"Lyallpur constituted the richest spot the Sikhs possessed in the Punjab. It was purely a Sikh creation, economically speaking. Sikhs had converted by hard toil of generations a sandy waste which this area was, into the granary of the Punjab. The Lyallpur Sikhs were not only one of the most prosperous group among the Sikhs anywhere, but they were also very well-disciplined, independence-loving and had a highly developed social conscience. They had taken a leading part in the movements of education and reform which stirred the Sikh people in the twentieth century. They were a proud, assertive and militant kind of people, who would not easily take a beating from any one. It was of the Lyallpur Sikhs primarily and also of the Sheikhupura Sikhs that the official Pakistan publication said that they left the West Punjab ‘defiantly.’ Yes, the sturdy Sikhs of those areas left the West Punjab thoroughly defiantly, and not abjectly. It was they again, to turn out whom from West Punjab, Governor Mudie made up his mind firmly. In his letter to Governor-General Jinnah, quoted elsewhere, he said: “I am telling everyone that I don’t care how the Sikhs cross the border, the great thing is to get rid of them as soon as possible. There is still little sign of the 3 lakh Sikhs in Lyallpur moving, but in the end they too will have to go.”"