a very devout Sikh, was killed by sangmaar. Sang maar is killing a person hitting with stones. He just stood there and kept doing Vaheguru Vaheguru. Not once did he cry or even moan at the severe pain he was feeling. He got stoned to death but did not give up his faith.

GREAT SHAHEEDI OF SARDAR JEET SINGH JEE

Sardar Jeet Singh jee used to say out very loud jaikaara at the Gurdwara Sahib. The Muslims caught him alive. They asked him to utter the Kalma and become a Muslim. In response to their demand Sardar Jeet Singh jee cried out a very loud jaikaara, “BOLLLLEEEEEEE SOOOOOO NIHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAL!!! SAAAAAAT SREEEEEEEEEEEEEE AKAAAAAAAAAL!!!!

Every time they asked him to say Kalma, Sardar jee responded with a jaikaara. The agitated attackers got mad and filled his body with spear wounds. Sardar jee kept saying jaikaaras. The furious Muslims cut his tongue and then took out both his eyes but he still stayed defiant. They basically cut him into small pieces. Sardar jee stayed in chardi kala to the end.

Labh Singh who was very old was killed mercilessly.

Sardar Diyaal Singh was cut to pieces by the attackers.

The granthi, Giani Darshan Singh was taken on one side and they did him halaal as they do to the animals.

Sardar Niranjan Singh and this writer (Nirvair Singh) fought them for long time and in the end were surrounded at a place. Sardar Naranjan Singh was killed there and I was severely injured.

SHAHEEDI OF A PREGNANT WOMAN AND AN EIGHT YEAR OLD GIRL

Bibi Partap Kaur who was pregnant at the time of the attack was not allowed by sangat to burn alive in the Gurdwara Sahib. She was caught alive by the Muslims and was asked to accept Islam and become a Muslim. She refused. They tortured her but she did not budge. In the end, her stomach was cut apart and her unborn child was put on a spear and killed. She too was killed soon after.

Eight-year-old Sikh girl, Inder Kaur who was one of the daughters of Sardar Chatrath Singh fought the Muslims with a sword. Then she was captured alive. She was asked to become a Muslim. She refused and was tortured to death. (Her shaheedi brings back to life the shahidi of Sahibzada Zorovar Singh and Sahibzada Fateh Singh). She stayed a Sikh and died a Sikh.

The old bibi Parmeshari was killed mercilessly. Santokh Singh was killed by his own servant Iqbal Khan, who was a Muslim.

Any remaining and surviving old women and children were put in a room and burned alive.

In this massacre total 380 Sikhs got shaheed and one Brahmin Dhan Raj got shaheed.

In the mean time military arrived and we were taken to hospitals and relief camps.

[Mehtab Singh]

http://www.tapoban.org/phorum/read.php?f=1...2383#reply_2383

We all know that the riots of 1947 were the worse that the Sikhs faced in the last century. Sikhs in 1947 lost all their property, money and many lost their lives. They chose to live in India and did not change their religion to secure their property, money or lives. After leaving everything in Pakistan Punjab, the came to East Punjab i.e. Indian side of Punjab and built everything from scratch. Then another massacre came in the 1980s when tens of thousands of Sikhs died for Sikhi.

In the next few days, I am going to write on selected incidents that occurred in Rawalpindi area of Pakistan, in March 1947. This area was worse affected by the riots of partition in 1947. The Sikhs were massacred by the Muslims of that area. The striking thing that I want to write under this thread is not that Sikhs got massacred but how bravely the Sikhs fought back aggression and how much they sacrificed to keep Sikhi. Some of the stories are very emotional and very hard to read. I am not sure if I can narrate these stories as well as they were narrated by the people who actually saw all this with their own eyes. I will try.

AREA OF POTHOHAAR I.E. RAWALPINDI AREA OF PAKISTAN

This area was the centre of Sikhi in those days. Bhai Sahib Randhir Singh jee writes that before he went to jail, this area was full of bibiyaan with dastaar and many families had adopted the strict Khalsa rehit. It was in this area where Sant Baba Attar Singh jee Mastuanawaale, did rigorous bhagti for many years. This is the land where great Sikh Siri Thakur Nihaal Singh, reputed to be a brahmgiyaani gursikh, did great preaching of Gurmat. This is where Baba Khem Singh Bedi did heavy parchaar of Gurmat and inspired many to take amrit of Guru Sahib.

