THE MAKING OF EXILE: SINDHI HINDUS AND THE PARTITION OF INDIA

by NANDITA BHAVNANI

  During Partition, there were Hindu-Muslim riots in Punjab and other parts of India. The Muslims especially used to attack Hindus and snatch their property. Our efforts were purely defensive, in case we were attacked.39

  This military training of Sindhi Hindus in Jodhpur is corroborated by Nanikram Issrani, then a 21-year-old RSS member from Pir Jo Goth, who was also one of these trainees. According to Issrani, ‘The RSS didn’t want to give in to the idea of Pakistan without a fight. So they started training cadres in rifle-shooting and bomb-making.’40 Issrani migrated to Ajmer from Jacobabad in October 1947, and continues to live there. He is an advocate who has authored several books in Sindhi and Hindi, and also publishes a Sindhi weekly, Hindu Bhoomi. He has been active in helping Sindhi Hindus from the Tharparkar desert area (who had crossed the border after the 1971 war with Pakistan) obtain Indian citizenship.

  Yet, the RSS was not the only organisation to provide Sindhi Hindus martial training. Inspired by Western fascism, many local militias had sprung up all over Northern India by this time, consisting mainly of young men inimical to the ‘other’ community. The writer and poet, Popati Hiranandani, writes that her brother, Hashu and his group of young friends were learning self-defence. They had collected about 60 lathis, some with gramophone needles attached to their heads and some with small knives attached, to be used in the event of a riot; these lathis were hidden in the terrace of Popati Hiranandani’s home in Hyderabad.41

  Dr Choithram Gidwani, concerned about the physical security of Sindhi Hindus, had arranged with the Mewar State to provide a martial training programme for them. The Sindh Congress had selected about 100 Sindhi Hindu boys from villages and cities all over the province, and arranged for their boarding, lodging and training in the Chittor fort, under the charge of Rochiram Thawani.42 According to Vishnu Sharma, Dr Gidwani was also motivated by the memory of the Sukkur riots in 1940, in which bands of Hindu youths had inflicted violence on the local Muslims, either in self-defence or in aggression.43 The speech that Dr Choithram Gidwani gave at the Chittor camp in July 1947 reflects his fears and beliefs that were shared by several Sindhi Hindus on the very eve of Independence:

  Independence is coming to the country, but Independence will come along with the Partition of the country. We Sindhis will be torn from our Bharat and put into Pakistan. We know the mentality of the Sindhi Muslims. It will be difficult for minorities to get justice in Pakistan. The Muslims are openly saying that they will take the estates, lands and houses of the Hindus who stay in Pakistan. They are also saying that they have a right over Hindu women. How will we bear this humiliation? We will have to strengthen ourselves. We will have to face these difficulties.44

  It was on this note – filled with tension and fear for the Hindus, excitement and anticipation for the Muslims, and pregnant with the possibility of violence – that 14 August came to Sindh.

  Notes

  1.The Times of India, Bombay, 4 June 1947.

  2.Yasmin Khan, The Great Partition, p 1.

  3.The present-day states of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand in India.

  4.Direct Action Day was the term given to the general strike planned by the Muslim League on 16 August 1946 to assert its demand for a separate Muslim homeland and to protest against the Congress’ rejection of the same. The actual meaning of the term ‘direct action’ was not defined by the Muslim League high command.

  5.The Times of India, Bombay, 9 June 1947.

  6.Free Press Journal, Bombay, 15 July 1947.

  7.Nimmi Vasvani, interview, April 2012.

  8.In the first half of the 20th century, many Sindhi Hindus used their fathers’ names as their last names, and did not always use their surnames. Consequently, public figures like Hiranand Karamchand Makhijani and Jairamdas Doulatram Alimchandani were popularly known, not as Hiranand Makhijani and Jairamdas Alimchandani, but as Hiranand Karamchand and Jairamdas Doulatram. Similarly, many writers, such as Gobind ‘Malhi’ Khattar and Mohan ‘Kalpana’ Lala, used their pen names as last names, and not their surnames.

  9.A term of endearment for Sindh.

  10.Ram Panjwani and Kamla Hiranand, Hiro. My translation. The name Hiro, which means diamond, is also a pun on the short form for Hiranand.

  11.Free Press Journal, Bombay, 25 July 1947.

  12.The rabi crop refers to the agricultural crop sown in winter and harvested in summer.

  13.Free Press Journal, Bombay, 2 July 1947.

  14.Ibid, 17 July 1947.

  15.Roger Pearce, Once a Happy Valley, p 470.

  16.Sarah Ansari, Life after Partition, p 48.

  17.The Times of India, Bombay, 3 March 1947.

