Mohammad Ali Jinnah majorly responsible for Indo-Pak Partition’: Pak-Swede Author / Rashmi Talwar

‘Mohammad Ali Jinnah majorly responsible for Indo-Pak Partition’: Pak-Swede Author

Rashmi Talwar

‘Mohammad Ali Jinnah majorly responsible for Indo-Pak Partition’: Pak-Swede Author

Rashmi Talwar

AMRITSAR, 30^TH May 2023—–

Professor Emeritus, Stockholm University, and author of 11 books, Ishtiaq Ahmed, hosted by ‘Rotary Imagine’ Chandigarh while talking to the writer, said–“Mohammad Ali Jinnah was majorly responsible for Indo Pak Partition of 1947!”  “Should I write it?” “Yes! You can write it. There are no two ways about it,” he said this thoughtfully, unhesitatingly while discussing his book- “Jinnah: His Successes, failures, and Role in History”.

KP Fabian wrote in columns of ‘The Hindu’ national newspaper, about the book on Jinnah, -“As an attempt at ‘historical reasoning’ by a political scientist.” And added, -“MA Jinnah has been praised, and dispraised for the partition of India. There is however a distressing shortage of genuine history written by professional historians”.  

Fabian further writes-“In Pakistan, there have been at least two schools of thought. One celebrates Jinnah as the creator of Pakistan. The other school argues that Jinnah was using the Pakistan card as a bargaining chip and it was Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru who rejected Jinnah’s legitimate demand for a fair share of political power, who should be held responsible for the partition of India and the concomitant horrors.”

Prof Ishtiaq Ahmed, a midnight-child, born in 1947, a few months before Partition on 24th February, in Lahore, penned the book following deep research and historical reasoning of the period under the British. He has been invited to India by “Vasant Vyakhyanmala” Nashik, literally meaning ‘Spring lecture series of Nashik, celebrating its Centenary- Year in May 2023 – The Maharashtra-based organization has a glorious and proud history. It has the most distinguished names on its speakers list including Mahatma Gandhi, SV Savarkar, Pandit Nehru, Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad, Jayaparkash Narayan, Vinoba Bhave, Balasahed Thackeray, Lata Mangeshkar.  

“Invited as an academic for the keynote address on the lecture series on the political-affairs segment; his topic was, “Centenary: “The tale of two brothers lost in a fair”- connected to India-Pak socio-political trajectory and what should be done and how should they deal with each other”. Significantly, the lecture series is a part of the month-long centenary celebrations by the pre-partition organization- ‘Vasant Vyakhyanmala’, where a number of noted speakers have been invited, marking its 100 years.  

Coming back to the ideas and political role of the Founder of Pakistan, Mohammad Ali Jinnah – Prof Ishtiaq Ahmed writes in his book –“Mohammad Ali Jinnah has been both celebrated and reviled for his role in the Partition of India, and the controversies surrounding his actions have only increased in the seven decades and more since his death”. In his book Ishtiaq Ahmed has placed, Jinnah’s actions under intense scrutiny to ascertain the Quaid-i-Azam’s successes and failures and the meaning and significance of his legacy. Dr. Ishtiaq Ahmed states that he used “a wealth of contemporary records and archival material, tracing Jinnah’s journey from Indian nationalist to Muslim communitarian and from a Muslim nationalist to, finally, Pakistan’s all-powerful head of state.”

The book asks and answers many valid, uncomfortable, and burning questions about Jinnah being a party to the drawing of the Radcliff border line dividing the nation into two. “How did the ambassador of Hindu-Muslim unity become the inflexible votary of the two-nation theory? Did Jinnah envision Pakistan as a theocratic state? What was his position on Gandhi and federalism? These are some of the queries the book raises and allows to flow into ‘historical reasoning, by the author. The volume according to experts is a path-breaking examination of one of the most controversial figures of the twentieth century and asks these crucial questions against the backdrop of the turbulent struggle against colonialism.

