Mirpur
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1947:Fall of Mirpur
Sanjay Gupta , Fall of Mirpur in 1947 "Daily Excelsior" 25/11/2016
Every year November 25 is remembered as Mirpur Day. On this day in 1947 a curse descended on Mirpur, now in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. Out of a total population of 25,000 about 18,000 Hindus and Sikhs were killed and about 3500 were wounded by the raiders. To pay tributes to Martyrs on this day Mirpur Mahajan Sabha Organizes programmes in which people from all walks of life including school children participate in processions and meetings etc. A grand function is organized at Mirpur Chowk, Maheshpura, Jammu by the Mirpur Mahajan Sabha.
According to a legend about 650 years ago the city of Mirpur was laid by two saints, Mir Shah Gazi and Gosain Bodhpuri. The word ‘Mir’ was taken from the name of the former while ‘Pur’ from the later to give the name ‘Mirpur’ which became symbol of the Hindu – Muslim unity, brotherhood, simplicity, fairdeal, integrity and hospitality of its inhabitants. Not only were they imbued with the feeling of self – respect and qualities of hard work, intelligence and God-fearing but were also brave and courageous, and ever-ready to sacrifice anything in the cause of their mother-land.
Hospitality and courtesy are the inherited qualities of the people of Mirpur. They have their own sweet language known as Mirpuri. The city of Mirpur gradually rose to become a great commercial centre next only to Jammu and Srinagar. But the partition of India in 1947 resulted in the city being all but destroyed. At the time, with a population 25000 souls including migrants from Punjab, it became the boundary line between India and Pakistan on the western side of Jammu and Kashmir State. Pakistan connived with Pakhtuns and attacked Mirpur in full force with the intention of grabbing the whole of Jammu and Kashmir state. But the Mirpuris unitedly stood against the invaders.
On the 4th of Nov. 1947, heavy enforcement of the Pakistan Army look position on the ridge known as Palan-Da-Galla and also started heavy firing and tried to besiege the small garrison of State Force on the river Jehlum about 10 miles from Mirpur city. Under heavy odds, the state force decided to retreat falling back to the city. This brought the enemy right to the gates of Mirpur City which now looked within it’s easy reach. But the people of Mirpur were not prepared to give – in without fighting in collaboration with the small State force. They organized the defence of the town. Together they repulsed the enemy attack with heavy losses on November 6, 10 and 11,1947.
In the meantime, the enemy came closer to occupying almost all the posts around the city. Not only was the ammunition almost out, essential commodities such as food, water and medical supplies in the besieged city became critical. The people of Mirpur then organized committees to distribute the limited supplies among the people. After November 16, the intensity and regularity of the enemy attack on the city greatly increased. But the young and brave souls of Mirpur also displayed tremendous grit and tenacity in their defence. On Nov. 19, the then thin and poorly equipped strength of the State Army had little hope of holding out of more then 3 days. In that critical situation, the state Garrison received another consignment of 25,000 rounds of ammunition dropped by air in the nick of time.
Though in-sufficient, the extra ammunition boosted the morale of the Garrison tremendously. The next day another massive attack was made on the town and the enemy managed to break through the defense on the south western portion of the city. The enemy was then rebuffed in hand to hand fighting by the young men of Mirpur and the soldiers of the State Army. The enemy was pushed back and their attempt to enter into the city was foiled. Unfortunately on November 21, the wireless set with the Garrison went out of order and all contact with the country were lost. The air strikes of the Indian Air Force against the enemy also declined thereafter. On November 22 and 23, the enemy used its full force and putting bullets into the city from all directions. This continued day and night without any break.
