By 1946 the partitioning of British India into two nations had become a certainty, but it was not clear where the new international borders would be. Punjab became a bone of contention between, on the one hand, Sikhs and Hindus demanding it be made part of India and, on the other hand, Muslims determined to make it part of Pakistan.
Neither faction foresaw that this tussle would be the cause of the division of the province. It took them by surprise. This is evident in the last-minute cross-border migration and the violence that erupted in 1947. In all, 13 million people were uprooted by the Partition of British India. Ten million of them were Punjabis. But for the bitter conflict between the Muslim and non-Muslim Punjabi factions partition need not have been such a horrifying opening chapter of the history of the two new countries.
"Divided Cities" is a study of the processes of partition-related violence, migration, refugee rehabilitation and rebuilding of Lahore and Amritsar which bore the brunt of all these factors. Dr Ian Talbot, who has written extensively on the history of the Punjab and the emergence of Pakistan, draws on original sources to show that the violence which began in the two cities in March 1947 contributed to the decision to divide the Punbjab when the subcontinent itself was divided.
A new trend in the method of recording the past, which Talbot calls "new history", highlights the life of ordinary people and chronicles how they were affected by the great events of their time. "Divided Cities" is new history which gives a ground-level view of Lahore and Amritsar before and after partition. Talbot utilises conventional and unconventional source material in the study.
Included are oral and written first-hand accounts; documentary sources such as government reports, newspapers, party documents; as well as fictional representation in novels and poetry to reveal the human reaction to the 1947 upheavals. He refutes conventional opinion that the forced migrations, the slaughter of innocent people, abduction and rape of women and the wilful destruction of entire muhallas (localities) in Lahore and Amritsar was a "temporary madness." He believes terms "ethnic cleansing", "genocide" and "retributive genocide" maybe legitimately applied to describe the mutuality of the violence and its revenge motive to such episodes.
Talbot has argued his case well. He shows how Sikh and Hindu religious revivalism led to the formation of Singh Sabhas and Arya Samaj which strengthened the Khalsa tradition and gave birth to Swami Shardananda's militant movement for the reconversion of "low cast" Muslims and Sikhs to Hinduism thus intensifying communal consciousness.
The emergence of communal parties in the form of Akali Dal, Muslim League, Hindu Sabha, and religio-political movements like Ahrar, Khaksar and Ittehad-I-Milli increased the likelihood of communal violence. All these organisations had their most influential centres in Lahore and Amritsar. The plurality of these cities was communally segmented and ready to explode into "genocide violence".
Yet the reason for conflict was not communal but a contest for power when the British phased withdrawal from India, province by province began. There was increase in tensions in both cities in the wake of the 1946 provincial elections. The ML saw the elections as a referendum on Pakistan. It did not succeed at the polls, so it called the Unionist Muslims led by Khizr Tiwana, who held on to power, as "traitors" to Islam. However, through rallies, protests and the press the ML succeeded in creating a pro-Pakistan demand among the public. Later, their Direct Action Campaign shook the alliance of the Unionist Party, Akali Dal and Congress, forcing the embattled Unionist Prime Minister Khizr Tiwana to resign on 2 March 1947.
In response to the prospect of "Muslim Raj", Akali leader Master Tara Singh unsheathed his sword on the steps of the Punjab Assembly building. This action is conventionally taken as the catalyst for the violent demonstrations and riots which engulfed the Punjab. Elsewhere in the subcontinent riots broke out near to August 1947, Punjab was in flames from March 4. Ethnic cleansing began with a vengeance in Lahore and Amritsar, the prized possessions to be fought over in this contest for power.
That the power of the sword would decide the fate of the Punjab was evident now. British Punjab Governor Sir Evan Jenkins warned that the situation was developing into a civil war. He dubbed the battle for control of the Punjab a "communal war of succession".
British officials anxiously noted the mushrooming of paramilitary organisations. These were proclaimed as having only a self defence purpose but their drilling, marching and weapons training had a more aggressive intent.
Ex-servicemen, who had returned to the Punjab from the world war, played the chief role in igniting the fire of communal genocide and riots. The soldiers who returned home to the Punjab massively increased the numbers of militants in the Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sang (RSS) and the Muslim League National Guard. In July 1946 British reports estimated there were 28,000 RSS members and 10,000 National Guards. In less than a year their numbers rose to 58,000 and 39,000 respectively.
The first-person accounts of people from the riot-torn cities of Lahore and Amritsar brings the horrible tragidies to life. The reader is mesmerised and unable to resist the urge to read on despite a strong desire to shut the book. Even though Talbot has attempted to give a fair selection of opinions from both factions, the fact that Indian Punjabis have written extensively on partition while Pakistani Punjabis have not, creates the impression that the Sikhs and Hindus were the greater victims of the tragedy.
Indians record 80,000 dead in partition related violence. Pakistanis offer no statistics of the dead. The new international border lies exactly halfway between the two cities at the small Wagha canal. The cities are only 58 kilometers apart. Their position from being the heartland of the Punjab to border towns affected their development in the two new countries. Lahore did not suffer as much and retained its status as the provincial capital. Lahore was Sikh dominated ever since the reign of Ranjit Singh. British patronage of Sikhs and Hindus helped in their progress and prosperity. Colonial Lahore was thus characteristically Sikh and Hindu.
They controlled two-thirds of Lahore shops and four-fifths of the factories. Colonial Lahore was the administrative capital. It was also the headquarter of North Western Railway, the Lahore division of Nothern Command and of the Anglican and Catholic dioceses. Lahore possessed more financial institutes (20 banks) than any other city in India. It was also the leading education centre of North India. No other city in Pakistani Punjab had the wherewithall to serve as provincial capital. Hence Lahore retained this status despite its nearness to the border.
Amritsar was the industrial hub of British Punjab and had trade links throughout the subcontinent and outside with Afghanistan, Azerbaijan and other places in central Asia, as well as Japan. Lahore and Amritsar formed the only two truly urban centres of the Punjab.
The Bania Community of Hindus dominated more than the Khatris and Aroras in Amritsar. In both cities Muslims were underdeveloped. Amritsar lost its importance when it became a border town. Money from Lahore did not get invested in this city. The Indian government did not favour it as a provincial capital and chose Chandigarh. The Lahore refugees prefered to invest their capital father into North India, favouring Delhi. Many industries in Amritsar closed down because the source of their raw material (wheat, cotton) was in Pakistan now. Amritsar never regained its lost prestige and importance. The resettlement of refugees is a heroic tale in itself.
"Divided Cities" most interesting point is that the contemporary fellowship between Punjabis of all stripes on both sides of the border, irrespective of cast and creed, is a post-Independence phenomena. It is born out of nostalgia for lost homes and also because the Hindus, Sikhs and Muslim Punjabis no longer see each other as a threat to their power and prosperity in their new countries. At last one is able to solve the riddle as to how people who were at each other's throat at the time of partition can fall lovingly on each other's neck now scene we witness every year when Sikh yatris come to Pakistan.