Ishtiaq Ahmed, talking about his other critically acclaimed book -“The Punjab Bloodied, Partitioned and Cleansed” said, ‘It all began in 1936. Until the Muslim League captured Punjab, there was no chance of making Pakistan.” Going into the depth of the partition tragedy he said –“In 1936, the then president of the Indian National Congress Pt Jawaharlal Nehru said in Lucknow, “An independent India would finish feudalism”. And added -“Rights of farmers will be protected. We will make socialist India, which will be inspired by the Soviet Union,” quotes Nehru.

Following this statement, alarm bells rang among the Britons and the Muslims. “In north-western India, big landlords were mainly Muslims. The landlords were convinced by the leadership of the Unionist Party to support and stop the Congress in its tracks. “Thus, Punjab Unionists won elections.”

In 1937, Jinnah announced Muslim opposition to the Congress. “This was the beginning of a hate campaign, where demonizing and dehumanizing the Hindus became a new normal,” said Ahmed. Ahmed junked the theories accusing the Congress of Partition and pointed out that it continuously resisted the move and agreed to it only in March 1947. “Thus, a separate electorate system led to Partition,” he said.

Ahmed said 80 percent of fatalities and 75 percent of displacement were recorded in Punjab during Partition.

He said the violence started after July 10, a year before the partition in 1946.

Mahatma Gandhi and Nehru ensured that the Muslims who wanted to stay in India should be allowed to live there. Thus the demographics of mixed communities remained the hallmark shaping  India even today in its present scenario. “It took me 11 years to research this voluminous book of 750 pages”, inserts the author.

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BOX

The Punjab Bloodied, Partitioned, and Cleansed

·   Won a prize for best non-fiction book at Lahore Literature Festival,  and the Coca-Cola Prize at the Karachi Literature Festival in 2013.

·   It took 11 years of research.

·  The book unravels the 1947 Tragedy through Secret British Reports and First-Person Accounts.

 · “More than one million people died and 14 to 15 million people got displaced. Total population of Punjab, including princely states was 34 million,” he said, adding that weapons used by Punjabis during World War-I were widely used in 1947 carnage and otherwise.

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We saw Hitler in person….. Met Dhyan Chand & Hockey Team in Berlin Olympics 1936 / Rashmi Talwar / The Tribune

‘We saw Hitler in person…’

This nonagenarian looks back and shares with Rashmi Talwar memorable snapshots — some historically significant and some evocative and personal

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‘We saw Hitler in person…’

This nonagenarian looks back and shares with Rashmi Talwar memorable snapshots — some historically significant and some evocative and personal