  18.See the writings of Bherumal Mahirchand Advani in Amilan jo Ahwal, as also his essay ‘Hindun ji Lad-Palaarn ji Taarikh’ in Motiram S. Ramwani, ed, Samand Sojhyal Sipoon.

  19.Aror was the capital of Northern Sindh at the time of Muhammad bin Qasim’s conquest in 711-713 ce, near present-day Rohri. According to Harish Jagtiani, the descendants of some of these Aroras, who were later settled in the Multan region, returned to Sindh as Khudabadi Amils. See Harish Jagtiani, Family History of Himmatsing Khemsing Advani, p 5.

  20.See K. R. Malkani, The Sindh Story, p 151.

  21.G. M. Syed, Struggle for New Sind, p 265.

  22.Gobind ‘Malhi’, Adab Ain Adib: Nirvaas Mein Aas, p 27. My translation.

  23.S. K. Kirpalani, Fifty Years with the British, pp 317-318.

  24.Narayandas Malkani, Nirali Zindagi, pp 135-136.

  25.Vishnu Sharma, born into a Brahmin family in Hyderabad, was a Gandhian and a freedom fighter. He was a member of the Hyderabad Municipal Committee and a member of the Sindh Legislative Assembly, but is better known as a writer and the founder-editor of the nationalist daily Hindu. In 1948, the Government of India appointed him as a liaison officer at Hyderabad for the evacuation of Sindhi Hindus from Sindh. He worked hard in this post for 16 months, but later refused to accept any remuneration for his contribution. After migrating to India, he first lived in Ajmer and subsequently resettled in Gandhidham.

  26.Vishnu Sharma, Dr Choithram Partabrai Gidwani ji Jeevani, pp 223-224. My translation.

  27.Alok Bhalla, ‘The Landscape of Memories and Writing of Tamas: An Interview with Bhisham Sahni’, in S. Settar and Indira B. Gupta, eds, Pangs of Partition: The Human Dimension, p 109.

  28.The Times of India, Bombay, 14 May 1947.

  29.Ibid, 12 June 1947.

  30.Motilal Jotwani, Gandhiji on Sindh and the Sindhis, pp 505-506.

  31.Ram Panjwani and Kamla Hiranand, Hiro, pp 45-48. My translation.

  32.Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, India Wins Freedom, pp 196-198.

  33.Vishnu Sharma, ibid, pp 220-221. My translation.

  34.Ibid, pp 228-229. My translation.

  35.Free Press Journal, Bombay, 3 August 1947.

  36.J. B. Kripalani, My Times, p 703.

  37.Professor G. A., as quoted in Lata Jagtiani, Sindhi Reflections, p 181.

  38.See L. K. Advani, My Country, My Life, pp 7-9.

  39.Dr Ram Hingorani, interview, March 2009.

  40.Nanikram Issrani, interview, August 2000.

  41.Popati Hiranandani, Muhinji-a Hayati-a ja Sona Ropa Varqa, pp 67-68.

  42.Vishnu Sharma, ibid, pp 222-223. Rochiram Thawani came from a rare family of freedom fighters. Various members, both men and women, from three generations of this family were jailed simultaneously during the Quit India movement. See Lata Tahiliani, ed, Sindh Jo Surhya Sipahi: Dada Rochiram Thawani.

  43.See Vishnu Sharma, ibid, p 225 and Pir Ali Muhammad Rashdi, Uhay Deenhan Uhay Sheenhan, Volume II, pp 252-253.

  44.Vishnu Sharma, ibid, p 224. My translation.

  CHAPTER 2

  A Bloodstained Freedom

  Independence, Partition, Pakistan

  Karachi had been appointed the new capital of Pakistan by early June 1947; it had a sparkling reputation for
cleanliness, law and order, a mild climate, modernity and cosmopolitanism, with a fine harbour and an airport. Karachi was also where Muhammad Ali Jinnah had been born in 1876. (Jinnah had spent the first 10 years of his childhood here, attending the prestigious Sind Madrasatul Islam.) While several parts of India were suffering from food shortages, Sindh was one of the few provinces then to have a grain surplus; it was also making enthusiastic plans for industrialisation in an independent Pakistan.

  On 7 August, a considerably ill and enfeebled Quaid-i-Azam Jinnah flew to Karachi from Delhi, ahead of Pakistan’s Independence celebrations. When he arrived at Karachi’s Drigh Road aerodrome, he was given a rousing welcome. Sindhi Congressmen were, however, conspicuous by their absence. (Premchand Bhasin and Tilok Raj Bhasin, leaders of the All-Pakistan Hindu Mahasabha, however, came to Karachi specifically for these celebrations.) As Jinnah headed for Government House, he drove down streets lined with crowds cheering ‘Pakistan Zindabad!’ and ‘Quaid-i-Azam Zindabad!’ Only the Hindu neighbourhoods remained sullenly quiet.