On November 24, came the final blow when a full battalion of the enemy strongly supported by artillery and 3 inch Mortar Fire launched an attack on the south western part of the city. This was the heaviest attack witnessed so far. The post put up the most spirited resistance, but the enemy came in wave after wave after wave and after six hours of ceaseless fighting, this portion of the defence was over run by the Pakistan Army units who entered the city at midnight. Alarmed by the most critical situation, the internal flying squards engaged themselves in hand to hand fights with the infiltators and kept them on their toes at the cost of their own lives till the morning of November 25. Unfortunately at this critical juncture, the administrative machinery at Mirpur clandestinely took the decision of retreating to Jammu leaving the civil population to its fate. In an utter display of cowardness, the state officers showed their backs to the enemy. Some other soldiers also left their pickquets and followed suit. This created panic, chaos and confusion among the civil population. Thousands of women committed suicide to save themselves from the clutches of the cruel enemy and rape let loose by the invaders. Others assembled in the deserted Army camp where the wounded and sick soldiers of the state force, lying on their beds were looking towards the sky with tears flowing from their eyes. In the camp, the old men, women and children were searching for their family members.
From a moment, their appeared a glimmer of hope when at 1100 hours a fighter aircraft of the Indian Air Force appeared in the sky and again at 1300 hours. But each time hope turned into despair as the Aircraft turned away without helping the helpless. That was the greatest misfortune of Mirpuris who were still alive or wounded. The enemy then greeted the people of Mirpur with showers of bullets from all sides and the whole town was covered with the blood and dead bodies of over 18000 people about 3500 wounded and half-dead were made prisoners while another group of about 3500, after walking miles and miles barefooted, managed to make their way to Jammu. Their very miserable condition of starvation and mental condition is too difficult to describe in words. That tragic of, ‘the naked’ dance of death at Mirpur on 25th, 1947 which brought the tragic fall of Mirpur can never be forgotten.
(The author is the president of Mirpur Mahajan Sabha, Jammu).
Bloodbath at Mirpur
C P Gupta , Bloodbath at Mirpur "Daily Excelsior" 5/3/2017
What a terrible and heart rending scene it was! which the author witnessed at the age of sixteen, when Pakistan with its fully armed Battalion, like a hungry wolf, pounced upon the innocent and unarmed population of Mirpur city now in P.O.K. when out of the total population of 25,000 souls including men, women and children of tender ages, more than 18,000 persons were brutally killed in three days Carnage on 25, 26th and 27th November, 1947.
The only fault of the people of Mirpur, was that they had unitedly vowed to protect Mirpur their birth land, from the Pakistani raiders even at the cost of their own lives.
The trouble started when on 26th October, 1947 the Maharaja Hari Singh the then Ruler of Jammu and Kashmir State ,signed the Instrument of Accession after which the State of Jammu and Kashmir became an integral part of India. This could not be digested by the Pakistan Government. They planned a nefarious design in connivance with the Pathans. This led to a secret agreement between Pakistan Government and Pathan mercenaries according to which if Mirpur city was forcibly occupied, the captured women would be taken by the Pathans and the immovable land of Mirpur and movable property viz gold, cash etc. would be the share of Pakistan Government. This was named as Zan and Zar Agreement.
Before conducting the army attack, the Pakistan Government in the first week of November 1947 managed in secret manner, to send a bag of Pamphlets written in Urdu language, in the city of Mirpur , in which it was written that Pakistan Government would assign a special status to Mirpur in Pakistan Government if the citizens of Mirpur amicably surrender themselves and allow the Pakistan army to occupy the territory of Mirpur without any hindrance. The literate and the elderly persons of the city met in the evening and decided out rightly to reject the proposal of the Pakistan Government and the refusal was conveyed through the shower of bullets from each defense picket of the city. This brought a terrible attack on Mirpur from the enemy.
