Happy Independence Day to Ramchandra and Farooq Hussain

June 1947, Relative Road, Lahore: Ramchandra was unable to sleep for many nights, every moment he used to beat that the drivers should not break the door of his house and enter and take away his two young daughters. At the slightest knock, he would get up and grab the stick next to his cot, saying it was his only weapon. He was a decent and straightforward shopkeeper, he had no experience of fighting, his residence was on The Relative Road, while the business was in Shah Alam Market where he had a utensils shop, he would open his shop early in the morning, bow before Laxmi Devi, pray for the development of the business and then stay busy in the shop till evening, this was his routine for many years. But for a few weeks now, this routine had changed.
Shah Alam Market was closed, Ramchandra had heard that Muslims there had looted the goods of Hindu shops and set them on fire. Someone said his shop was also among those damaged shops. He had also heard some more heart-wrenching stories, on Mohini Road, some robbers raided the houses of Hindu traders and not only looted their property, but also killed two young girls in front of their father and brother in a house. It was heard that the people who committed this heinous act were neighbors of this Hindu businessman for the last 20 years and used to share in every joy and sorrow. All these incidents had completely destroyed Ramachandra’s ability to think, some of his relatives had already left their homes and gone to Amritsar, while the rest had also packed up and were waiting for an appropriate opportunity. Ramachandra did not want to leave his house, this house was built by his grandfather, he spent his childhood here, he grew up playing in the streets of the road.
Holding his father’s finger, he used to go to Baba Nazar Mohammad’s shop, from where his father used to give him his favorite things, Nazar Mohammad also gave Toffees to Ramchandra in ‘Chunge’ along with these things and prayed for his health and safety. He had his years-old friend Bailey on The Relative Road, he had a childhood love, he was a chaubare where he used to sit with Jyoti for hours and make dreams of the future. How could he leave the road? But now he had two young daughters, a wife who had asthma, his own health was not such that he could travel from Lahore to Amritsar. Thinking of all this, he could not sleep and then what was feared happened, the balwais entered Ramchandra’s ancestral house and killed him, one of the balwais was a 19-year-old boy who was fed by Ramchandra in his lap, Rashid Ahmed was his name. All Ramchandra could see when he died was Rashid Ahmed walking towards his daughters’ room and screams coming from inside.
June 1947, Chitta Kada, Maulvi Ghulam Ali The Street, Amritsar: When Farooq Hussain loved Geeta very much, he would hold her hand and put it with his eyes. He did the same on that day, but did not know why Geeta felt that Farooq’s hand was shaking. The two did not talk to each other and looked in front, the scene was nothing special, there was just a field with a bunch of trees in front of it and a dry mound. They used to come here often from chitta kada and spend hours watching the scene with their hands in each other’s hands. But now they thought that they would never be able to come here, maybe that is why both eyes were wet even after not saying anything. It was a very ordinary place, but his youth and youth were spent here.
For them, this place was a piece of paradise, they never thought that a day would come in their lives that they would have to leave this place, leave their homes and go somewhere else. These were the things that used to happen in their homes these days. Farooq Hussain’s father was a goldsmith in Amritsar’s Hall Bazaar, the day he heard that a group of Hindus had killed everyone by setting fire to Muslim houses in amritsar neighborhood and a six-month-old child was among the dead. will come. In the house in front of him, his close friend Amar Singh lived, Amar Singh assured him that he would not come in the bata kada while he was there, “After all we have been living together for many years, how can it be that we leave in difficult times now.
“These were Amar Singh’s words. But one night, a group of Hindus and Sikhs entered the street of Maulvi Ghulam Ali, holding kirpans and spears in their hands. Most of them, aged between 20 and 25, one of them, Baljit Singh, went ahead and tried to break the door of Faruq Hussain’s house, but Amar Singh stood in front. “No one will go to this house, this is my friend’s house, understand it is my house. Amar Singh said bitterly. Baljeet’s eyes widened in amazement for a moment, but then suddenly there was hatred in them.
“If this is your home Amar Singh, then you will go with him, your daughters, your wife and your young son. Amar Singh trembled, he looked at the crowd, he saw nothing but hatred in their eyes, he quietly withdrew from the front. They broke open the door in one stroke and entered. Farooq Hussain tried to stop him, but Baljeet, with the help of a colleague, laid him on the floor and stabbed him in front of his father. That night, 20 bodies were found in the houses of Muslims in Chitta Kada, Maulvi Ghulam Ali Di Gali and four young girls went missing.
August 14, 1947: This is All India Radio Lahore.