Jenkins and the Partition of Punjab 1947 Farah Gul Baqai National Institute of Historical and Cultural Research Centre of Excellence, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan 2018 Jenkins and the Partition of Punjab 1947 FARAH GUL BAQAI NIHCR Publication No.216 Copyright 2018 All rights reserved. No part of this publication be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing from the Director, National Institute of Historical and Cultural Research (NIHCR). Enquiries concerning reproduction should be sent to NIHCR at the address below. National Institute of Historical and Cultural Research, Centre of Excellence, Quaid-i-Azam University, (New Campus) P.O.Box No.1230, Islamabad 44000, Pakistan. Email: [email protected], [email protected] Website: www.nihcr.edu.pk Published by Muhammad Munir Khawar (Publication Officer) Edited by Mohammad Saleem (Sub-Editor) Rao Tahir Hussain (Sub-Editor) Printed at M/s IF Graphics, Royal Centre, Blue Area, Islamabad, Pakistan Price Pak Rs.700.00 SAARC Countries Rs.1500.00 ISBN: 978-969-415-133-5 US $.20.00 In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful DEDICATED TO MY PARENTS Anwar Zamani (Mother) Zulfiqar Ali Khan Baqai (Father) AND MY CHILDREN Aiza, Danish and Jamal ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS For the achievement of this task I am thankful to late Dr. Rizwan Malik who encouraged me to jump into this pursuit of truth. I am grateful to my school day’s friend late Dr. Aizaz Vardag who was very happy to know that I was doing Ph.D. and she presented me a pen to start the dissertation. My sister Dr. Fehmida Shahab Baqai opened the venues for family women to aspire for higher education. Dr. Sikander Hayat who would often say Shabash keeps on working in the initial stages of research. Dr. Saleem Akhtar who took keen interest and continuously advised me to focus on the topic and not got entangled in the wayward interests that might have otherwise develop during research. Special thanks to my brothers Mr. Javed I. Baqai, Dr. Haider Z. Baqai as they patiently went through my manuscripts. I am thankful to all my brothers, sisters and relatives who always prayed for me and wished me success. It was an honour to assist Dr. Waheed Ahmad when he was working on his book “A Story of Punjab” based on Shamsul Hasan Collection at National Documentation Centre, Islamabad. It helped me in knowing Punjab of 1940s better. I am obliged to Saleena Karim, the author of Secular Jinnah & Pakistan, for making available the book by Owain Jenkins, Merchant Prince for the thesis. I am thankful to my friends and colleagues at National Institute of Historical and Cultural Research, Islamabad for their kind and encouraging attitude throughout my work. Special thanks to Dr. Ijaz Hussain for his positive response towards my work. I am grateful to my husband Mr. Rafat Ansari who always bucked me up to complete the task. I am obliged to Mr. Mohammad Saleem, Mr Sher Afgan Javed and Mr Khalid Mahmud of the NIHCR and Mr. Muhammad Shaheen of HBL for editing, composing and drafting of the manuscript, respectively. I am deeply obliged to Mr. Azmat (History Department, QAU) for giving final touches to the manuscript. The faculty of History Department has been very cooperative and encouraging throughout my research, I am grateful to Dr. Aslam Syed, Dr. Javed Haider Syed, Dr. Ilhan Niaz, Dr. Farooq Dar, Dr. Rabia Umar Ali, Dr. Tanvir Anjum for their encouraging support. I Acknowledgements vii am also thankful to staff of the History Department for maintaining conducive atmosphere for research. I am deeply indebted to Dr. Razia Sultana for her supervision and inspiring me. Sift out something original and new. Lastly, gratitude is small a word for colleagues and friends at N.I.H.C.R., they all in their own way supported me. I am thankful to Mr. Mohammad Saleem and Mr. Rao Tahir, Mr. Mubashir Shah, Mr. Atlas Khan, Mr. Munir Khawar, Dr. Umar Hayat, Dr. Sajjid Awan, Dr. Himayatullah Yaqoobi, Dr. Atlafullah, Dr. Rahat Zubair, Mr. Akhtar Rasool Bodla, Ms. Iffat Hamayun Khan, Mr. Noor Jamal, Mr. Hazoor Bux Channa and his library staff, who constantly played their role in making effort to provide relevant research material available for me. The responsibility of all factual details and errors are entirely mine. Farah Gul Baqai August 2018 ABBREVIATIONS Addl. D. C. Additional Deputy Commissioner A.D.C Aid-de-Camp A.G Adjutant-General A.H.Q Army Headquarters AIML All India Muslim League B.Os. British Officers Ch. Chaudhury C-in-C Commander-in-Chief C.I.D. Criminal Investigation Department D.C. Deputy Commissioner D.I.G. Deputy Inspector General D.S.P Deputy Superintendent of Police G.H.Q General Head Quarters G.O.C-in-C General Officer Commanding-in-Chief