‘We saw Hitler in person…’ This nonagenarian looks back and shares with Rashmi Talwar memorable snapshots — some historically significant and some evocative and personal full of memories PICTURE P.C. Mehra I hollered ‘India, India!’ into the hooter that I had made to cheer the Indian team and watch the finest dribbling the world had ever seen of Indian hockey wizard Dhyan Chand. This was at the Berlin Olympics in 1936. Our coat lapels flaunting the Indian National Congress flag (there was no Indian flag then), 25 of us Indians had the rare opportunity to watch sports history being made as India drubbed Germany 8-0,” recalls 92-year-old Parkash Chand Mehra, who was then 22. PICTURE: SIGNIFICANT CHAPTER IN HISTORY: Adolf Hitler along with other dignitaries coming down the stadium to inaugurate Berlin Olympics in 1936 “Only days earlier we had sat in the Berlin Olympics stadium, where we saw Adolf Hitler in person. We saw him descend the steps of the stadium in his military uniform and inaugurate the games. The dictator had literally made Olympics-1936 a showcase for extolling the ‘greatness’ of Germany under him. Towards this end, he instituted a torch-carrying ceremony in parts of Europe under Nazi rule. “Berlin was swamped with uniformed Germans and Nazi flags flying right next to Olympic flags. Photographs of the Fuehrer sold like hot cakes, while soldiers marched through the streets of Berlin — all this lent an unnerving feel to the place,” remembers this resident of Amritsar, whose business of dyes and chemicals took him to different countries. PICTURE: Hockey Wizard Dhyan Chand PICTURE: Indian Hockey team that defeated Germany in the Berlin Olympics in 1936 Excitedly showing rare photographs of Dhyan Chand and the then Indian hockey team clicked with his camera (Roliflex model) in Berlin’s Olympic Village, this nonagenarian said: “The visit was made possible by one Swami, manager of the Indian hockey team, who was from our Forman Christian College, Lahore. In fact, even before the Olympics, the masterful jugglery of Dhyan Chand had become legendary.” A prosperous businessman, Mehra reminiscences two highlights of the Games: Dhyan Chand’s jugglery that defeated the German team and Jesse Owen’s (a Black) impressive victory that dented Hitler’s propaganda about the ‘superior Aryan race’. Mehra, born in 1914 in Amritsar, incidentally shares his year and place of birth with Field Marshal Sam HFJ Manekshaw — who led India’s victory over Pakistan in the 1971 war. They were classmates for a while at Hindu Sabha College. Agile and with a sharp memory, Mehra recalls the aftermath of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar in 1919. Just five years old then, he admits that he didn’t hear the booming gunshots ordered by General O’Dyer as they (Mehra’s family) lived in the congested and noisy Sirkian Bandan Bazaarwhere the sound may not have carried. However, he recollects standing near a large window and seeing men loot textile rolls and running helter-skelter. “Later, I saw troops coming to the bazaar. Our locality was agog with talk of people returning to their houses by crawling on their bellies at gunpoint. My father had left Jallianwala Bagh just 15 minutes before the firing started. A 12-year-old cousin Jai Gopal was untraceable for some time and his return brought relief.” A year later, Mehra went to DAV school, Lahore, where he used to see freedom fighter Lala Lajpat Rai, a strong proponent of DAV institutions, almost daily in his house opposite the school. Then one day the headlines in Urdu newspapers Vir Pratapand Milap screamed of a barbarous attack on Lalaji by SSP, Lahore, J. A. Scott, during a silent protest on October 30, 1928, to boycott the Simon Commission. Eighteen days after this assault, Lalaji succumbed to his injuries. Angered by the brutality, Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, and Sukhdev along with other freedom fighters decided to kill Scott. Recalling the assassination of JP Saunders by Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, and others, Mehra reminiscences, “It was a chilly day on December 15, 1928, the last day before winter break in DAV School — where Bhagat Singh had also studied. Saunders was shot outside the police station just opposite our school. Hidden behind the boundary wall grill in DAV College, adjoining the school, they fired shots from there and then escaped. Troops surrounded the police station soon after, while some chased the shooters. Our entire hostel was searched. The next day the confusion cleared — ASP JP Saunders was killed and not SSP JA Scott.” Looking back, Mehra smiles at the recollection of the most magnificent moment when he watched the royal procession for the Coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in London. George VI was the last to hold the title of ‘Emperor of India’ when India and Pakistan became independent. On May 12, 1937, the coronation was the first televised event in the history of Britain. Only about a handful of people could watch as the relay was limited. The live scene, however, held one spellbound. Describing the royal spectacle, Mehra said: “As I stood as part of the crowd outside Westminster Abbey in London, I saw the King and Queen ride in the Grand Gold Coach. I saw little Princess Elizabeth (the present Queen, she was 11 years old then) with Princess Margaret Rose, wearing identical gowns with flowing trains and little coronets resting delicately on their heads. The event was a spectrum of activity with a galaxy of men in military uniforms, hundreds of troops — mounted and on foot — and scores of bands playing martial tunes. The address of the new King was broadcast on radio. Days ahead, London was bathed in gossamer lights. Churches, banks, hotels, stores and private places were illuminated; gardens and parks were most enchantingly decorated. The Royal Canadian mounted Police looked bright in crimson coats, while as many as 600 Indians in turbans had come with trumpeters and drums. Ten years after this event, Mehra witnessed the trauma of Partition in his hometown Amritsar, when riots broke out. Looting and hooliganism went on unabated as rumours ruled and truth became a casualty. Hordes of refugees came across the newly created Radcliff Line. “We kept an ‘open house’ where anyone was welcome. Half a dozen families stayed with us. They related stories of the maar-kaat. My family’s flourishing raw silk business was temporarily affected.” Mehra, called Angrez by friends, talks of the holy city’s Civil Lines that literally developed before his eyes. The Thandi Khui outside the summer palace of Maharaja Ranjit Singh was ironically ‘partitioned’ between Muslims and Hindus even before Partition. They went in for separate pulleys, buckets, and glasses, but drew from the common (sanjaaha) water. Mehra’s is moved as he turns the yellowed pages of a letter in a photo-album. It has been written by a German girl, Hildegard Susmann, who he has been trying to locate for the past 50 years. This Angrez, whose fitness invites envy as he takes no pills and even walks without a walking stick, says he was in love with this German. Her family had suffered immensely during World War II. However the family — half-Jewish — carried his portrait made by Hildegard’s artist mother when they were forced to abandon their house during a bombardment in 1943. “I did not leave ‘you’ behind,” wrote Hildegard to Mehra after fleeing Germany. Family constraints made them drift apart. They met for the last time in 1957 in Rome. In a letter thereafter, she wrote: “A lovely dream, paradise on earth still lingers`85.” That was the last he heard from her. Despite the tragedy of losing his wife Kamlavati, daughter Rajeshwari and daughter-in-law Mini in quick succession — and all to cancer — Mehra prefers to stay alone but looks forward to the visits of his son Prem and his family. At the end of each day, Mehra quietly lays back on his rocking chair to listen to World Space Radio to update himself on the latest happenings in the world.

