They woke me just after 3am. A Muslim refugee train had pulled into the railway sidings outside Amritsar after being attacked by Sikhs. Dawn was breaking when I arrived to find a slaughterhouse.
Blood was pouring from every compartment. We pulled out 270 bodies, pregnant women among them: throats cut, skulls smashed, stomachs ripped open, children with their legs hacked off.
A mile away, Sikh mobs were attacking a Muslim neighbourhood in the narrow streets of the city. On the other side of the new divide between Amritsar and Lahore, Muslim mobs were attacking Sikhs and Hindus. Refugee trains started to arrive from West Punjab after being attacked by Muslims. In Lahore, Sikhs were locked inside a Temple, which was then set on fire. India had gone mad.
This was Independence Day in the Punjab, 15 August 1947. I was staff captain in the Punjab Boundary Force, which was given the task of preserving order. Both the British and Indian armies had been withdrawn from the Punjab, and the Force consisted largely of my own division, 4th Indian.
The Viceroy, Lord Mountbatten, gave it a mandate which guaranteed failure. Just 15,000 officers and troops were supposed to protect an area of 37,000 square miles, with 18,000 villages. He had been warned by Punjab's Governor that at least 60,000 troops would be needed (though with characteristic deviousness, he afterwards denied it).
At least a million people died and 15 million became refugees: columns as long as 25 miles made their way on foot from one side to the other. It was ethnic cleansing on an unbelievable scale. Disastrous floods added to the chaos, followed by inevitable outbreaks of disease.
The refugee trains became the prime target, with trains ambushed at any point during their journey. Railway engineers were bribed or forced to stop at a prescribed spot so that the train could be attacked.
In India, Sikhs moved down the trains, killing every man who was circumcised; in Pakistan, Muslims killed every passenger who was not. full article....
http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/columnists?articleid=3086415
A mile away, Sikh mobs were attacking a Muslim neighbourhood in the narrow streets of the city. On the other side of the new divide between Amritsar and Lahore, Muslim mobs were attacking Sikhs and Hindus. Refugee trains started to arrive from West Punjab after being attacked by Muslims. In Lahore, Sikhs were locked inside a Temple, which was then set on fire. India had gone mad.
This was Independence Day in the Punjab, 15 August 1947. I was staff captain in the Punjab Boundary Force, which was given the task of preserving order. Both the British and Indian armies had been withdrawn from the Punjab, and the Force consisted largely of my own division, 4th Indian.
The Viceroy, Lord Mountbatten, gave it a mandate which guaranteed failure. Just 15,000 officers and troops were supposed to protect an area of 37,000 square miles, with 18,000 villages. He had been warned by Punjab's Governor that at least 60,000 troops would be needed (though with characteristic deviousness, he afterwards denied it).
At least a million people died and 15 million became refugees: columns as long as 25 miles made their way on foot from one side to the other. It was ethnic cleansing on an unbelievable scale. Disastrous floods added to the chaos, followed by inevitable outbreaks of disease.
The refugee trains became the prime target, with trains ambushed at any point during their journey. Railway engineers were bribed or forced to stop at a prescribed spot so that the train could be attacked.
In India, Sikhs moved down the trains, killing every man who was circumcised; in Pakistan, Muslims killed every passenger who was not. full article....
http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/columnists?articleid=3086415
