Lost Heritage - The Sikh Legacy In Pakistan

[chatanga]

Sodhi was like Rambo and Commando combined in one.

Thanks bro, I know that. i was after info regarding his backgournd, as someone swaid he was from Khatri background, which I hadn't heard before.

[chatanga]

Why is the Potohar used as the testing ground. That particular region with the adjacent Jammu area (Mirpur) seem to be the most virulently anti-sikh areas.

What is the dynamic at play here compared to other areas in West Punjab?

Could it be that since the majority of Sikhs in these areas being more mercantile that they were seen as a soft target?

At the time of partition this area known as the "Rawalpindi Division" was like 90-95% Muslim. The Sikhs and Hindus were in very few numbers. It was a stronghold of the Muslim League and the police and judiciary were totally in the hands of the league. Panjab Police at that time was 76% Muslim. So it made it so easy for the league to carry out these attacks and get away with it.

They only got away with it for so long though. Thousands of Sikhs who were driven out of Rawalpindi Div took refuge in Patiala, and these Sikhs were amongst the first to take revenge. These Sikhs were from the mercantile class, but the shock of what happened to them in March must have woken them up.

[chatanga]

. Put it this way, 2 and half times more Muslims were killed during the partition of Punjab than Sikhs and Hindus

No. No reliable account has ever been made of the deaths. Figures range from 50,000 upto a million. Majority of deaths upto August were of Sikhs. After partition, many were killed on both sides, but because this is the time when Sikhs started to kill on the same intensity that the league had suddenly we were the perpetrators and aggressors, and they became the victims.

I don't know why Sikhs buy into this propoganda that we killed more muslims.

it was the doaba Sikhs, especially around district Jalandhar (which was at that time majority Muslim) that went into murder overdrive.

Jalandhar had a muslim majority but muslims were not the majority in Jalandhar. They formed around 44%. Sikhs formed much less than that. The intense hatred of Jalandhar Muslims arose from amongst many other murders, the murder of Babu Labh Singh, president of the SGPC who was lured into a peace meeting with league representatives in Jalandhar and then hacked to death.

[JagsawSingh]

I don't know why Sikhs buy into this propoganda that we killed more muslims.

Don't ignore old people back in the pend. Talk to them. They have stories to tell. I often do, in my pend, my nanke and my in-laws etc. They all have the same story, i.e how they would form into jathas in the evenings and go hunting Muslims to kill.

No. No reliable account has ever been made of the deaths. Figures range from 50,000 upto a million. Majority of deaths upto August were of Sikhs. After partition, many were killed on both sides, but because this is the time when Sikhs started to kill on the same intensity that the league had suddenly we were the perpetrators and aggressors, and they became the victims.

Every single reliable record, especially the British gazateers, of the number of deaths during partition puts the number of Muslims killed at least 2 and half times that of the number of Sikhs killed

Jalandhar had a muslim majority but muslims were not the majority in Jalandhar.

Uh ????

[Ranjeet01]

According my grandfather, it was so crazy time because you had was Sikhs protecting muslims in their own villages whilst killing muslims in other villages.

Imagine, your friends and neighbours who you have known for years suddenly become your enemy.

The GT road mile upon mile would have been filled dead bodies.

There have been population exchanges with Greece and Turkey, the Balkan conflict with Croats,Serbs and Bosnians but I do not think they even come close to the partition.

I think the only massacre that would have seen as many deaths in such as Punjab in 1947 would be between the Hutus and Tutsis in Rwanda.

[chatanga]

Don't ignore old people back in the pend. Talk to them. They have stories to tell. I often do, in my pend, my nanke and my in-laws etc. They all have the same story, i.e how they would form into jathas in the evenings and go hunting Muslims to kill.

I don't. I have video-recorded many elders who witnessed partition as part of my personal project. I have also spoken with Sikhs who came from west Panjab who had their family members killed, and/or their convoys attacked.

http://www.sikhsangat.com/index.php?/topic/65544-got-a-camcorder-preserve-history/?hl=partition

Every single reliable record, especially the British gazateers, of the number of deaths during partition puts the number of Muslims killed at least 2 and half times that of the number of Sikhs killed

There is NO reliable account. No count was ever made. There was no time to count bodies by either side. Any person that claims to have made an accurate or reliable record either knows nothing of the situation, or is a liar.

This 2 and half times nonsense was also "fact" in the Great Calcutta KIllings. Turned out to be a load of propoganda. Today Pakistan tells its citizens that 1 million people died in the creation of Pakistan. It's just propoganda so that they will hate india.

However if you would like to share any accounts you feel are reliable, I would certainly be pleased to read them. #

Are we talking about the same Gazetteers of the districts of Panjab pre 47?

Uh ????

Sorry, should be more clearer. Muslims were the majority community in Jalandhar 1947 at 44%. However they were not the majority in the district as non-muslims stood at 56%. This meant that they could not claim it to be a part of Pakistan (even though they tried to make it so).

[StarStriker]

According my grandfather, it was so crazy time because you had was Sikhs protecting muslims in their own villages whilst killing muslims in other villages.

Imagine, your friends and neighbours who you have known for years suddenly become your enemy.

The GT road mile upon mile would have been filled dead bodies.

There have been population exchanges with Greece and Turkey, the Balkan conflict with Croats,Serbs and Bosnians but I do not think they even come close to the partition.

I think the only massacre that would have seen as many deaths in such as Punjab in 1947 would be between the Hutus and Tutsis in Rwanda.

Dont forget the turkish systematic killings of armenians, which numbered a million, which rivals that to partition killing numbers. Population transfer, as shown n mentioned by u of turkey/greece, is always something difficult, but i suppose has to be done.

[StarStriker]

Don't ignore old people back in the pend. Talk to them. They have stories to tell. I often do, in my pend, my nanke and my in-laws etc. They all have the same story, i.e how they would form into jathas in the evenings and go hunting Muslims to kill.

Every single reliable record, especially the British gazateers, of the number of deaths during partition puts the number of Muslims killed at least 2 and half times that of the number of Sikhs killed

Uh ????

Mate y bother arguing this same old stuff with these guys, who r in denial! I seem to remember, me and u, under our old usernames provided ample/sh!loads of proof from reliable and respectable commentators, of the death tolls at partition. fact is, muslims started it, we finished it and hindus did jack! Ppl like my grandad/g.grandad, and ur grandads did the deeds, that needed to be done!

[StarStriker]

Sorry, should be more clearer. Muslims were the majority community in Jalandhar 1947 at 44%. However they were not the majority in the district as non-muslims stood at 56%. This meant that they could not claim it to be a part of Pakistan (even though they tried to make it so).

And wat difference does a district majortiy make, wen villages themselves were split down the middle, let alone cities and then districts? muslims were also a single majority in amritsar too, but we killed enuff of them so radcliffe wouldnt award the holy city to crapistan. lahore and amritsar belong to the lahore division, n i wud hazard a guess, muslims may have been the majority in the lahore division district, but yet, the 2 sisters, lahore/amritsar were seperated.

[chatanga]

And wat difference does a district majortiy make,

population district wise was the basis for partitioning land.