The small and ill equipped state Police force stationed at that time at Mirpur was fully assisted by the young civil population of the city. At the midnight of November 24, 1947, under a thick cover of artillery shelling and bursting of grenades which are normally used during an openly declared war, the Pakistan army launched a major attack on the southern side of the city, which was spiritedly resisted by the depleting garrison force for six hours. Although the pickets held tough resistance, the enemy came in wave after wave and after six hours of ceaseless fighting, the defense line of the city was run over by seven pathans. Alarmed by the most critical situation, the Flying Death Squads of the city engaged themselves madly in hand to hand fight with the infiltrators and killed all the seven pathans at the cost of life of many young men of the Mirpur community. Though the people of Mirpur displayed tremendous grit and tenacity but the end seemed gloomy and dreadful because that operation brought the city stock of ammunition to nearly zero level. Further, due to the irony of fate, the old modeled wireless set installed in the police camp at Mirpur suddenly developed some technical defect and went out of order which led to disruption in radio link with the State Police Headquarters at Jammu and Government of India. Despite war like situation created by Pakistan, the Government of India due to political rivalry between the then Prime Minister of India and the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir State, did not send army though at that time the Indian army was stationed at Jhanghar which was at a distance of only 20 miles from Mirpur.
In that critical situation, the State Administration headed by Wazir Wazarat of Mirpur decided clandestinely to retreat to Jammu leaving behind the hapless civil population of the city to face the wrath of the marauders . In fact, at that time it was the moral duty of the State Administration to ask the citizens of Mirpur to vacate the city and march towards Jammu under their protection but contrary to it, the Wazir Wazarat and his Police Officers galloped their horses and left the city in the wee hours on November 25, even leaving behind their own wounded soldiers who were crying in pain of their wounds in the Police Line Hospital. This coward departure of the State Administration from Mirpur city, gave a jubilant signal to the enemy. At that time, the whole population of the city of Mirpur felt themselves as hanging breathlessly in between the tight jaws of the enemy which was very eager to swallow the flesh and even the bones of the people of Mirpur who had refused out rightly to give shelter to the Pakistani soldiers in the city of Mirpur.
Immediately after the departure of the State Administration from the city a fully armed Battalion of the Pakistan army assisted by Pathan raiders entered the city from all the sides at the stroke of 8.30 A.M. and by creating terrible sounds from the war instruments, pushed the city population into one corner of the city. The terrified men, women and children in utter chaos and confusion in the midst of heavy firing from all the sides and in choking atmosphere due to smoke coming out of the burning houses of the city, scattered and marched in caravan in different directions without knowing where they were going. They were intercepted by the enemy at various places and like hungry wolves they unleashed terror and brutal savagery which made the whole area an open grave yard of dead bodies and many uncounted seriously wounded uncared persons were battling for life in the whirl pool of their own blood. By the time of sunset, the whole area from Mirpur city to a hill-foot was fully covered with dead bodies and critically injured persons. Ultimately, in the depleting evening, the Nature by force had to display a signal through the darkness that the grave yard was full and no more entry of any dead body was possible. That brought the temporary stay in the day atrocity.
This was not the end of the misery of the people of Mirpur. At night of the same day an ill-fated group of about 2,000 captured persons was brought at a place known as “Kas Guma” a colony of retired Muslim soldiers. The enemy encircled the captives and asked them to surrender all the cash and jewellery which they had with them. Thereafter, the male persons were asked to remove their clothes and lie down in a row. They were tortured brutally and killed in batches during the whole night. The women and girls were taken to unknown places by the Pathans as per their “Zen and Zar “Agreement with the Pakistan Government. Next day, the enemy drove another group of about 2000 persons and brought them at a village known as “Thathal”. They also met the same brutal treatment as at “Kas Guma”during the day. Finally there was a massacre at Alibeg where, about 5,000 captives were huddled up in an old deserted and unhygienic ruined Gurdwara building. In the beginning about 50 to 100 young men were daily taken on pick and choose basis to kill them in the open fields. Besides, on average basis about 15 to 20 aged captives died every day due to severe cold weather condition, starvation, illness and mental shock.
