My Family’s Journey Through Hell in 1947
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Flight of the living corpses
My Muslim family lived in a village in the eastern part of Punjab. There were Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus living in peace and harmony next to each other like good neighbors. Life was normal and peaceful until the summer of 1947. The creation of Pakistan was announced in June. Those who were struggling for the creation of Pakistan had always wanted and hoped to include all of Punjab and all of Bengal in Pakistan. But the final scheme called for Punjab and Bengal to be divided between Pakistan and India. Our people had always assumed that we would be in Pakistan. But the division of Punjab placed us in India, well over a hundred miles from the nearest border of Pakistan. We were disappointed but not too concerned. Our people just shrugged it off. Oh well! This is our home. Pakistan or India; it does not matter to us. We are not going anywhere. We have lived here forever, as far back as the memory could go. And we are going to continue to live here until kingdom come. There is no need to worry about anything. So, we thought. How wrong we were!