  Wilfred Russell, an Englishman, was working with Killick Nixon & Co. Visiting Karachi in August 1947 to explore the possibility of setting up a Killick Nixon office in Pakistan, he describes in his memoir the Independence celebrations in the new capital:

  We arrived at the Palace Hotel, which by now seemed to be generally known as the ‘Spiv Arms’1 on the evening of 14 August. The hospitable Manager, Monsieur So and So, put us with several American and British correspondents into a large room which had been turned into a dormitory. I don’t think any of them had been to Karachi before. In fact, some of the Americans had never heard of the place until the partition of India had brought it suddenly into prominence. All of them, including the British, seemed to be disappointed at the smallness of the town, the large quantities of sand and the general lack of up-to-date amenities. Whether it was this provincial atmosphere or because few of them had studied the Muslim point of view before partition that made them feel the Independence celebrations were a flop is difficult to say in retrospect; the fact remains they all seemed convinced that the sober way in which the Muslims were celebrating their freedom probably meant they did not want it very much, certainly not as much as the Indians they had seen in Delhi who had been stoking up emotionally for some time back. […]

  On my way out of the hotel early in the morning of 15 August I ran into many old friends in the entrance hall, who were up betimes to squeeze every drop of experience out of this great day.2 There was no mistaking the enthusiasm among educated Muslims whose anticipation of the day’s events reminded me of Speech Days at school.

  Outside in the streets of Karachi there was any amount of enthusiasm among the Muslim populace, although the considerable number of Hindus who had lived there peaceably, side by side with the Muslims for generations, were obviously a bit worried and were beginning to look over their shoulders into India. Nevertheless, there was peace and quiet throughout the town. Everywhere the new green and white Pakistan flags were sprouting from rooftops, balconies and windows.3

  The Independence celebrations in Karachi were relatively sober, as compared to Delhi, mainly because in 1947, 14 August fell in the month of Ramazan, the holy month of fasting and abstinence for Muslims. The formal state luncheon scheduled for 13 August was rescheduled by Jinnah for dinner for this reason. This, and the sense of chaos prevailing in Pakistan’s nascent capital, contributed in some measure to a sense of relative sobriety. Yet, as Russell and others testify, there was nevertheless much enthusiasm in the new capital of the new nation.

  Mountbatten and his wife had flown into Karachi especially for Pakistan’s Independence. On 14 August, in front of the Sindh Assembly building, two flagpoles had been set up, with a platoon of the Baloch Regiment on guard. The Mountbattens, Quaid-i-Azam Jinnah and his sister, Fatima Jinnah, stood at the top of the steps of the building. The band played the British national anthem, and Mountbatten saluted, while the Union Jack was lowered, carefully folded and put away. Then the new Pakistani flag was hoisted, as the Pakistani national anthem played and Mountbatten and Jinnah saluted. The crowd cheered: Pakistan was finally born!4

  After the celebrations at the Sindh Assembly, the Mountbattens accompanied Jinnah and his sister Fatima on a state parade through the city of Karachi. In early August 1947, Gerald Savage of the Punjab CID (Crime Investigation Department) had warned the government of a conspiracy by the RSS, in cooperation with Sikh militants under the prominent Sikh leader, Master Tara Singh, to perpetrate violence against Muslims by exploding bombs and even destroying the headworks of canals in Muslim-majority areas. To this end, a bomb had been exploded in the Crown Talkies cinema in Lahore at the end of June, and there were also plans being made to blow up trains carrying Muslim refugees to Pakistan.5

  The RSS-Sikh militant nexus was a vexing issue for India too, not just for Pakistan. Nehru had written to Vallabhbhai Patel describing a well-organised plot of ‘certain Sikh and Hindu fascist elements’ to overthrow the government. In Nehru’s words, these were ‘pure terrorists’.6

  Savage had also revealed to the government that Master Tara Singh’s most prominent goal was the assassination of Jinnah. Members of the RSS were to infiltrate the crowds in Karachi and hurl grenades at Jinnah’s car while he rode through the streets of the new capital during Pakistan’s Independence celebrations. However, after years of struggling for Pakistan, Jinnah would not be deterred by such warnings. He, in turn, attempted to dissuade Mountbatten from joining him, but the latter claimed that nobody would want to kill him. Putting on a brave face, Mountbatten and his wife joined the Jinnah siblings in an open black Rolls Royce on a tour of the city. This three-mile drive took 30 minutes to complete, the car driving extremely slowly along cheering crowd-lined streets.7 Ultimately, Jinnah claimed that his presence had averted an attack on Mountbatten; Mountbatten simultaneously claimed credit for having saved Jinnah’s life.8

  Now that Independence had been attained, the Sindh government had changed masters: Sir Francis Mudie, the governor of Sindh, was replaced by the erstwhile premier, Ghulam Hussain Hidayatullah, who was at this point the only non-British governor in Pakistan. Mohammed Ayub Khuhro took Hidayatullah’s place as the premier.