On December 1, a young Muslim Attorney named Mohammad Ibrahim being very soft in tongue and well known to many Hindu Officers of Mirpur, visited the Alibeg prison and showed his lip sympathy to the intelligentsia who were brought there as captives and also shed his crocodile tears on their pitiable condition and assured them that he would do his best to talk with the concerned authorities of the Government of Pakistan to get them employed in the factories on daily wage basis till they were at Alibeg camp as captives. He distributed Muslim caps and mufflers to some of them as a token of friendship, but those gestures were in fact subtle signals and indications to the Pakistani soldiers to kill those persons first. The next morning, the enemy soldiers drove a group of educated people of the prison on the pretext that they would be taken back in the evening with earning after utilizing their services in the factories during the day. Those wearing caps and mufflers proudly occupied the front line to get priority in getting job in the factories but they never came back as they all were slaughtered on the bank of Jhelum canal.
In the mid January, 1948 a team of ICRC (International Committee of Red Cross) arrived there and took charge of the camp and supplied the needed food and medicines to the captives. On March 18, they managed to get the captives liberated in exchange of the same number of Muslims who were in India and willing to go to Pakistan. The liberated captives, at that time, were not more than about 1600 as the rest were either killed/died or kidnapped. The liberated persons were mostly aged and even unable to walk. They reached Amritsar where they were given a tearful and touching reception by their relatives and the general public.
In the memory of Mirpur Martyrs of 1947, a Shaheedi Samark has been constructed by the Government of Jammu and Kashmir at a conspicuous place in front of the main entry gate of the Government Medical College at Mahespura Chowk Bakshinagar Jammu. The Jammu Development Authority dedicated the said Samark to Mirpur Community which was unveiled by Miss Sushma Choudhary I.A.S. the then Financial Commissioner on 25th November, 1998.The said Samark is also the starting point of “Mirpur Road” which was named so, on the same day viz 25th November, 1998 to pay tributes to the martyrs of Mirpur, under the patronage of late S. Harsajan Singh who at that time, was the Chairman of the Legislative Council of the Jammu and Kashmir State.
On 25th November every year, thousands of Mirpuris residing in Jammu city and its peripheral colonies, march in Prabhat Pheries coming from different Sectors of Jammu city and all assemble at the said MIRPUR SHAHEEDI SMARAK to pay jointly, the rich tributes to the Martyrs of Mirpur who sacrificed their lives for the sake of their mother land as a result of which the Jammu and Kashmir State remained an integral part of India.
(The author is retired Deputy Secretary J&K Govt)
Carnage at Mirpur
C P Gupta , Carnage at Mirpur “India Today” 26/11/2017
It may sound incredible but it is a true historical fact that more than 18,000 unarmed citizens of Mirpur, which included men, women and children of all ages, were brutally killed by the wild Pakistani raiders at the time of fall of Mirpur on 25th November, 1947. It was a horrible scene where in the midst of heaps of dead bodies, the serious and half-dead wounded people were crying in the wilderness and battling for life in the whirl-pools of their own blood where there was none to take care of them. The only fault of those unlucky victims was that the people of Mirpur who had a will of iron had unitedly decided and vowed to protect Mirpur their birth land from the Pakistani raiders even at the cost of their own lives till they had ammunition to fight with them. Due to irony of fate, the Government of Jammu and Kashmir State and the Government of India due to political conflict between them at that time did not send army to protect Mirpur from the raiders as a result of which the meager quantity of ammunition which the State army had at that time at Mirpur diminished to zero level as a result of which there was unprecedented loss of human life and 1/3 rd part of the Jammu and Kashmir State went in the illegal possession of Pakistan.