Sikhi parchaar was so heavy in this area that even Brahmin Hindus adopted Sikhi and became tyaar bar tyaar Singhs. This area was very prosperous and Bhai Sahib Randhir Singh jee writes in one of his books that due to increase in maaiya, may Sikh families had become weak in Sikhi and had become more indulged in worldly pleasures. Who knows, maybe this is why this area was hit most severely by the riots of 1947

MASSACRE OF THEHA KHALSA AREA OF RAWALPINDI – MARCH 1947

This small town of Theha Khalsa was one of the main towns of Pothohaar (Rawalpindi area). Sikhs and Hindus living in this town were very well off. In total about 500 families lived in this small town. There were some Muslim families living there too but there was no communal problem at all.

In the fateful month of March 1947, riots started in other parts of Pothohaar. Actually it is wrong to call it riots because the Sikhs were not attacking anyone, just defending themselves. The Sikhs of Theha Khalsa town assembled at the local Gurdwara Sahib to discuss what to do. Sant Gulaab Singh was the undisputed leader of this village and he was from a very well-to-do family. His ancestral home was very big. During the discussions, he suggested that all the Sikhs of that village assemble at this house and stay there till the danger of riots is over. He said that it would be easy to defend if all the Sikhs stayed at one spot.

He further said that at this crucial time only Guru Sahib can help them.

SIKHS MOVE TO THE HAVELI OF SANT GULAAB SINGH

All the Sikhs after hearing the emotional lecture of Sant Gulaab Singh agreed to move to his house. They brought all their money, jewellery and gold etc, along with them and assembled at his house. In total about 1200 Sikhs and some Hindus assembled at his house. They fortified the haveli by making bunkers and replacing regular doors with heavy doors. They covered the walls of the haveli with shields of iron.

First of all they secured a large room and brought all Saroops of Dhan Siri Guru Granth Sahib jee over there. Over 36 saroops were brought to that room. Big tanks of water were filled and large quantity of fire-wood and grains was stocked up. The Sikhs were in great danger, so they all started doing paath day and night. They asked Guru Sahib for strength to save their faith.

MUSLIMS ATTACK THE HAVELI FILLED WITH SIKHS

On March 8, 1947 while the sangat was doing Siri Rehraas Sahib paath, many thousand Muslims came and surrounded the building. They were shouting “ALLAH HOO AKBAR”, “MUSLIM LEAGUE ZINDABAD”, “KAFRON KO MAAR DO” i.e kill the infidels. There must have been at least 6000 Muslims and all had weapons. Many had guns. Some were on horse backs and they were shouting anti Sikh slogans. They were uttering obscenities against Master Tara Singh and other Sikh leaders.

The sangat kept doing simran of Vaheguru Vaheguru. The Muslim crowd assembled in the school building. It is not clear what was decided in that meeting but when they came out of the meeting they started burning the shops and houses owned by the Sikhs. Then they attacked the haveli where all the Sikhs were present. The Sikhs had some guns and they kept the crowd away.

On one side of the haveli, they attacked with great vigour. Sardar Partap Singh, a very brave young man, took along with him about 8-9 singhs and attacked the attacking Muslims. They attacked with so much force that the Muslims were pushed back. One of the bullets hit Sardar Partap Singh on his leg.

The next day again the Muslims came back but this time they did not wait for the night. They came back around 10am. The Muslims again attacked but could not get in the haveli. Then the Muslims sent a representative to talk to the Sikhs holed up in the haveli. Sant Gulab Singh refused to accept their conditions that the Sikhs should disarm themselves.

This way the fight went on for 2 more days. Finally on the last day, the Muslims came with bombs and said that they would bomb the haveli if the Sikhs did not get out of there. The Muslims promised by swearing on the Koran that they were only interested in the gold and money and not in killing anyone. The Sikhs had no choice but to get out. They did ardaas and moved out, leaving all belongings behind.