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Lady who saw the First Indian PM crying copious tears … / Rashmi Talwar / Kashmir Images

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INDIA AT 75

Lady who saw the First Indian PM crying copious tears …

Rashmi Talwar

“Ae Mere Watan Ke Logon …” indisputably one of the most moving patriotic songs of India, replaced the traditional Christian hymn “Abide with me”, for this year’s Beating Retreat Ceremony marking the 75^th year of Independence of India. ‘Abide with me’ was decades old, staple tune that concluded the musical extravaganza of Republic Day celebrations.

Incidentally, the British hymn ‘Abide with me’ was the favourite of Mahatma Gandhi – the Father of the Nation. On this milestone year of 75 years of the Nation’s Independence on the 29th of January, the colonial symbolic tune was dropped, and replaced with the poignant Bollywood creation-‘ Ae Mere Watan…..’.

‘Ae Mere Watan …’ is an iconic song that had driven the First Prime Minister of India Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru to tears. This happened on 27^th January 1963, at Ramlila grounds in New Delhi.   The song, a moving tribute to soldiers fighting battles and wars for the country touched a raw chord in the Nation’s First PM, who cried copious tears hearing the song so movingly sung by Lata Mangeshkar.   “I noticed a teary-eyed Prime Minister and was afraid, wondering, if I had made a mistake! Backstage when I met Panditji, the PM said to me ‘Lata, tumne aaj mujhe rula diya’ (Lata, you brought tears to my eyes today).” Lata – the Nightingale of India recalled this incident a few years back.

At that exact moment when the patriotic song reverberated in the Delhi-located stadium, sitting amidst the spectators was a petite girl who came with her friend to watch the spectacle of musical greats singing live. She was, Reena Chhibber.  