Soon after coming into existence of the Muslim country Pakistan, the Muslim population of Mirpur city moved to Pakistan and gave tangible clues to the Pakistan army how to attack on Mirpur effectively and to make Mirpur territory as a part of Pakistan. The Pakistan Government immediately swung into action and managed in secret manner , to send a bag of pamphlets written in Urdu language in the city of Mirpur, in which it was written that Pakistan Government would assign a special status to Mirpur in Pakistan Government if the citizens of Mirpur amicably surrender themselves and allow the Pakistan army to occupy territory of Mirpur without any hindrance. The literate and elderly persons of the city who had iron will, met in the evening and decided out rightly to reject the proposal of the Pakistan Government and the refusal was conveyed to them through the shower of bullets from each defense picket of the city. The result was that the Government of Pakistan immediately made an secret Agreement with the Pathan mercenaries according to which if Mirpur was forcibly occupied, the captured women would be taken by the Pathans and the immovable land of Mirpur and the movable property viz gold cash etc. would be the share of Pakistan Government. This was known as “Zan and Zar Agreement “.
The situation further aggravated when on 26th October, 1947 the Maharaja Hari Singh the then Ruler of Jammu and Kashmir State signed the Instrument of Accession of Jammu and Kashmir State with Indian Dominion . This could not be digested by the Pakistan Government which brought a terrible attack on Mirpur. The small and ill equipped state army stationed at that time at Mirpur, was fully assisted by the young civil population of the city. At the midnight of November 24,1947, under a thick cover of fully armed artillery, the raiders pounced upon the city of Mirpur, by shelling and bursting of grenades which are normally used during an openly declared war . This was a major attack on the southern side of the city which was spiritedly resisted by the depleting garrison force continuously for six hours. Although the city pickets held tough resistance , the enemy came in wave after wave and after six hours of ceaseless fighting, the defense line of the city was run over by seven pathans. Alarmed by the most critical situation, the Flying Death Squads of the city, engaged themselves madly in hand to hand fight with the infiltrators and killed all the seven pathans at the cost of life of many young men of Mirpur Community. Though the people of Mirpur displayed tremendous grit and tenacity but the end seemed gloomy and dreadful because that operation brought the city stock of ammunition to nearly zero level. Further, due to another irony of fate, the old modeled wireless set installed in the police camp at Mirpur, suddenly developed some technical defect and went out of order which led to disruption in radio link with the State Police Headquarters at Jammu and Government of India. Despite war like situation created by Pakistan, the Government of India due to political rivalry between the then Prime Minister of India and the then Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir State, did not send army though at that time the Indian army was stationed at Jhanghar which was at a distance of only 20 miles from Mirpur.
In the aforesaid critical situation the State Administration headed by Wazir Wazarat of Mirpur decided clandestinely to retreat to Jammu leaving behind, the hapless civil population of the city to face the wrath of the marauders . Infact, at that time it was the moral duty of the State Administration to ask the citizens of Mirpur to vacate the city and march towards Jammu under their protection but contrary to it, the Wazir Wazarat and his police officers galloped their horses and left the city in the wee hours on 25th November,1947 even leaving behind their own wounded soldiers who were crying in pain of their wounds in the Police Line Hospital. This coward departure of the State Administration from Mirpur city, gave a jubilant signal to the enemy. At that time, the whole unarmed population of the city of Mirpur felt themselves as hanging breathlessly in between the tight jaws of the enemy which was very eager to swallow the flesh and even the bones of the people of Mirpur who had refused out rightly to give shelter to the Pakistani soldiers in the city of Mirpur.
Immediately, after the departure of the State Administration from the city , a fully armed Battalion of the Pakistan army assisted by Pathan raiders entered the city from all the sides at the stroke of 8-30 A.M. and by creating terrible sounds from the war instruments pushed the city population into one corner of the city . The terrified men, women and children in utter chaos and confusion in the midst of heavy firing from all the sides and in choking atmosphere due to smoke coming out of the burning houses of the city, scattered and marched in different groups in different directions without knowing where they were going . They were intercepted by the enemy at various places and like hungry wolves they unleashed terror and brutal savagery which made the whole area an open grave yard of dead bodies and where many uncounted seriously wounded uncared persons were battling for life in the whirl pool of their own blood. By the time of sunset, the whole area from Mirpur city to a hill-foot was fully covered with dead bodies and critically seriously injured persons . Ultimately, in the depleting evening, the Nature had to display a signal through the darkness that the grave yard was full and no more entry of any dead body was possible. That brought the temporary stay in the day atrocity.
