Was it Independence or the Partition that gifted us a new state? Can we separate Independence from the Partition or vice versa? Both are twins joined at the hip if looked at from the Punjab’s perspective. Advent of independence because of unmanageable communal disunity necessitated division of the Punjab and the division stamped the irrevocable process of independence. How joy of independence in 1947 turned into woe is a near untellable tale that generations would attempt to tell in bits and pieces for centuries. Accounts narrated and penned by Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims would invariably be subjective and biased as each party to the communal conflict in question being bruised and traumatized relies only on its own overwhelming existential experience. Rising above and to be non-partisan requires intellectual strength and moral integrity.

“Farida, main jania dukh mujh ko, dukh sabhaae jag/uchay charh kay dekhaya taan ghar ghar eha agg” [I was the only one suffering, I believed, while in fact the whole world suffered, when I looked from the high ground, I found every house aflame], says our wise poet and mystic Baba Farid Shakar Ganj.

Claiming high ground in the Partition debate is always challenging. Everyone who experienced the Partition or suffered the ordeal of migration has a story though fragmented and one-sided which is less than a half truth. But a few things are common to all the stories on both sides of the border. One, no one could anticipate the scale of such a sudden catastrophic change in the communal relationship. Two, no one could imagine the level of violence that erupted all over Punjab in a matter of months. Thirdly, no one could realize the magnitude of the ensuing migration across the borders of India and newly-created Muslim majority state of Pakistan. What left its indelible mark on the memory and psyche of the people was horror as an unforgettable result of massacre, savagery, barbarity and collapse of state and society. All failed and failed miserably including the mighty British administration, the Indian Congress, the Muslim League and the Akali Dal to foresee what was coming like an imperceptibly moving avalanche.

The colonial administration despite its assertion of having the most sophisticated administrative skills proved to be incompetent and indifferent. The Congress despite its tall claims of representing the Indians of diverse faiths couldn’t rein in the Hindu extremists associated with it who indulged in the mass slaughter of Muslims in what later came to be known as the East Punjab. Muslim League despite its public proclamation to protect the rights of minorities in the territories under its jurisdiction turned a blind eye to the large-scale indiscriminate killing of Hindus and Sikhs committed by a segment of its supporters and Muslim fanatics in this part of the Punjab. And Akali Dal and its affiliates crassly violating the Sikh egalitarian tradition of social service and inclusivity led the hate driven hordes to wipe the Punjabi Muslims from the face of the East Punjab.

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In other words the whole phenomenon was horrifying spectacle of genocide of the Punjabis committed by the Punjabis all over the Punjab. In order to just understand how the survivors of the Partition and forced immigrants commonly referred to as ‘Muhajir/ Panahgir [immigrants/refugees]’ in our part of the Punjab experienced Independence, one only needs to have a cursory look at the words and phrases they use to describe Independence/Partition. When talking of this colossal event they use the word “Loti” or its plural “Lotian” which in Punjabi means loot, looting, plunder and pillage. For them the defining feature of dawn of independence was loot and plunder. Everything lost its sanctity whether it was property, human body or individual and collective dignity. Above all life lost its sanctity. Another word used to describe the event is “Ghadar” which means perfidy, tumult, sedition, faithlessness and breakdown of law and order. Yet another phrase employed to refer to the monumental event of 1947 is “Harjula” which is compound of ‘Har’ and ‘Jula’. The meaning of the former is everyone and that of the latter is on the move, on the go in the negative sense. It tells of forced migration of common people from their ancestral homes to the unseen horizons.