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Issue 27 Vol II, November 15, 2006 |
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The Sikhs and partition
of the Punjab-5 We present before the readers of www.southasiapost.org a series of articles by eminent historian and former Vice Chancellor of the Guru Nanak Dev University and former Chairman and Director of the prestigious Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla, Professor J.S.GREWAL on the partition of India and the role played by the Sikhs and Muslims from Punjab.
The Congress was now trying to accommodate the Akalis. Nehru wrote to Wavell on 9 March 1947 that it was not possible to coerce the non-Muslim minority in the Punjab. On 20 April, he said in a public speech that the Muslim League could have Pakistan but it could not take away other parts of India ‘which do not wish to join Pakistan’. On 28 April, Rajendra Prasad made an announcement in the Constituent Assembly as its President that it may have to draw up a Constitution based not only on the division of India but also of some provinces. The Sikh and Hindu legislators of the Punjab, together with the non-Muslim members of the Constituent Assembly and the Central Assembly, met in New Delhi and resolved on the division of the Punjab, demanding safeguards for ‘the preservation of the integrity and homogeneity of the Sikh community’. The Akali idea of the partition of the Province was reinforced by events in the Punjab. The Muslim League as the largest single party in the Punjab Legislature was anxious from the very beginning to overthrow the coalition Ministry. Khizr Hayat Khan frustrated the opposition further by avoiding legislation. The news of large scale riots in several Provinces were a source of alarm. In the summer of 1946 there were disturbances in Ludhiana and Rohtak. An atmosphere of ‘civil war’ was gradually but surely developing. The Muslim League National Guards and the Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh were prominently growing strong. The Ministry promulgated the Punjab Public Safety Ordinance in November and banned the Guards and the Sangh in January 1947. The Muslim League launched civil disobedience ostensibly in the cause of civil liberties but actually to dislodge the Ministry. On 20 February came Prime Minister Attlee’s announcement that Lord Mountbatten would succeed Lord Wavell in March 1947 and power would be transferred not later than June 1948. On 2 March 1947, Khizr Hayat Khan resigned. On 3 March the Akali leaders made strong speeches against Pakistan, leaving no doubt that they would never think of forming a coalition with the Muslim League. The League failed to form a ministry. Rioting broke out on 4 March. On the following day the Governor assumed direct charge of the Province. Rioting continued for two weeks, spreading from Lahore to other cities, notably Amritsar, Multan, Rawalpindi, Jalandhar and Sialkot. Sikhs and Hindus in the villages of Rawalpindi, Attock and Jhelum districts were massacred on an unprecedented scale. Incidents of rioting continued in April. From 10 May onwards, arson and stabbing began to increase in number at more and more places. By the end of July, on a conservative estimate, 5,000 persons had been killed. Lord Mountbatten had assumed office on 24 March 1947. Exactly a month later he noted in his ‘personal reports’: I had my interview last Friday with the Sikhs represented by Master Tara Singh, Gyani Kartar Singh and Sardar Baldev Singh. Any hopes that I still entertained of being able to avoid the Partition of the Punjab if Pakistan is forced on us were shattered at this meeting. All three Sikhs made it quite clear that they would fight to the last man if put under Muslim domination. The Maharaja of Patiala and Baldev Singh met the Governor General early in May and appealed to him ‘to make Partition line on the basis of Sikh landed property and Sikh sacred buildings and Sikh interests’. The anxiety of the Akali leaders now was to get the largest possible share for the Indian Union. In the Personal Reports of Lord Mountbatten, the word ‘Sikhistan’ refers to the area which the Akali leaders were demanding for the eastern Punjab. On 18 May 1947, the Governor General left for London with a draft approved by the Indian leaders. A new statement was finalized to be presented to them on 2 June. It contained, among many other things, the decision about the partition of Bengal as well as the Punjab. It laid down the procedure for deciding the issue by the parties concerned. A Boundary Commission was to be set up by the Governor General. Its membership and terms of reference were to be settled in consultation with the concerned parties. The districts identified as the Muslim majority districts for the purpose of dividing the members of the Punjab Legislature into two groups covered all the area between the Indus and the Sutlej with the only exception of the district of Amritsar. The Akali leaders made strenuous efforts to get ‘other factors’ included in the terms of reference for the Boundary Commission. The Akalis had always felt concerned about the prospect of the Sikh community being divided into two more or less equal halves. But this had nearly come to pass. On 14 June 1947, the Working Committee of the Shiromani Akali Dal and the Panthic Pratinidhi Board emphasized that the ‘very purpose’ of Partition would be defeated in the absence of the ‘provision of transfer of population and property’. On 15 July, Giani Kartar Singh, President of the Shiromani Akali Dal, declared that the Sikhs would not rest contented ‘till the boundary line is demarcated in such a way that it leaves at least 85 per cent Sikhs in India’. The remaining 15 per cent could migrate with the commitment of Pakistan and India ‘to facilitate the transfer’. Sir Cyril Radcliff, Chairman of the Boundary Commission, remarked that the task of delimiting a boundary of the Punjab was a difficult one. The claim of the contending parties ranged over a wide field. He came to the conclusion, nevertheless, that the truly debatable ground lay in and around the area between the Beas and the Sutlej on the one hand and the Ravi on the other. Two Tehsils of Firozpur, two Tehsils of Gurdaspur, one Tehsil of Amritsar, and the triangle between the Sutlej and the Beas had more than 50 per cent Muslim population. Presumably to make the boundary more or less natural, the Sutlej and the Ravi became important features. All the five Tehsils and ‘the triangle’ were kept in the East Punjab. The only other decision related to the line which was to join the Ravi and the Beas rivers. Radcliffe decided to detach four police stations of Tehsil Kasur to bring Harike within the East Punjab. The ‘other factors’ did play some part, but the ‘stubborn facts’ or social geography defeated all political aspirations and calculations. Over two decades later, Mountbatten remarked that the scale of massacres and migration was never anticipated. Obviously, no adequate preparation could be made. In any case, there were about 4,000,000 Muslims in the East Punjab. The migration which had started before 15 August 1947 became an exodus afterwards, and on a scale ‘absolutely unparalleled in the history of the world’. [To be continued] |
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ON
5 January 1947 the All-India Congress Committee resolved that the Congress
could not be a party to any compulsion or imposition against the will of a
people. In the event of any such attempt, a Province or part of a Province
had the right to take action to give effect to the wishes of the people
concerned. On 21 February, Nehru explained to the Governor General that
minorities like the Sikhs could not be compelled into an unacceptable
Constitution. On 8 March the Congress Working Committee suggested that the
Punjab should be divided into two parts so that the predominantly Muslim
portion might be separated from the predominantly non-Muslim portion.