After the Sikhs came out, they got surrounded by the large crowd of Muslims. The Sikhs arrived at the sarovar of the local Gurdwara Sahib. The pathaans armed with latest weapons surrounded the Sikhs sitting around the sarovar. The Sikhs were chanting “Satnam Siri Vaheguru”. By then about 10,000 Muslims came where the Sikhs were. Along with them, they had a dozens of barbers lined up to cut the hair of Sikhs. Children were crying for food and milk. Old and young were helpless to do anything. The whole scene was a scene from hell.

SHAHEEDI SAAKA

Sant Ghulab Singh jee writes as follows:

“by this time Sardarni Lajavanti Kaur asked me if she could go to the well by my hut. I took her to the well and everyone washed their faces and drank fresh water. There were 90 bibiyaan (Sikh females). Many were unwed young girls. My granddaughters, grandsons, nieces, and other related women were there amongst them”.

“Soon a person came and asked me to go to the Gurdwara Sahib where the aggressors (jarvaane) were troubling the sangat. He said that the sangat was calling me. I said Sat Sree Akaal to bibiyaan and started walking towards the Gurdwara Sahib”.

“The well was about 200 feet from the Gurdwara Sahib. When I reached there, a Muslim leader came up to me and asked me, “So what have you decided?” I found out that the singhs had been given half an hour to accept Islam or else they get ready to die. The Singhs present there said to the Muslims that they would do what Sant jee (this daas i.e. I) tell them to do”.

“Dhan Pita Kalgidhar! I laughed after hearing this from the Muslim leader. I said, “Your cruel and tryant emperors like Aurangzeb and Farukhsiyaar too could not do anything to the Sikhs. What can you do, when they could not do anything. Do what you want to do. We will never give up Sikhi and will never become Muslims”.

“When I came to the Gurdwara Sahib, some pathaans and thugs from Punachh and Mairabaad sensing that the bibiyaan were alone at the well, reached there and surrounded the well. They addressed the bibiyaan, “Now we are going to take away your daughters and sister and will marry them after converting them to Islam.” At that time Sardarni Laajavantee Kaur could not resist Bir Rass anymore and said, “Scoundrels! Who can touch the daughters of Guru Kalgidhar. From the time we took amrit, we accepted death as reality and don’t fear it.”

The Muslims thugs got angry hearing such answer from Sardarni Lajavanti Kaur. They moved forward towards her. Sardarni jee was holding her 5 year old granddaughter and a grandson. She loudly said the jaikaara, “Bole So Nihaal!! Sat Srree Akaal!!”. Saying this she jumped in the well, in order to avoid getting her granddaughter and herself raped by the Muslims. Within seconds all Sikh women jumped in the well. All 90 jumped in. A person came running to me and told me the whole incident. After hearing this incident, all Sikhs present there said, “Dhan Gursikhee!! Dhan Guru Kalgidhar! I dashed towards the well”.

“At that time what to talk about the pathaans but all aggressors were shaken from within. They were saying that who can kill such people who can sacrifice their lives to save their honour.”

“When I reached the well, my granddaughter, Harbhajan Kaur, my daughter-in-law Kartar Kaur and one sister-in-law Sardarni Ram Rakhee were crying as the well was full and they did not drown. By then 87 lives had been taken. They were taken out of the well. I was baffled. I uttered, “Dhan Gurdev, these daughters of yours have passed your test. Please show me the way too. At that time I had clear darshan of Dhan Guru Nanak Dev jee and Hazoor said, “You still have to see more of this bloodshed. You have to do some more sewa of sangataan”.

“After this bloody massacre, the Muslims got scared and started running away but some scoundrels were left. All Sadh Sangat came to my house and stayed there for the night. Muslims tried to find a lone Sikh to convert but could not convert anyone”.

“I climbed a tall tree and saw a scene from hell. 87 lives had been sacrificed. The towns of Dera Khalsa, Kallar, Thamali, and Beval were burning. At that time I sang out baani to get peace of mind”

“At amritvela, I got darshan of Guru Kalgidhar jee and he said that our test was over.”