This was not the end of the misery of the people of Mirpur. At night of the same day an ill-fated group of about 2,000 captured persons, was brought at a place known as “Kas Gumma “a colony of retired Muslim soldiers. The enemy encircled the captives and asked them to surrender all the cash and jewellery which they had with them. Thereafter, the male persons were asked to remove their clothes and lie down in a row. There was no option for them and they had to follow their blind directions. They were tortured brutally and killed in batches during the whole night. The women and girls were taken to unknown places by the Pathans as per their “Zen and Zar “agreement with the Pakistan Government. Next day , the enemy drove another group of about 2000 persons and brought them to a village known as “Thathal “.They also met the same treatment as at Kas Gumma during the day. Finally there was a massacre at Alibeg where about 5,000 captives were huddled up in an old deserted and unhygienic ruined Gurudwara building. In the beginning, about 50 to 100 young men were daily taken on pick and choose basis to kill them in the open field. Besides, on average basis about 15 to 20 aged captives died every day due to sever cold weather condition, starvation, illness and mental shock. Out of the total population of 25,000 of Mirpur city , luckily or unluckily a group of about 3500 persons only which included the author, could find right way and after walking on bare feet for seven days and nights without food and water, reached Jammu in such a miserable condition and mental agony which is too difficult to be explained in words even now.
In the memory of Mirpur martyrs of 1947, a Sheedi Samark has been constructed by the Government of Jammu and Kashmir in front of the main entry gate of Government Medical College at Maheshpura Chowk Bakshinagar Jammu. The Jammu Development Authority dedicated the said Samark to Mirpur Community which was unveiled by Miss Sushma Choudhary I.A.S. the then Financial Commissioner on 25th November, 1998. The said Samark is also the starting point of “Mirpur Road” which was named so on the same day under the patronage of late S. Harsajan Singh who at that time was the Chairman of the Legislative Council of Jammu and Kashmir State.
On 25th November every year thousands of Mirpuris residing in Jammu city and its peripheral colonies march in Prabhat Pheries coming from different sectors of Jammu city assemble at the said ” MIRPUR SHAHEEDI SAMARK” to pay jointly , the rich tributes to the martyrs of Mirpur who sacrificed their lives for the sake of their mother land as a result of which the State of Jammu and Kashmir remained an integral part of India.
(The author is retired Deputy Secretary J&K Government).
March 19 , 1948 : Train from Pakistan
Bal K Gupta , March 19 , 1948 : Train from Pakistan "Daily Excelsior" 19/3/2017
On March 19, 1948, a train full of Hindu and Sikh prisoners of Alibeg Prison (Pakistan) reached India. I was 10 years old and one of the liberated prsionerson that train.
A similar prison of Muslim widows, children, and old men was set up in KacchiChhawni, Jammu (India). The Muslim prisoners in Jammu were treated well because the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Sheikh Abdullah, was a liberal Muslim. By March 1948, the ICRC in Alibeg carried out the necessary negotiations and paperwork for the exchange of the Hindu prisoners of Alibeg with the Muslim prisoners of Jammu. The ICRC brought about sixty trucks and buses to the Alibeg prison and each truck or bus could accommodate twenty to thirty persons. It took the ICRC volunteers almost an entire day to count the prisoners and load them onto the trucks and buses. We all started lining up in the morning, and skipping lunch so as not to take any chances of missing the buses or trucks.