Recalling that time Reena who turned 90, this year, and crossed all hurdles to visit her ancestral home in Pakistan in July in this historic year, for the first time, exactly 75 years after Partition, articulates about that momentous day in history, in a conversation with the author –      “On 27^th January 1963, as part of Republic Day celebrations, my keen interest in music took me to Delhi’s National Stadium or the Ramlila grounds. The august gathering there included India’s first Prime Minister Pt Jawaharlal Nehru in the front row. I was sitting with my friend, only two rows behind Pt Nehru, when Lata Mangeshkar sang the moving patriotic song “Eh Mere Watan Ke Logon, Zaara  Ankh Mein Bharo  Lo Panii ….” Not only was the Prime Minister deeply emotional, his eyes brimming with tears, as India had seen its brave soldiers give their lives in the recent war then, but the entire audience was also in tears.                    This occasion at Ramlila grounds came merely 66 days after the Indo-China War that started on 20^th October and ended on 21st November 1962. Through newspapers and other oral communication it was learned that the PM was deeply shattered by the debacle in this war,” Reena recalls. It was surmised that Nehru’s Health deteriorated after India’s defeat in the Sino-India war which he perceived as a betrayal of trust by China. The PM spent months recuperating in Kashmir.

Reena further filled in about that milestone occasion –“Along with Lata Mangeshkar, were three other top singers of the times– Mahendra Kapoor, Talat Mahmood, and Mohammed Rafi. Mahendra, was then a promising newcomer in the Music world of Indian cinema. i remember  Talat Mahmood sang “Hungame – Gumm se tangg aakar…” he was my favourite, and Mohammed Rafi sang – “Ae Gul Badan…..’ It was the most prized moment to see the live performance of adorable singing greats’, as well as the opportunity to see the First Supreme Head of the Country in one place” Reena recollects.

“I met Nehru Ji many times in my life”, from the time I was a little girl in Rawalpindi and Nehru ji delivered a lecture and attended a tea party in his honor, near our house, to other social and formal occasions.

In pre-partition times Reena’s family which was quite well off possessed a gramophone and a radio and recalls her father getting the latest LPs (long Playing) at home. Her home in Rawalpindi, she remembers, was an oasis of music and many in her family were good singers including her brothers, and herself. Reena fully relived the moment of her childhood recently in full public glare from Pakistan media and public, when she hummed an old Bollywood song on ‘Rains’, while holding on to the balcony grill of her ancestral home, like a little girl. She visited Rawalpindi a month back, for the first time after 75 years of separation, and regaled the Pak people with many old songs during her 10 days in Pakistan. Reena braved it alone to reach her home in Pakistan and even spent a night in her room, which she holds as the most precious moment. She was granted a visa by the Pak Minister for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar.

“This love for melody goaded me to see the musical program at Ramlila grounds which turned out to be a historic moment”, Reena said smilingly    

The nonagenarian had also witnessed another history in the making – of the hoisting of the ‘First Indian flag of Independence’ at the Simla Ridge on 15^th August 1947, after traversing a 30-mile long trek from Solan to Simla to watch the spectacle along with her family.  Reena and her family left their home, hearth, and heart, in Rawalpindi, when she was 15, during the Indo-Pak Partition 1947. None of her pre-partition family is alive today. Incidentally, famous writer Ruskin Bond too witnessed this historic moment in Simla, at the age of 13, and penned it vividly in his memoirs.  

Coming back to the unparalleled patriotic song, known to make even stones weep, ‘Ae Mere Watan…’ it was penned by Kavi Pradeep and composed by C. Ramchandra. Lata Mangeshkar was hesitant to sing it at first as she had rehearsed it only once. Moreover, she wanted to sing it with her sister Asha. Eventually, the poet persuaded her to sing in the presence of the PM and it turned iconic, owing to its content and the way it was polished and carolled by Lata.  Significantly, the song is played daily at the beating retreat ceremony at the Wagah Attari Border, Amritsar, and conjurers up the patriotic spirit amongst nearly 10,000 spectators that watch the Beating Retreat Ceremony at the border. The number of spectators doubles on weekends.