The above was written by Sant Ghulaab Singh and I have made a humble effort to translate the quoted paragraphs above. In any case, the military arrived soon and everyone was taken to the camps. The shaheedi of Sardarni Lajavanti Kaur and other Sikh women, saved the remaining Sikhs.

I will write more in the days to come. The massacres of Vahaali are unbearable.

Daas,

Kulbir Singh

[dalsingh101]

My grand dad told me that when he was younger they played around with Muslims as kids and teh Muslim children would prefer to go to Gurdwaras than Mosques because they would get Karah parshaad in one and a strict mean mullah in the other. The pind was Rampur.

He told me that when partition happened they had news of many Sikhs killed on Pak side and refugees started pouring in and trains were apparently full of dead bodies. One pervert had apparently hacked off the breasts of Sikh women and nailed them to his ricksaw and was wondering around in Lahore.

Anyway, like the similar story above some military guys told all the pind Musalmans to come with them to the trucks as they would be escorted to a safer location and escorted to the refugee camp in the morning. Instead they took them to the nahr (canal) nearby and slit their throats and threw them in the river in revenge for Sikh deaths. However some of the women (small amount) where married to Sikh men and some of the sullay who were really popular survived by taking amrit (they were also fed pork apparently) and becoming Sikhs.

My Grandmother who was also young had a different story. Her father was the pind lohar (blacksmith) and because of the seriously heavy nature of the work he was built like a brick "you know what" house. Him and his best friend were keen gatka people and well respected. Anyway, what him and his friend did was to march the pind musalmans (they both headed the columns of refugees with their kirpans undrawn) to some safe location.

Here in London I've met two Muslims whose families were from Amritsar who had to flee to Pak. One of them told me that Sikhs were hiding them in Gurdwaras away from the mobs.

I think of all parties Sikhs were the most vulnerable and suffered the most. As the old saying goes, Pakis got Pakistan, Hindus got Hindustan - Sikhs got shafted hard.

[singhalicious]

interesting memoirs .....there were 3 accounts on metro paper by Hindu/Muslim/Sikh

[Mehtab Singh]

http://www.sikhsangat.org/news/publish/eur...est_hours.shtml

FOLLOWING 20 years of slaughter and civil unrest, the British announced the partition of India on June 3, 1947. Over one million people were killed in the troubles that followed. Tales of extraordinary courage, heroism, violence and murder abounded during this tumultuous period which would change the face of India forever. On the 60th anniversary of Indian independence people in south Manchester have been recounting their memories of the partition years as part of a new exhibition at the Imperial War Museum North. Their stories show the abject misery and suffering endured by people living through the turmoil. But they also paint a picture of utmost human fortitude in one of history's darkest hours. NICK TOWLE reports...

NIRMAL Kaur was just seven years' old when she made the arduous journey from Lahore to her maternal grandparents' home in Amritsar.

She was heading for the border city which was the destination for thousands of Sikhs fleeing the Muslim territories after the partition of India in 1947.

Nirmal's family was one of millions of Sikh and Hindu families who were forced to up sticks and cross the border to a new life as violence, murder and mayhem swept the country following partition.

The youngster's mother Rajendra Kaur Sagar, who was in her late-twenties at the time, had to get her four young children – daughters Nirmal, Harjote, 2, Shakumtal and three-year-old son Harbilas – to safety without the support of her husband Gyani Sundar Singh, who was away on business with his father in Burma.

Though Lahore and Amritsar were just 50 miles apart, it took Rajendra two months to get her family to safety on a train carrying hundreds of migrants.

This transmigration of 15 million people was on a biblical scale and in amongst all the death and destruction Rajendra and her children had just one tiny gas stove to keep them alive.

It was hard enough not having any money and barely any food or water but Rajendra and her infants also had to spend the entire journey on the roof of the train because conditions inside were so cramped. Nirmal, who is now 67, said: "We were put on a train but as it was about to move it was ordered to stop because the train that had gone ahead of us had been attacked, with all the people being slaughtered.

