They tore it into two
Batwara - separation, allotment, partition.
I still remember my first exposure to it. It was many years ago. I was still young and didn't understand politics well enough. One of my teachers marched into class and chastised us for being ungrateful spoilt brats who didn't appreciate the sacrifices of our ancestors in making this great nation for us. She had recently inherited a huge library of books that her late father had left her in his will. One day, browsing through the books, she came across one that contained true accounts from the partition.
She picked the tale of a girl named Satti. It was the heartwrenching tale of a young slavegirl who endured many tortures and escaped from her hindu master to flee to Pakistan. On the way, she was apprehended by a Sikh mob who took her child away from here and roasted him alive right before her eyes. She escaped and finally made it across the river into Pakistan where she stayed in a refugee camp, where, thinking she was finally safe, she was raped again by the Pakistani army.
This is what happened in 1947. An incision was made in the huge province of Punjab, splitting it into two. Towns were alloted to either side and a border was drawn. Hindus fled from Pakistan to India whereas muslims fled from India to Pakistan. Those who made the migration early when the rumours had started were lucky. Later, the carnage that ensued is mind-boggling. Trains arrived from Amritsar to Lahore and from Lahore to Amritsar with only burnt bodies and sacks full of womens' breasts that had been ripped from their bodies.
To save their honour, entire villages ordered their women to kill themselves, whether by drowning in the well or by hanging themselves. When men found women of another religion, they raped them. Some were allowed to go home but they were sent back because they had dishonoured themselves.
People stopped being people. Radha was no longer Radha, Ali was no longer Ali, Gurpreet was no longer Gurpreet. Everyone was Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Christian, Parsi.
It was the largest migration of people in history. 5 million people left their houses in Pakistan to migrate to India and 7 million people left India to come to Pakistan. What did it accomplish? Today, India has more muslims than Pakistan and Pakistan isn't truly a muslim country. I don't mean to disrespect the sacrifices of people but in the end, was it really worth it?
(I shouldn't've read Ice-Candy-Man... it's brought me down)
Ishwar Allah, tere jahaan main
Nafrat kyoon hai, jang hai kyoon
Kadam kadam par sarhad kyoon hai
Saaree zameen jo teri hai
Suraj kay gird pehre karti hai
Phir bhee itnee andheeri hai
Is duniya ke daaman par
Insaan kay lahoo ka rang hai kyoon
I still remember my first exposure to it. It was many years ago. I was still young and didn't understand politics well enough. One of my teachers marched into class and chastised us for being ungrateful spoilt brats who didn't appreciate the sacrifices of our ancestors in making this great nation for us. She had recently inherited a huge library of books that her late father had left her in his will. One day, browsing through the books, she came across one that contained true accounts from the partition.
She picked the tale of a girl named Satti. It was the heartwrenching tale of a young slavegirl who endured many tortures and escaped from her hindu master to flee to Pakistan. On the way, she was apprehended by a Sikh mob who took her child away from here and roasted him alive right before her eyes. She escaped and finally made it across the river into Pakistan where she stayed in a refugee camp, where, thinking she was finally safe, she was raped again by the Pakistani army.
This is what happened in 1947. An incision was made in the huge province of Punjab, splitting it into two. Towns were alloted to either side and a border was drawn. Hindus fled from Pakistan to India whereas muslims fled from India to Pakistan. Those who made the migration early when the rumours had started were lucky. Later, the carnage that ensued is mind-boggling. Trains arrived from Amritsar to Lahore and from Lahore to Amritsar with only burnt bodies and sacks full of womens' breasts that had been ripped from their bodies.
To save their honour, entire villages ordered their women to kill themselves, whether by drowning in the well or by hanging themselves. When men found women of another religion, they raped them. Some were allowed to go home but they were sent back because they had dishonoured themselves.
People stopped being people. Radha was no longer Radha, Ali was no longer Ali, Gurpreet was no longer Gurpreet. Everyone was Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Christian, Parsi.
It was the largest migration of people in history. 5 million people left their houses in Pakistan to migrate to India and 7 million people left India to come to Pakistan. What did it accomplish? Today, India has more muslims than Pakistan and Pakistan isn't truly a muslim country. I don't mean to disrespect the sacrifices of people but in the end, was it really worth it?
(I shouldn't've read Ice-Candy-Man... it's brought me down)
Ishwar Allah, tere jahaan main
Nafrat kyoon hai, jang hai kyoon
Kadam kadam par sarhad kyoon hai
Saaree zameen jo teri hai
Suraj kay gird pehre karti hai
Phir bhee itnee andheeri hai
Is duniya ke daaman par
Insaan kay lahoo ka rang hai kyoon
posted by Moi at 9:19 p.m.
1 Comments:
Ishwar, Allah, in this world of yours
Why is there hatred, why is there war?
At every step, why's there a boundary
although the entire world is yours
The earth rotates around the sun
but why is it still filled with darkness
Why is the bosom of this world
stained with the blood of man?
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