G.S Governor’s Secretary H.E His Excellency H.H His Highness HMG His/Her Majesty’s Government H.S Home Secretary I.C.S. Indian Civil Service Abbreviations ix I.G Inspector General (of Police) K.C.S.I Knight Commander (of the Order of the) Star of India K.C.I.E Knight Commander (Order of the) Indian Empire M.L Muslim League M.L.A Member of the Legislative Assembly MF Micro Film/s N.D.C National Documentation Centre OUP Oxford University Press P.C.S Punjab Civil Service PEPSU Patiala East Punjab States Union P.S.V Private Secretary to the Viceroy S.D.O Sub-Divisional Officer S.D.M Sub Divisional Magistrate S.P Superintendent Police T.O Treasury Officer TOP Transfer of Power (Volumes) U.N United Nations U. P United Provinces CONTENTS Acknowledgements vi Abbreviations viii Preface xiii Foreword xvi Chapter I British in Punjab 1849-1947 1 Chapter II Jenkins Role in the Partition of Punjab 35 1947 Chapter III Jenkins Correspondence with 68 Mountbatten vis-à-via Punjab Chapter IV Jenkins Correspondence with Punjab 98 Leaders Chapter V Revealing the Borderline Areas 152 Consisting of Punjab 1947/Punjab Borders Meddling Conclusion 182 Appendices 186 Appendices I H.C. Beaumont to George Abell 186 8th August 1947 Appendices II Minutes by Evan Jenkins 187 8th August 1947 Appendices III Jawaharlal Nehru to Louis Mountbatten 188 9th August 1947 Appendices IV Louis Mountbatten to Evan Jenkins 189 12th August 1947 xii Jenkins and the Partition of Punjab: 1947 Appendices V Louis Mountbatten to Evan Jenkins 190 19th March 1948 Appendices VI Evan Jenkins to Louis Mountbatten 194 7th April 1948 Appendices VII Sir G. Abell to Mr. Abbot 199 8th August 1947 Appendices VIII Jenkins to Louis Mountbatten enclosed 201 with Memorandum 4th August 1947 Appendices IX How Mountbatten Bent the Rules 224 4th August 1947 Bibliography 229 Glossary 245 Index of Persons with Biographical Notes 246 Index 251 PREFACE This book is an addition to partition studies, pertaining to Punjab— a key province in the scheme of Pakistan formation. Had Punjabis refrained from accepting changes that were occurring internationally and nationally and had refused to ally with Muslim League, Punjab would have had the same fate that was of Kashmir—neither free nor independent. They would continuously be under Hindu dominance. The Hindus were sharp and good in manipulations, in fact some Muslim leaders like Maulana Abul Kalam Azad were partisan in this scenario. No doubt he held a stature in religious learning, he was smart in entangling Punjab Muslims in the snare of Hindus and Sikhs through Unionist Party. Evan Meredith Jenkins, the Governor of Punjab, genuinely believed that Punjabis, without discrimination on communal grounds, should be united and Punjab should be given an independent status. The objective of this research is to find answers of questions like why was there such mayhem of human lives in 1947? Who was responsible for it? Could it have been avoided? Jenkins, who was the last Governor of United Punjab, how he was tackling the situation? Blaming any one is not the answer; everyone played its part to worsen the situation when things got out of hand. The last days of British Raj show the situation was not controllable, the old masters were leaving, the new had not taken the charge, and there was prevailing a vacuum. This made the things ugly and grotesque. So many things were on the move—British were leaving India and moving back to England; Hindus and Sikhs in areas of Pakistan were vacating their hearth and home and relocating to India; Muslims in troubled Indian areas were moving towards Pakistan leaving all their properties and belongings in India. There was a commotion of worst kind—natives taking possession of the leaving people, their abode and property; kidnapping helpless women, raping, killing or marrying them by force. The communalism based on religion metamorphosed into beast like existence. Natives of Punjab—the land of Sufis and Saints— had turned into Satan or something beyond it. 1947 was the worst xiv Jenkins and the Partition of Punjab: 1947 year in Punjab history, as far as human life, its sanctity and honour was concerned. Each community crossed its limits and desecrated other community’s sanctity that words are lost to describe. Britishers’ left India with their families, prudently advising natives to solve their problems amicably by giving space to each other, the well-intended advice held no base as it was given at the time when water had crossed the bridges. The book consists of five chapters, each chapter helps us in understanding the turmoil through which Punjab was passing in 1947. Chapter I covers the history of Punjab from 1849 to 1947, the period in which Britishers’ established themselves in Punjab.