LEAVING
POTHOHAR

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ਸੁਕਾ ਤਕੀ ਲੜੀ ਨਾ ਮੋਟਾ ਤਕੀ ਡਰੀ ਨਾਂ

Suka taki larri na mota taki dari na.
Don’t pick up fight with a weak looking person and
don’t be scared of a large looking person.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries many Pothoharis started exploring new lands such as Afghanistan and Iran for trade while others travelled to East Africa to help the British build railways, but they all still thought of Pothohar as their home. Now, along with millions of other people, they were forced to leave. Most travelled hundreds of miles by foot over rough terrain, although many brought carts or travelled by train where possible. Lines of destitute people stretched back for miles and miles. Eyewitness accounts told of armed gangs attacking whole train carriages, brutally abducting women and razing entire villages to the ground. Despite centuries of living peacefully with one another, the experience of living under colonial rule greatly damaged relations between different faith groups. In addition, recently demobilised men with extensive combat experience during the recent war were equipped with weapons and paid by local landlords to carry out organised attacks on what they thought of as rival communities. The speed with which former neighbours turned on each other shocked the world.

Illustrated London News 6th September 1947

“Our tradition is when your relatives come, you are invited for tea, coffee… I was invited by nearby Muslim community, they… had a big copper dish with dried fruit because we don’t eat their meat and other food there. I can’t forget that! That happened 75 years ago and I still remember that… I feel that Muslims and Hindus and Sikhs used to live peacefully in those days too.”

rajinder singh bhasin

Illustrated London News 30th August 1947

The vast majority of Sikhs that left Pothohar in 1947 made their way to Patiala, India. Yadavindra Singh, the Maharaja of Patiala, had announced that Sikhs would find a warm welcome there. After time to rest, many travelled on to settle in different areas of India, or to go further afield and settle in such places as East Africa or the UK. Refugee camps, particularly in and around Delhi, were hastily set up to provide a safe place for the droves of displaced and desperate people. Some that fled partition in 1947 have never left these camps, and so the latest influx of people feeling the Taliban in Afghanistan now live alongside the families of partition survivors.

“We thought we were going to our own country, from British India to Independent India, but I think the host Indians regarded us as refugees and it was not a welcoming sign.”

chanchal singh chowdhry