"A few hours into our own journey the train was stopped and gangs attacked the train, killing people, women and children. Women were being raped and murdered in front of children. I could see blood all over and streams discoloured. There were corpses everywhere and people looting the corpses, taking whatever they could find. We feared for our lives."

Nirmal, who is currently staying with her brother Ujjal in Whalley Range, added: "The train would travel maybe two or three hours and then stop because of engine failure, sometimes for days.

"It was a very traumatic experience – we had left our home without any money; we had just the clothes on our backs and it was very hard to survive the first weeks and months and it affected the rest of our lives."

Nirmal's mother occasionally found bits of food to cook from the fields. Often it was just a few potatoes, beetroot or lentils. Sometimes she and her children, who were all dangerously dehydrated and malnourished, had to run after the train as it moved off.

"My little brother Harbilas was so dehydrated we thought he wasn't going to live," said Nirmal. "My mother and older sister Shakumtal asked this lady for a few drips of water from this little bottle she had, but she said no because she only had enough for her baby.

"Shakumtal knew it was a life or death situation, so she dipped the end of her scarf into a bit of moisture in the grass and squeezed it into her little brother's mouth."

As well as the threat of starvation, Rajendra was always fearful that her children might fall off the circular roof of the train and be killed like many others had been.

To stop her children falling off when they were asleep Rajendra tied them to the roof railings with their scarves.

When, months later, the family finally made it to Amritsar – which, as one of the first cities along the India/Pakistan border, became a sort of mass refugee camp for Sikhs – they were terribly malnourished.

Ujjal Singh, 58, who lives on Burford Road in Whalley Range, wasn't born when his mother and his four siblings made the arduous journey from Pakistan to the Punjab.He said: "During the partition years whole communities were destroyed, not just families."

The Singh family's struggle didn't end there, however. When they left the troubles in India behind to start a new life in the UK in 1956 they made a long journey by boat via Madras, Colombo, Naples, Marseilles and London.

When the family arrived in Manchester they first lived in Hulme then moved to Fallowfield. For the young Harbilas, now 62, it was the first time he had ever seen his father. "He came up to us and we hugged – it was an indescribable moment," he said.

[proactive]

Our area is Jagraon tehsil in Ludhiana district which along with Moga and Tarn Taran were Sikh majority tehsils. Most of the Muslims in this tehsil lived in to the north of the tehsil in the 'bet' area which was on the south bank of the Satluj river. A fair number lived in Jagraon town. On my father's side although their background was Jagraon Tehsil they had lived for some years in the canal colony of Khanewal in Multan district in west Punjab. Thankfully they had decided to return many years before partition and let the land in Khanewal to tenants to farm. Mother's side of the family lived some miles away in Ludhiana tehsil. At partition my father was a enrolled at the military school in Jhelum in west Punjab and was evacuated by the military to East Punjab. The atmosphere had been tense since March-April 1947 as at that time Muslims had wiped out Sikh and Hindu villages in Rawalpindi. Before that the only violence had been between Hindus and Muslims in Calcutta, Bihar and Bengal. This was the first time that Muslims had attacked Sikhs. Some of the survivors of these killings had moved to Patiala state at the invitation of the Maharaja and some had travelled via Jagraon and Ludhiana so the local Sikhs had become aware of their suffering. Most of the village Muslims left on their own accord although some were provided with escorts from the village but the men from the village joined in attacks on Muslims in neighbouring villages and some in the 'bet' area. The Muslims in the 'bet' villages started to attack Sikhs going through their villages first and it was then that large scale attacks by Sikhs took place. As the village was a big recruiting ground for the army most of those that took part in attacking Muslims were returned soldiers just back from world war 2. Some trains carrying Muslims were attacked west of Jagraon just as they were about to cross the Satluj. The village had the foresight to destroy the mosque and plough over the land so unlike in villages closer to Ludhiana where Bhaiya Muslims have started to re-open Mosques backed by the Punjab Waqf board there are is no mosque to reopen in our village.