Amreek

As India gets ready to celebrate its 77th Independence Day, the scars caused by communal riots in Punjab that came with the partition of India in 1947 are yet to get erased, but despite the gory memories of killings, rapes, dislocation of lakhs of humans across, even today the people remember the Bravehearts of those times who rose above religion and stood up to the killers and rioters to keep humanity alive.

Comrade Bawa Ghanshyam Singh was one such man, A Sikh leader belonging to the Communist Party of India, he saved hundreds of Muslims by hiding them in his house in Jalandhar when the lynch mobs came for them.

This one and other such stories are chronicled in a series of publications based on the daily diaries of field officers -Punjab Politics the Start of Provincial Autonomy' interviewed survivors of the 1947 riots and communal violence to present a credible account of the 1947 partition.

A woman doctor called Bibi and her medico husband had also saved many lives of Muslims. They blamed the Hindu and Sikh staff of different hospitals for being unkind to the injured Muslims who needed medical attention and treatment.

Two Hindu doctor brothers Purushottam Dutt and Dr. Narayan Dutt, are mentioned to have raised their guns to protect Muslims and prevented a Hindu-Sikh mob from attacking Muslims in a hospital.

The two brothers barged into a hospital where a large number of Muslims were injured in the riots, and there was a possibility that the Hindu-Sikh doctors would not treat them well.

In his recorded interview, Dr. Dutt says that he told the rioters: "Your behavior is very cowardly. Sectarianism and politics have made you mad. You have forgotten humanity. You have stooped so low that you don't consider attacking people in pain and those who are sick as an insult to your manhood. You should be ashamed of your outrageous behavior. One day you will regret your behavior but humanity will never forgive you. You can still make amends by leaving; otherwise, as long as we two brothers are alive and there are bullets in our rifles, we will never let you touch the Muslim patients of this hospital."

There is a mention of one Anwar Saeed saving two Sikh girls from a mob.

Dr. Abdul Rauf, a martial arts practitioner, said, "One day, 200 Hindus and Sikhs were stopped by Mujahideen in front of my house. He told them loud and asked that nobody touch a woman, child, or man. Have you given away your Islamic moral conduct and generosity them putting moral pressure to prevent a possible attack?

No wonder the mob dispersed.

In another incident, a Sikh killed some people in a Muslim-majority area. The entire area was thrown into panic. However, a team of the Sikhs went to the affected area and first apologized to the terrified Muslim families, won their trust, and then brought them along.

They provided them with shelter and food for three days. When the atmosphere became somewhat normal, they dropped them at the police station. All the families, especially the women, praised the bravery and decency of the Sikhs towards them.

Professor VN Dutta explains that non-Muslims protected Muslims to keep the religion of humanity alive.

Some of them were even killed by the rioters but others did not give up on their principles.

Muslims also gave shelter and saved many Sikh families. When the riots broke out in Lahore, the Muslims cordoned off many mohallas and streets for protection so that no Sikh family was harmed. Many armed Muslims got the Sikhs to cross the border of Amritsar. He didn't spare a single rioter who came in the way.

Even today there are thousands of Hindus and Sikhs whose valuables have been taken care of by the Muslims in Pakistan. Veer Singh of Jalandhar says that once he had to go to Faisalabad, where he went to Mohalla Nabi Basti to meet his Muslim neighbor and friend Riazuddin. He was surprised to hand over a locked box belonging to his family.

The box contained gold and silver worth lakhs of rupees.

Narayan Das had a similar experience in Lahore.

The city of Jalandhar and the Cantt were Muslim-majority areas. Rioters looted some houses here and set them on fire.

The very next day, a group of about 200 Sikhs visited all the owners who had lost houses and apologized to them for this “shameful act of Hindus and Sikhs.” They persuaded them to shift to the camp set up in Gurdwaras. They assured the scared Muslims that they would lead them across the borderline if the situation arises.

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Such news also became from Lahore, Faizabad, and Multan, when Muslims took Sikhs to the Amritsar border under their protection.

Lala Harnam Das, who lives in Gurdaspur, says that it is not true that humanity died in 1947, but many people kept humanity alive even by giving their lives.

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