As per history -The British hymn ‘Abide with me’ was written by Scottish Anglican poet and hymnologist Henry Francis Lyte in 1847. Ironically, less than three years after the declaration of Independence from the British in 1947, the British hymn became a part of India’s Beating Retreat Ceremony in the year 1950.

Early this year the army released a brochure on dropping the British Hymn and listed 25 other tunes to be played on Republic Day 2022, marking the 75^th Year of Indian Independence. A senior officer in the army stated –“The country has wilfully distanced itself from the symbolism of shackles of slavery of the British era.” These 26 tunes included –‘Kadam Kadam Barhaye jaa….’, and ‘Hind ki Sena…’ played at a musical extravaganza ceremony concluding the Republic Day Celebrations at Raisina Hill to Vijay Chowk, New Delhi.         The patriotic Hindi song –‘Ae mere watan ..’ that captivated the collective psyche of the nation was introduced as part of efforts towards “Indianisation” of the military, including its tunes, traditions, and customs, some of which were drawn from the British era.

Beating Retreat is a century-old military tradition when troops disengage from the battle at sunset with the lowering of flags against the backdrop of the setting sun.

Author can be reached at rashmitalwarno1@gmail.com

Relived my childhood by sleeping in my room after 75 years /Rashmi Talwar/ Kashmir Images

Reena Chhibber Varma

Indo-Pak Stories PART- III

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Partition victim Reena returns to India; brings happy memories from her home in Pakistan

Relived my childhood by sleeping in my room after 75 years

Sleeps, in her childhood room in Rawalpindi

Rashmi Talwar

Wagah Attari Border (AMRITSAR) -25 July 2022–

Getting a chance to have a sound sleep in your childhood bedroom after 75 years, that too when the house housing the bedroom is in another country is a feeling that can’t be expressed in words. Yes! Reena Chhibber Varma lived this moment as she visited her home in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.

Partition Victim 90-years Reena Chhibber (born in 1932) today walked across the Radcliff Line, the International Border of India-Pakistan, back to India wearing a pink Kurta matching with black Salwar and dupatta, it was as if the nonagenarian had brought back a dazzling colour pink considered ‘shagnaa wala rang’ (auspicious bridal color pink) from her original home in Rawalpindi on the Pakistani side. When Reena crossed over to Pakistan on 16th July she was wearing a black and white salwar suit.  

Talking to the author in Amritsar, Reena said- “Let children of partition visit without a visa, let them be freely moving across on both sides afterall both countries are their homes. Give them a chance to visit in their twilight years”, Reena called out the governments of both countries.  

“I couldn’t have asked for a better or more exalted gift on my milestone Birthday year, as when I crossed the border into Pakistan homeward bound to my Rawalpindi, after 75 long years. It was a dream gift to revisit my childhood home, walk in the city of my teen years,  relive my childhood days, in the home of my family, in the house that my father built, in the place I was born. No! there was nothing of ours in that house that I could bring back,” she answered. She added- “Don’t ever give up your dreams, it may take time but eventually you will get it!”’

“It fulfilled me completely as I stayed one night in my own room of my own home in Rawalpindi which I left in May 1947, where once my entire family of six children, parents, and a paternal aunt lived together.” The owner Dr Muzamil gifted Reena a solid name plaque with the words –“Reena’s House” Dedicated by Dr. Muzamil Hussain s/o Dr Mumtaz Hussain”, that night.