  While the newly-Independent Indian government had inherited the capital of the Raj, Pakistan had to set up its own capital from scratch. This gargantuan task fell largely on the shoulders of the Sindh government, which had vacated its own offices at the Sindh Secretariat at the end of July. The Sindh Legislative Assembly building was given over to the Pakistan Constituent Assembly (with the Sindh Legislature using it only when it was free). Army barracks were put into use as housing for government officers, and new barracks were constructed on the open spaces of Karachi’s Artillery Maidan to house additional offices of the central government. However, the Pakistan central government still had to arrange for the transport from Delhi of the government office equipment that had also been partitioned: chairs, tables, typewriters, inkstands, table lamps, hat pegs, bookshelves, safes, fans, clocks, bicycles. The Sindh government also had to find housing for ministers, bureaucrats and lesser officials, peons and their families. According to Hamida Khuhro, the historian and daughter of Mohammed Ayub Khuhro, then the minister for public works, Khuhro himself shared his own house with other government officers, and later vacated it for Liaquat Ali Khan, the first prime minister of Pakistan. Similarly, Government House, the official residence of the governor of Sindh, was vacated for Jinnah.9

  In those early days, there was much chaos, much creative improvisation. Government employees – many of whom were muhajirs – often used packing crates for furniture and worked in open verandas, given the daunting shortage of facilities. Yet, if there was chaos, there was also a great deal of enthusiasm and zeal among the Muslims who were building their long-awaited Pakistan. Syed Hashim Raza was a senior ICS officer, and although he hailed from UP, he joined the Bombay cadre, and spent many years working in Sindh. At the time of Partition, he
was both secretary to the governor of Sindh as well as collector and district magistrate of Karachi; in 1948, he was appointed administrator of Karachi also. According to Raza, ‘Thorns were used instead of pins, stools and benches were used instead of chairs, and no one complained, such was the joy of working for one’s own government and people.’10

  Quetta

  Quetta, the capital of the neighbouring province of Baluchistan, was home to a substantial population of Hindus and Sikhs, both Sindhi and Punjabi, who controlled the fruit and dry fruit trade there. Reassured by the goodwill of the local Muslim leaders, these Hindus and Sikhs had stayed on after the creation of Pakistan, and some of them had participated in the Independence celebrations in the days before and after 14 August.

  It was in Quetta, and not in Sindh itself, that Sindhi Hindus first experienced large-scale Partition-related violence. There are two conflicting reports about how the Quetta violence of 20/21 August was ignited. According to one version, violence was triggered off by the arrival of Punjabi Muslim refugees in the hill station town. The narratives of the Punjabi Muslims’ ordeal in East Punjab inflamed local passions, and revenge was planned. Three wounded Muslim boys from East Punjab were allegedly paraded on 20 August, with slogans shouted against Sikhs and Hindus. According to another version, violence broke out subsequent to a quarrel between some Pathans and other Muslims over the question of the hoisting of a flag over a mosque, the former wanting to hoist a Pathan flag. This quarrel then degenerated into widespread killings, loot and arson. The initial violence targeted the Sikhs; this rapidly spilled over, and turned into an attack on Hindus as well.

  A secondary motive was to wrest control of the fruit and dry fruit trade, which was largely in Hindu and Sikh hands. As various narratives show, the violence that was initiated against the Hindus and Sikhs on 20 August was resumed with greater intensity on 21 August. About 100 non-Muslims were killed and many more injured.11 According to the Free Press Journal, the attacks were predetermined, and the attackers came to Quetta from the surrounding villages, equipped with trucks loaded with kerosene tins and other inflammable materials; they looted and burned Hindu and Sikh property. According to one account, the attackers moved around freely, in jeeps and lorries, and the police, instead of putting a stop to the violence and the looting, either disappeared or joined them. Hindus and Sikhs were also attacked in neighbouring areas such as Pishin and Mach. The military was called in at 3 pm on 21 August and the violence suppressed by the end of the day.12 After the violence, about 100 tribal chieftains suspected of inciting the people and abetting the violence were arrested.