On March 18, 1948 late in the afternoon, under the banner of “Pakistan Red Cross,” the convoy of buses and trucks with about 1600 surviving Hindus and Sikhs, left the borders of POK, crossed the Jhelum, and entered Pakistan. By evening, the convoy reached SeraiAlamgir, which was the nearest train station. The Pakistani army and police had provided guards on the railway station so that Muslims would not attack the Hindu prisoners. We got down from the buses and trucks and boarded the waiting train, which soon was overloaded with Hindu prisoners. To avoid confusion, ICRC personnel allotted each bogie strictly according to the list prepared in Alibeg. Cramped in the bogies (carriage or small train-cars), we were hungry and thirsty, and some of us had not eaten anything since morning. Each bogie had over one hundred passengers occupying all the seats and floor. There were no lights in the carriages and it was difficult to see the faces of other passengers. Later on, about one hundred and fifty women and children from Datial Camp also arrived and were accommodated in last two bogies. Amongst them were families of my friend Suresh Chander and Mrs. Krishna Mehta (later on an MP from J&K).
At that time, Fateh Mohamed, a noble Muslim, appeared on the scene, searching for my mother’s cousin, Purshottam Lal Dhangeryal. Uncle Purshottam Lal asked him to arrange water for about sixteen hundred thirsty Hindus, and with the help of some Muslim volunteers, Fateh Mohamed brought drums full of water. The ICRC officers asked the railway authorities to help the Muslim volunteers serve water to the passengers. Fateh Mohamed and his Muslim volunteers also brought some food for Uncle Purshottam Lal and his family.
After midnight, some Muslims attacked the last two bogies of women and children of Datial Camp. They had known that these bogies had young women of Datial Camp. In the darkness, they tried to drag out some of these girls at the point of daggers and swords. However, those girls screamed loudly in the night, which woke up entire train. They were crying for help and the railway guards ran to their rescue and foiled their abduction from the Muslims. After this incident, everybody in the dark train was scared and nobody could sleep. We all were praying and afraid of what could happen next.
The next morning, at 5:00 A.M., the train left SeraiAlamagir station. The ICRC officers and armed Pakistani guards accompanied the train to protect the Hindu prisoners. The same day, at about noontime, the train reached Lahore, the largest city in the Pakistani province of Punjab. In 1947, Lahore was one of the most notorious stations, where Pakistani Muslims had slaughtered trains full of Hindu and Sikhs fleeing to India in retribution for trains full of slaughtered Muslims coming from India. Somehow, on this morning, the word had leaked out that a train of Hindus was passing through Lahore on its way to India. Although the Pakistani army and police fully guarded the Lahore station, we could see hordes of angry looking Muslims outside the fence of the railway station.
Our train waited in Lahore for almost the rest of the day for official procedures and clearances from the authorities. The Pakistani guards would not allow us to get off the train to drink water because it would have caused a riot at the station. The Pakistani authorities had not arranged for any food or drinking water, and since many of us had not eaten since the day or night before, we were starving. It was almost springtime and the overcrowding of the train made the conditions more miserable. The hope to reach India soon was the only thing keeping our spirits, and ourselves, alive.
On the evening of March 19, 1948, the Pakistani railway authorities allowed the train to move out of Lahore Station. At about 5:00 P.M., it crossed the India-Pakistan border at Wagah and reached the Atari Station (Indian Punjab). Ours was the last train of Hinduand Sikh refugees from Pakistan. Most of us got down onto the Atari platform and kissed the promised land of India. We were no longer prisoners of Pakistan but rather refugees in free India. Kind Sikh farmers who inhabited (and still inhabit) Atari Station had heard about the fate of the last train of Hindus coming from Pakistan and had prepared halwa (porridge) for all the refugees. The Sikhs of Atari had also arranged plenty of water for drinking and washing. I almost took a mini-bath under a water hydrant that was primarily used to fill the steam engine of the train. Some of these Sikh men even distributed some cash to the refugees. I received some cash with which I was able to buy something to eat from the vendors at the Atari station. The train stopped there for two to three hours and then proceeded to Amritsar.
