The second issue that is underscored by our project is the need to link macro level discourses with micro level contexts and vice versa as both impact each other. The interplay between these two levels has been neglected for a large part. For example, how do state discourses construct communal and religious identities and in turn how do communal interactions and politics reinforce or challenge state discourses while impacting each other simultaneously. The fluidity of this process is critical for the understanding of any conflict situation. Most state sponsored discourses about partition tend to fossilize and freeze identities and close the option of looking at the process in its fluid context. We believe that this is an important area that needs further investigation on both sides of the border.
As we suspected, while the theme of communal harmony has been touched upon, the issue of difference continues to crop up in the interviews. One of the salient findings in the NWFP context is the harmony between religious identity and sense of community. We interviewed Sikhs in Bajaur whose families had settled in that region approximately 400 years ago and who continue to speak Hindko/Punjabi and Pushto fluently. They are considered to be part of the local community, which is inclusive of their religious norms. However, while these people are completely amalgamated in the structures and hierarchies of the community and its norms, they also expressed their sense of alienation from the national context when local and national leaders treat them differently as their vote does not carry the same weight. The system of separate electorate has marginalized them from mainstream politics and it is this discrimination on the part of the state (reinforced locally by local elite) that has brought in a sense of difference with negative connotations. Additionally, the school system also breeds a sense of alienation among the children who cannot relate to the syllabus when the latter denies them their history or denigrates their religion.
In the Punjab context, the issue of communal difference and harmony also emerged as salient. The in-depth study of the village in Tehsil Shakargarh that was populated by Sikhs, Muslims, Hindus, and Christians before partition revealed that people managed to live in harmony before the 1947 events despite a strict maintenance of religious boundaries. In this village, caste rather than religion was the hegemonic identity, whereby Muslims and Sikhs sharing the same Jat bloodline wielded the landed power in the village. All the interviewees claimed that no Muslim or Sikh of their own village and the neighboring 24 villages hurt any of their kinsfolk, regardless of their religion. The violence that triggered the exodus of the Sikhs from this village broke out when a group of young men from the village, of differing religious backgrounds, attacked a household in a neighboring Pathan village to abduct a young woman. The Pathans (who were Muslims but were identified by their ethnicity rather than their religion by our Muslim interviewees) retaliated. Despite the Muslims’ successful attempt to save the lives of their Sikh relatives, the insecurity caused the Sikhs to cross the new border that was only a few kilometers away.
The violence escalated when the Muslim immigrants from the other side of the border arrived with their stories of violence perpetrated by Sikhs and Hindus. Many interviewees also gave eyewitness accounts of military involvement on both sides of the border in starting off massacres. In the words of one research participant, the objective was to “clear off” the non-Muslims, as they could not really be Pakistanis. In the specific context of Tehsil Shakargarh, the chaos and upheaval after the post August 1947 Boundary Commission Award also caused the violence to intensify. District Gurdaspur, originally declared to be part of Pakistan, got split between India and Pakistan, with only Tehsil Shakargarh remaining part of Pakistan. The research participants explained how once Tehsil Shakargarh became isolated from the rest of the District the Sikhs felt more vulnerable since their strength in District Gurdaspur as a whole had been higher. The Muslims in the rest of Gurdaspur who had felt quite safe in that their District had been declared part of Pakistan on August 14, 1947, now found themselves on the wrong side side of the border. This situation precipitated mass migration across the River Ravi that became the new border between Tehsil Shakargarh and the rest of District Gurdaspur.
The best part of the research was the opportunity to talk to the respondents who, after initial hesitation, shared their views and experience. Since we were already involved in partition related research, this part helped to strengthen the focus of the previous forays into the field. In this regard, the research brought us closer to other researchers with whom we have been collaborating in the past, including Imtiaz Ahmed and Ameena Mohsin from the University of Dhaka and, Ashish Nandy and Chandrika Parmar from the Center for the Study of Developing Societies, New Delhi. In addition, Dr Masooma Hasan, who is familiar with partition research as this constituted her PhD dissertation thirty years ago, and who is currently working on that to convert it into a book, has been a valuable contact due to her intimate knowledge of the national archives. Similarly, interaction with other PhD students who are focusing upon other aspects of partition has been helpful. The importance of interacting with such persons becomes critical as we have been discovering that much of the material that we need in the NWFP context has either been destroyed or not been archived in the Frontier province. To access more records, we would have to go the India Office Library in London. As that is impossible at the moment, the opportunity to discuss various issues that emerge from the qualitative interviews with knowledgeable persons is valuable. Within SDPI, this project has led other researchers to undertake similar research in other parts of the Punjab. We hope that all this will lead to more interesting research outcomes.
In terms of tangible results, we produced the following: A data set of 30 interviews translated into English and in the original language of the interviews; Two papers (in progress) to be published as SDPI conflict and security working papers series and as part of the Sustainable Development Conference proceedings.
Finally, we carried out two presentations based on the study were made at the Sustainable Development Conference, Oct. 31-Nov. 2, 2002, as well as another presentation at other regional and international conferences. Two articles are to be published in the University of Dhaka journal, Theoretical Perspectives
While there were no reports of loss of human lives, there have been reports of injury and loss of animals as well as crops and livelihoods in Tehsil Shakargarh, the region of our primary site in the Punjab.
