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An interview with Dr. Reed, following the harrowing effects during the partition of India.
Due to the sensitive nature of the experience, the interviewee has asked to remain anonymous, so for the sake of the article, we will refer to him as Dr. Reed.
Image citations: partition of India, published by Encyclopædia Britannica
Before the Great Partition of 1947, there was only one nation in the southern part of Asia: India. This country comprised two groups of people: Hindus and Muslims. However, these two groups were in constant tension from the dawn of their meeting. In 850 CE, Muslim invaders plundered cities, colonized Northern India, and destroyed Hindu centers. In 1525, the Muslim group known as the Mughals had complete control over most of India. In this era, about 36,000 Hindu temples were destroyed, and many were forced to convert or die. These actions from the Muslims and the subsequent reaction from the Hindus led to much tension between the two groups.
In contrast, forwarding to 1947, the story is a bit different. The Hindus and Muslims, who were united under India at this point, were fighting against a common enemy, the British, so tensions eased up. However, once India was independent, one thing was made clear: the two groups could not coexist. Civil War erupted in the streets, leading to countless deaths on both sides. It led to the creation of a whole new nation known as Pakistan.
The Story of Dr. Reed
Thankfully, despite the many who died, we get to hear from Dr. Reed, who lived this firsthand. Reed was born in modern-day Multan, Sindh province, Pakistan. The area he lived in was a majority Hindu area, but it was surrounded by Muslim-majority areas. Sadly, the living conditions for him were not pretty. His entire family lived in one upstairs apartment that had no water, electricity, or toilet.
For his first few years, he had a very supportive family with his biological parents and his mentor. Other than some unfortunate circumstances that made him skip from 2nd to 6th grade, his life was normal for someone in that area. However, that all changed when he became a teenager.
During this time, India was in the midst of a civil war. Those who used to be your neighbors are now people that you don’t want walking up the stairs out of fear of being killed. In his specific area and his city’s situation, if a Muslim saw you, you would be killed. He went through this as a child, and even as he went to school, he would hear about it firsthand.
Massacre on a Train
This led his mentor to recommend that his family explore business opportunities in Delhi (which is about the central part of Hindu India). That is when the fateful day arrived. Dr. Reed and his family got on a train and partook in the mass exodus of people who were either going to the new Muslim state of Pakistan or leaving it to go to India. At some point in this journey, the train was stopped by a group of Muslim extremists.
One by one, the entire train was massacred. Every Hindu that was found was promptly killed. 1000s of people died here. There was no opportunity for retaliation. Thankfully, Dr. Reed was able to be harbored by someone he knew, and he was able to make it out alive. He had an incredibly successful career as a doctor in India and his subsequent career in the United States.
This is just one story of countless victims of atrocities committed during this era. Dr. Reed emphasized this one important part of history that is often overlooked: retaliation was not equal. The Hindu population did not get revenge for what happened. The number of people who died and were persecuted was minuscule compared to what occurred in present-day Pakistan and Bangladesh. This was because Hindu leaders like Gandhi and Nehru forbade it, and the retaliatory nature is not one taught within Hinduism. The result of this was a festering hate that stems even to now. Regardless of your location within India, irrespective of whether you are Hin
du or Muslim, the tension remains, and the hate is very much there. Dr. Reed ended with a message:
"The only way to stop the hate and the atrocities that happen to this day is with one key thing: dialogue."
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