Reena’s homecoming to Pindi house –20th july 2022

Amidst Dhol, Reena entered the lane of her Pindi home, and the 90-year lady Reena, magically turned into her teenage years of ‘Toshi Chhibber’, lovingly called so, by her family and friends in her Pindi home, pre Partition. She uninhibitedly danced to the beat of the dhol along with fellow Pakistanis from Pindi and Lahore and amidst rose petal showers, entered her ancestral home. Reena Chhibber Varma’s homecoming by members of India Pakistan Heritage Club was nothing less than a Baraat, with typical Pindi Dhol beats as a loving welcome to a daughter of the city in all manner of festivity. Wearing a Kesri-coloured suit with a matching green phulkari dupatta, thinkers saw her outfit as a decision by a mature, intelligent, and peace-loving Reena made a  symbolic point with her choice of having the colors of the Indian flag and Pakistani flag within her outfit that day as a unifying factor and adding a  green phulkari dupatta as a symbol of Punjabi’s rich culture of yore, of the times she belongs to.

Despite the noise and multitude of people around to glimpse an Indian and morseo one of their Pindi girls, Toshi stood on her own and enjoyed every moment of her entry and memories in her ancestral home. She uninhibitedly sang a song from the balcony railing; reliving her private moments, in the crowd around her. She in her parental home sang like the teenager Toshi, and stood exactly where she used to stand and sang exactly the same way and the same song-  “Barsaat Ki Rut, Chhai Ghataa, Thandi Hawaain, Phir Tum Hii Kaho Kese Peeya Yaad Na Aye….” And then broke into copious tears, crying out to her lost family.

The home and four other homes in the lane named after her father as ‘Prem gali’ were intact while most of the other structures had changed beyond recognition. ‘Toshi’s address, remembered as  ‘Prem Niwas ,1935’ located in lane ‘Prem Gali’  named after her father Bhai Prem Chand Chhibber on the DAV college road, Pindi, had changed a bit in words, much as the pre-partition impressive three-storeyed facade and interiors of the house remained quite familiar and unchanged. Renamed, now “Kashane Imtiaz” or home of Imtiaz, the lane rechristened as “Gali Ghulam Fareed”, but just as remarkable in structure as was left 75 years back in 1947.

Reena was delighted to meet Iqbal Sahni a relative of both brothers Balraj Sahni famed Hindi Cinema actor famous for noteworthy films like ‘Kaabuliwala’, ‘Waqt’; and writer Bhisham Sahni who created the story of ‘Tamas’ a critically acclaimed Tele-serial by Govind Nihlani. The Sahnis were family friends of Chhibbers.

This momentous occasion was the culmination of two years of efforts.  All emotions were underlined with moments of extreme joy, singing, dancing, and tears, and remembrances that followed the nearly two hours of stay in the home, said India Pakistan Heritage Club, members Imran William and Zahir Mahmood , along with Sajjad Haider. And when the ardent singer Reena , was requested to sing a song by the Pak media, she enthusiastically obliged by singing an innovative version of –“Ye gallian  ye choobara, Yahan aana na doobara …” from film -‘Prem Rog’   and instead sang –“Ye gaalian ye choobara , yahan “aana hai doobara” ,… bringing laughter to all and a sea of collective beautiful smiles of the fragrance of this daughter of Rawalpindi.

Reena and most of her family were saddled to far off Solan near Simla in May 1947, by her father, watchful of the impending doom that lay in riots that became frequent and wilder and wilder by the day. She left Pindi as a 15-year-old when the bloody partition tore apart all humane fabric to give birth to two new geographical nations.

Sajjad Haider. Haider, a Rawalpindi local, Law correspondent with Capital TV covering the Supreme Court of Pakistan, had tracked the ancestral home of Reena in Pindi and sent photos and videos to Reena via the internet.  

Earlier enroute to Rawalpindi, Reena visited Katasraj Hindu shrines in Chakwal district of Pakistan, organized by Faraz Abbas Secretary of the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) of Pakistan, she was welcomed by Ravinder Kumar Chhibber, one of the seven lineages of Mohyal Brahmins a martial clan, the head of the lone Hindu family of Chakwal. Incidentally, Reena too belongs to the Chhibber clan of  Mohyal Brahmins. A prayer service in the form of a short pooja was performed in the Shiv Temple of Katasraj and two Hindu Pandits were especially transported there by ETPB, informed Abbas from Lahore to the author.

