14 AUG: Death train horror still fresh 60 years after partition

['SamRazi']

Death train horror still fresh 60 years after partition Published: Wednesday, 15 August, 2007, 01:33 AM Doha TimeIqbal Farooqi gestures as he sits in his book stall in LahoreLAHORE:

[Mr. Sialkoty]

Re: Death train horror still fresh 60 years after partition

Death train horror still fresh 60 years after partition Published: Wednesday, 15 August, 2007, 01:33 AM Doha TimeIqbal Farooqi gestures as he sits in his book stall in LahoreLAHORE: Iqbal Farooqi was only 15 years old when Pakistan came into being, but the horrific bloodshed that accompanied one of the largest migrations in history still haunts him.
An estimated 10mn people crossed the border upon the partition of the subcontinent in August 1947, and historians say anywhere between 500,000 and 1mn people were killed by frenzied mobs on both sides.





A raging sense of revenge among Muslims for the mass slaughter soon sparked reprisal killings of their Hindu and Sikh rivals in Lahore and other cities across Pakistani Punjab.

He says the communities had lived together for centuries, but blind rage suddenly overwhelmed their shared history.


British-educated lawyer Mohamed Ali Jinnah galvanised Muslims and launched a movement for a separate homeland after the breakdown of compromise talks between the two countries to avert the division of India.
For centuries, Punjab province had existed as a single unit with its own distinct language. But the British split the region, giving the eastern part to India and the west to Pakistan.


Munir was treated in a mental institution after witnessing a massacre on a train carrying Hindus on September 24 that year, and remained under treatment at home for many months.

Munir said they had travelled as far as the town of Kamonke near the Indian border when the train suddenly halted.

Through a window, Munir could see the police searching the train for any weapons and then left.


Munir said an army captain questioned the guards before releasing them to return home.

Morning newspapers on September 25 reported 349 Hindus were slain on the train, with many more injured and maimed.

Ofcourse 1947's mass masacre and bloodshed left the imprints on many of ppl minds who faced the brutality that time. We must thank to our Allah that He has blessed us with an independent piece of land where we can somehow lead our lives with our own will and wishes. May Allah bestow our country with all His Blessings