My father was 19 in 1947 and was witness to the carnage in his village near Lahore. My grandfather, who was a popular patwari, and several relatives died. The terrifying scenes stay with my father
Photo for representational purpose only. – File photo
MY grandfather, Dargah Singh, was a patwari in Lahore district before Partition. The family stayed in Sadpar, a Labana village located along the Ravi, 8 km from Lahore. Most of the Labanas used to serve in the army or government departments. My father, Maj Jagat Singh, did his BA from SD College, Lahore, and completed his final year after Partition from SD College, Ambala Cantt. He used to go on foot from Sadpar to Lahore everyday crossing Jhugian Khasrian village, made famous by Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh, whose father, Kishan Singh Sandhu, had shifted here from Lyallpur in 1916. Bhagat Singh was admitted in fifth class at DAV High School, Lahore.
Sadpar was located east of the Ravi. The Labanas were mostly traders and were financially well-off. In 1947, Muslim groups coming from the Lahore side were attacking Sikh and Hindu villages. Anticipating an attack, my grandfather organised a few boats and urged the villagers to cross over to Dhamke, a Labana village located west of the Ravi. As sufficient boats were not available, he stayed back to organise the evacuation. He held a firm view, being a popular patwari, that no one will harm him. When 60-70 per cent of the people had crossed over, including my father, a Mohajir group attacked Sadpur and killed all those present. Among the dead were my grandfather, my father’s Nanaji (Hav Bhag Singh) and a few other relatives. Some of them jumped into the river. About 30 people were burnt alive while hiding in a room near the boat point.
Unaware of the tragedy, on my father’s request, a British army officer along with a few soldiers took him to the village for evacuating my grandfather and other villagers. He cried once he reached and saw the carnage. The bodies were either burnt or dismembered. It was a terrible experience.
Like our family, people from Lahore and various Labana villages which were located east of the Ravi were expecting merger with India, therefore they migrated at the last moment. On the personal intervention of my maternal grandfather, Capt Sher Singh, who served in the British army, the families of Sadpar were evacuated to Mian Mir Cantonment, Lahore, where the Punjab Regiment was made responsible for their welfare, security and migration to Amritsar.
It was a difficult task to shift the families as most of the convoys were being ambushed. A convoy of military vehicles was organised on the pretext of shifting Guru Granth Sahib from the unit gurdwara at Mian Mir to Amritsar.
On arrival at Amritsar, all families were shifted to Khalsa College for a few days, and later to Hide Market in small, dingy rooms smelling of rotting carcasses and animal bones.
My father was lucky as his brother-in-law, Dr Pritam Singh, was a professor in Glancy Medical College, Amritsar (renamed as Government Medical College). He hired a house. Most of the refugees later moved to Kurukshetra and Karnal camps by train
The Labanas from various villages of Gujarat district migrated to J&K. Some were later shifted by train to the Karnal and Ambala camps. Some settled down around Begowal as Sant Prem Singh, a highly respected religious leader of the Labanas, was allotted a house as well as land there. On his request, some of the Labanas who had settled in Ambala, Karnal and Kurukshetra shifted to Begowal and surrounding areas in Kapurthala and Hoshiarpur.
After reaching the refugee camp at Kurukshetra, my father did community service for three months to get a certificate which was mandatory for seeking admission in BA final. He took a loan of Rs 450 from the SD College management for the fee and books. He would work in the evening on a monthly salary to run his household as well as return the loan. My father was commissioned in the Army Education Corps in 1961 and retired as a Major. He visited Pakistan with jathas a number of times but never went back to his village. He had seen the holocaust at the age of 19. The horrid scenes stay with him.