In Lahore she visited the Forman Christian college where her husband studied and which had such luminaries as  IK Gujral the Indian PM  Pak President Pervez Musharaff and Kuldip Nayyar the famed journalist as their alumni; the  Lahore college for women university (LCWU), where her favorite elder sister studied and completed her graduation while staying in a hostel.

Author can be reached at email: rashmitalwarno1@gmail.com/ Mo: +91 6283 79 6363

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A tireless crusader /Courage & conviction/ by Rashmi Talwar

Courage & conviction
A tireless crusader

As a young girl of barely twenty years in 1946, Kunti Paul set out to do social service and remained committed to the AIWC as member of the standing committee for nearly 40 years. That however did not deter her from lending her expertise and enthusiasm to other prominent associations at the time, says Rashmi Talwar

KUNTI Paul begged, cajoled, persuaded and performed an almost impossible task — that of convincing women (young and old to part with their jewellery and money.

As an exemplary gesture, Kunti first donated the gold bangles which her father had lovingly given her at the time of her marriage. She helped to collect gold and money equal to the weight of Jawaharlal Nehru who made a fervent appeal after the 1962 Chinese aggression, to help tide over the financial emergency. Since the rupee did not find many takers in the international markets at that time, gold was valued in exchange in order to help buy weapons and stabilise economy of a newly independent nation. At the forefront of the freedom movement, Kunti had laboured before the country faced gruelling events of Partition.

“It wasn’t an easy task,” she recalls, But it meant “freedom” call the word a magic potion or adrenaline that sustained the very existence of Indians at the time. Nehru had selected her for the daunting task, as she had proved her dedication and worth as the national president of the All India Women’s Conference (AIWC), a national body for women’s empowerment since pre-Partition years.

Thereafter, she went on to represent the country at the United Nations and spoke passionately on the plight of Indian women. Kunti has specifically focused on a woman’s predicament after her circumstantial or deliberate abandonment and her subsequent rehabilitation. She elucidated her viewpoint on the law and legal system to ensure shelter to women in cases of divorce settlements, widowhood, maltreatment and that of physical and mental abuse. Frail in health at the age of 77, as she presided over the local unit of AIWC’s annual function recently and surveyed its progress, she has lost none of her formidable spirit. She insists on walking without the support of a walking stick.

Not untouched by tragedy, Kunti had lost both her sons. While one of them had died in 1990, after fighting a prolonged battle with cancer, the other one Narbhir Paul an MLA in UP was killed by assassins in 2000. She immersed herself with the work of women’s uplift and empowerment and went on to complete her Masters in history at 60.

The AIWC has nearly 500 branches all over India, many of them were established with her help in north India. As a young girl of barely twenty years in 1946, she set out to do social service and remained committed to the AIWC as member of the standing committee for nearly 40 years. That however did not deter her from lending her expertise and enthusiasm to other prominent associations at the time.

She was a member of the habitat and environment quarter of a century since 1976. Having spoken at national and international seminars, she wrote several papers on environment and women’s problems. She remained an executive member of the Red Cross society, child welfare, blood bank society, cancer society, citizen’s peace committee. Having travelled all over major countries of the world she says: “Women’s problems remain the same throughout the world.” A member of the Punjab State Family Planning Board, the small savings scheme board, state social welfare advisory board Kunti guided the activities of grameen mahila sangh in villages. She helped to collect funds and amenities for defence forces during both the Pak aggressions and also helped in military hospital and organising women’s defence councils then the most threatening problem faced by India is “population explosion” and we should borrow the blue-print of family planning programme from China, with some valid modifications, to take a strong steps to stem the burgeoning population, she contends.

However, amazingly, her only dream which still remains to be fulfilled is to do her doctorate (Ph.D) in history.

First carried in The Tribune in 2003 http://www.tribuneindia.com/2003/20030413/herworld.htm#2