Sindhi
Exodus
Dadi
Bimila Ramchandani
English
Translation of Sindhi notes by Roop Ramnani.
On
15th August 1947 India was divided to create Pakistan, and Mahatma
Gandhi
was devastated. Mohmad Jinnah who was with the Indian National Congress
for many years, suddenly
joined the Muslim League and demanded a separate state for Muslims to
fulfil
British desires to divide India.
Muslims
were brainwashed by the British into thinking that
they would be dominated by the Hindus and that Muslims would become
voiceless,
therefore Muslims must demand a
separate
state. This was how Pakistan was formed. After
Pakistan was officially formed, Hindu Sindhis had a lot of trouble in
their
own land as they
were
compelled to flee Sind and become refugees all over the world.
They left all their
houses, businesses and farms and were not even allowed to take
anything with them. Railway
platforms,
docks and airports were flooded with Hindu Sindhis
who wanted to flee from violent attacks which were happening around
them
in Sind. Many were
slaughtered
in the trains and the few who reached the borders of India
were also in a lot of agony as
many
lost their loved ones and had no shelter above their heads.Penniless,
hungry and after a few days squatting on pavements, they were helped
by volunteers to be accommodated
in
military camps where ten people were accommodated to
a room and food was horrible. A lot of people died of TB and cholera
and
few found some
sort of
employment to sustain themselves. Some children were selling fruit,
peanuts
and roasted chickpeas in the
trains
and many of them were arrested for travelling and selling
things without a valid ticket.
After
many years of hard work and toil, Sindhis have become self-sufficient
and are leading a happy life. But alas, our whole Sind has been
swallowed
up by Pakistan,
where
our great grandfathers were born and grew up.
On the
creation
of Pakistan, Sindhi Muslims said that we Hindus could stay as brothers,
but on the arrival of Muslim
refugees
from Bihar the murders and looting started again. The women
who had just delivered babies in hospitals were murdered along with
their
newborns. The
government
imposed a total curfew, nobody could go out of their homes. Trains were
cancelled and the passengers on
the
platform who were trying to flee were looted and murdered.
Their relatives were unaware what had happened to them, because many men
decided to go to India first to
look
for accommodation for their families to take them to India,
but on the platform blood was
flowing.
A few people survived with difficulty and came back home,
but they were all wounded. Because of the curfew doctors were not
prepared
to come out of
their
houses and treat the wounded. However, after a few days the curfew was
lifted for an hour
or
so, so that people could go out and purchase some food, milk and
medicine.
In the ensuing
stampede,
shops were looted. Some died, some survived. People again started to
flee by ship and by train to
India,
and reached the borders of India, where after experiencing
a lot of difficulties they have
managed
to settle down. But they have forgotten their mother tongue.
Up till now people remember their Sind and miss their motherland. After
the Partition all
Sindhis
have been separated from each other and have settled themselves in all
parts of the world.
We
call ourselves Sindhis, but we do not have our Sindh. Sindh was a
civilized,
religious and self-sufficient
province
of India. Punjabis have their half of Punjab, the Bengalis
have their own half of Bengal,
but
alas Sindhis lost the whole of Sindh.
Dadi Bimla Ramchandani
Original
hand written account in script
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