STORIES OF PARTITION NARRATED BY SURVIVORS OF CHINIOT

Abstract

Partition of India took millions of lives, and it was first event of its nature in which without breaking any war there were millions of people who were murdered, looted, raped and forcefully migrated. There were multiple reasons that brought two nations living together for hundreds of years to division. British divide and rule policy, Political rivalry and lack of flexibility in ideas among leaders of Hindu-Muslim Parties and two nation theory are taken as major reason of partition. Muslims and Hindus lived together for several centuries but India had never experienced such incident of ethnic cleansing on the name of religion before. In 1857 Hindus and Muslims unitedly launched a war of independence against British, then what are the factors which brought two allies to rivalry which later extended to enmity. This dissertation is divided in four chapters; first chapter is about introduction and methodology used in this research study. In second chapter an overview of historical background of political history of India from British arrival to partition, Major events, vii British policies toward India and Indians, emergence of political and religious waves in sub-continent and Jinnah and Nehru’s role in partition is discussed. In third chapter history of Chiniot from ancient till British arrival is discussed. Chiniot remained a place of peaceful co-existence. After annexation of Punjab Chiniot fell under rule of British, after Chenab colony project of British the agriculture sector of Chiniot attracted British and got new roads and railway routes for export of wheat, cotton and furniture. Many Influential families became allies of British in this region of Chiniot and acquired lands as reward. Chiniot through its agriculture and furniture added much in economy of British till partition. Last chapter throws a light that how small and underprivileged areas like Chiniot were affected during partition, what type of relationship among people of Chiniot was existed before partition and what were the major characters behind violence and migration during partition in tehsil Chiniot. We always went through different books to know about partition, but in this thesis I have tried to know about partition from those people of Chiniot who were involved themselves in partition and those who were eye witnesses of that event of partition.