"Dear My. Jinnah, The refugee problem is assuming gigantic proportions. The only limit that I can see to it is that set by the Census reports. According to reports the movement across the border runs into a lakh or so a day. At Chuharkana in the Sheikhupura district I saw between a lakh and a lakh and a half of Sikhs collected in the town and round it in the houses, on the roofs and everywhere. It was exactly like the Magh Mela in Allahabad. It will take 45 trains to move them, even at 4,000 people per train or if they are to stay there, they will have to be given 50 tons of ata a day. At Govindarh in the same district there was a collection of 30,000 or 40,000 Mazbi Sikhs with arms. They refused even to talk to the Deputy Commissioner, and Anglo-Indian, who advanced with a flag of truce. They shot at him and missed. Finally arrangements were made to evacuate the lot. I am telling every one that I don’t care how the Sikhs get across the border: the great thing is to get rid of them as soon as possible. There is still little sign of the 3 Lakhs Sikhs in Lyallpur moving, but in the end they too will have to go."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Letter dated 5-9-47 from Sir Francis Mudie to the Quid-i-Azam (Jinnah) No. 2 Government House, Lahore. 5th September, 1947 in: Talib, S. G. S. (1950). Muslim League Attack on Sikhs and Hindus inthe Punjab, 1947. Amritsar: Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee. [https://www.sikhiwiki.org/index.php/Muslim_League_Attack_on_Sikhs_and_Hindus_in_the_Punjab_1947 **307ff, 137-8
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Partition_of_India
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Partition of India
51 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Partition of India →
Related Quotes
"India whose ancient borders stretched until Afghanistan, lost with the country of seven rivers (the Indus Valley), th…"
"India is free but she has not achieved unity, only a fissured and broken freedom.... The old communal division into H…"
"The most important departure from determinism during the Cold War had to do, obviously, with hot wars. Prior to 1945,…"
"[T]he opposition of fanatical Hinduism to partition did not and could not make any sense, for one of the forces that …"
"One ought not to forget that the terrible war of 1947 in India between the Muslims and Hindus was fought on a purely …"
"The single most dramatic instance of religious cleansing took place in 1947, removing the Hindu presence completely f…"
"But history moves in strange ways, and yesterday's disaster may be today's blessing. For Hinduism as such, Partition …"
"Moreover, the British Labour government had decided to relinquish the burdens of its vast empire. However, its hasty …"
"India had barely become independent, in 1947, when Pakistan invaded Kashmir, which at the time was ruled by a maharaj…"
"The creation of India and Pakistan were pyrrhic victories for their denizens because the political, socioeconomic, ps…"