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Changing Mindsets
- Syed Ali Naqvi
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One might cry out, humanity is dead if there was any, in
disgust and disbelief after going through the events of the partition of the
subcontinent. It is hard to believe that hatred and instinctual savagery
can derive men to the edge of morality. Politics, religious bias and ethnicity
do have the poison to make men so vulnerable that they get ready to put
everything at stake.
Partition of the Indian subcontinent is seen as one of the most brutal and
unfortunate events in the world history. There are incidents of mass murder by
every religious and ethnic community of each other as well as rapes and
abductions of women, looting and separation of families during the migration.
Despite all these regrettable episodes humanity could not be overshadowed by
violence and insanity. But history hardly caters to the efforts of peace,
therefore the humane and positive episodes during the partition riots are not
part of the recorded history.
The fiction written during and after the partition depicts the humane side of
the partition. The works of Kartar Singh Duggal, Manto and Khuswant develop
characters that rise above their religious and ethnic identity and serve the
cause of humanity. The book under review Humanity Amidst Insanity,
edited by Tridivesh
Singh Maini, Tahir Malik and Ali Farooq Malik is also an attempt to bring
humane and positive episodes of the 1947 partition holocaust to the fore. The
book is a compilation of interviews of the survivors of Indo-Pak partition.
In the introduction of the book the editors make it very clear that the purpose
behind such a work is not to forget the trauma and atrocities of the partition
but the idea is to look at the positives in order to bridge the gap between the
two countries. There is no organized database of the survivors who had positive
experiences so the editors had to rely on their personal efforts that certainly
paid of.
Indian sub-continent partition in pictures
On the Indian side individuals who are settled in Ludhiana, Delhi, Chandigarh,
Amritsar and Kurukshetra were interviewed. They had migrated from Sargodha,
Rawalpindi, Lahore, Gujranwala, Kahuta, Sialkot and Bahawalpur. Individuals
like Brigadier SS Chowdhary have tales of selflessness and compassion to tell.
SS Chowdhary was deputed to as Additional SP at Rohtak at the time of the
partition. He was responsible for the safe evacuation of the Muslim refugees in
the district. He said that he was approached by various Hindus asking him to
allow them to loot the caravans of the Muslims. About his determination to
rescue the Muslims he said that it was his duty to give the refugees a safe
passage. He even fired at those groups who tried to hurt the Muslim refugees.
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Individuals from Lahore, Kasur and Faisalabad were interviewed on the Pakistani
side. Shaukat Ali Awan, chief Meteorologist from Sargodha, was born a year
after the partition he recollects the stories of her father who rescued the
non-Muslims. His father Malik Ghazanfar Awan was a sub-inspector in the police
department of the United Punjab Government in 1947. His father also got a
chance to meet Sikh Leader Master Tara Singh after sixteen years of the
partition. Out of sheer gratitude Tara Singh embraced Awan for what he did for
the non-Muslims.
Other interviews including Taj Bibi, Fameeda Bano, Chutal Khan, Rana Ameer
Khan, Ahmed Salim, Professor Rafique Muhammad, Umer Farooq Malik, Khursheed
Bibi, Mirza Nasir-ud-Din and Dr Asif Nisar are worth reading. Their
recollections are vivid with a blend of nostalgia and anxiety.
Louis W Goodman Dean, school of International Service American University has
commented on the book by saying that “Awareness of “positive episodes,” as
described in this book, can inspire positive acts by others under stress and
can help leaders bring out the best in themselves and those that depend on them
for guidance”. Works such as this can certainly change the mindset of the
people and changing mindsets is akin to changing the world.
Humanity Amid Insanity is a book of its kind. It is a commendable effort
by Tariq Malik, Tridivesh Singh Maini and Ali Farooq Malik to give hope to the
people of India and Pakistan that we can coexist. It is not only the sufferings
of the partition that the editors has tried to evade but also the enmity that
still lingers on between the two countries.
The road to progress, prosperity and above all peace for both India and
Pakistan is the spirit of compassion and tolerance. India and Pakistan has
fought three wars since partition that led only to destruction, chaos and
hatred. Its never late to mend.
Source: The Nation