Saga of Nankana Sahib
Nankana Sahib
K S Chawla
Iwas just 7-8 years old when
India got freedom on August
15, 1947 and Pakistan another
nation was created. Just with
the creation of Pakistan,
Muslims in Rawalpindi side
started attacking Hindus and Sikhs and
killed many of them.
The first riots by the Muslims were
done in Rawalpindi side and many of the Sikh families moved to Nankana
Sahib with the hope that Nankana
Sahib would remain in India and it
would be safe to stay there. But soon
tension started building in Nankana
Sahib and neighbouring places.
Nankana Sahib – the birth place of
Guru Nanak Dev was a tehsil
headquarters and was part of
Sheikhupura district. Now Nankana
Sahib has been elevated as a full
district by the Pakistan government.
The first attack on Sheikhupura was
made by the Muslims and they burnt
almost the complete city and killed a
large number of Hindus and Sikhs.
After incidents of Sheikhupura, the
residents of Nankana Sahib also started living in fear and many of them
moved to the gurdwaras for safety.
Our house was located on the GT road
and was a big size house. Our family
was one of the prominent families of
Nankana Sahib.
As the migration of Hindus and
Sikhs started, Nankana Sahib was put
under the control of Baloch units of
the army. Since the residents were
living under fear and were expecting
attack anytime, our family took steps
to protect ourselves. As our house was
situated on the main highway, our
family members had collected large
number of bricks and lathis on the roof
tops of our house. Our relations from
the villages had also come to our house. Our grand mother was a very
brave and bold lady and she would sit
as chowkidar at the main gate with a
heavy lathi (daang).
The Exodus !
Our house had a big size well and
she had ordered all the ladies of the
house that in case of any attack by the
Muslims, they would not get caught
and would jump in the well to save
themselves from the Muslims. A big
size bulb had also been put up in front
of the main door on the main road to
notice the movement of the people
and Muslims and army in particular.
The small children like me had been
made to put on two suits-kurta pyjama
and each one was given Rs. 100/- to
feed ourselves in case of separation
from the family.
On way to Lahore, the truck
driver stopped the truck and
demanded more money
from our father and he gave
some more money to him.
The truck driver threatened
that he would not let us
reach Lahore. To our bad
luck just as we crossed river
Ravi and entered Lahore,
the fuel in the truck was
exhausted. We were left at
the mercy of God. Since we
were destined to live, the
Sikh guard spotted one
Gorkha guard standing in
front of a gate-this was the
camp of the Gorkha army.
The Muslims had been planning to
attack Nankana Sahib and on one
night a huge number of Muslims had
gathered outside the Nankana Sahib
to attack when signaled by the Baloch
faujis. But this attack did not happen
as Guru Nanak dev himself came to
the rescue of the Nankanvis. It is said
that one night when the Muslims were
to attack Nankana Sahib, one Sikh
youth, who was sleeping on the roof top along with his family members in
the area of Balleela (where Guru
Nanak Dev had spent his childhood),
had a dream that Guru Nanak Dev was
sitting with Bhai Bala and Bhai
Mardana and discussing the difficult
situation prevailing in Nankana Sahib.
The youth immediately got up and
told her mother to get up immediately
– and there was going to be very heavy
rain. He told his mother that he had a
dream in which Guru Nanak Dev told
Bhai Bala and Mardana that Nankana Sahib was under serious threat and
the question was how to save the
people. Guru Nanak Dev told them
there was only solution that there
should be heavy rain and only then the
attackers could be prevented from
coming to Nankana Sahib.
Immediately, there was very heavy
rain and the residents of Nankana
Sahib were saved by Guru Nanak Dev
himself.
As the rain started, the Baloch army
truck stopped just outside our house and they said that the entire plan had
failed. This talk was heard by our
family elders who were watching them
while sitting on the roof top. While
leaving, the armymen broke the
electric bulb which had been put up in
front of our gate.
Next morning, Tehsildar of
Nankana Sahib called my father and
told him 'Bawa Ji hun tuseen
gurdwara which shift kar jao' being a
prominent family of Nankana Sahib,
whenever there was posting of the
new Tehsildar, the new man would
have his first 'Khana' in our house and
the outgoing Tehsildar would have his
farewell dinner with us. So we moved
to Gurdwara Malji Sahib at night and
during the day we would come to our
house.
This process continued for a few
days and our family was looking for
some arrangement to leave Nankana
Sahib. Just one day two army trucks
arrived and our father contacted one
of the truck drivers and settled the
payment with him to reach Lahore.
The entire families, including relations,
were boarded in the truck and some
baggage was also loaded. Our family
had got two bags of atta which our
uncle (Masar) was loading, he had just
loaded the bags and the truck driver
sped away the truck leaving our Masar
behind despite raising alarm. The poor
man was left in Nankana Sahib. It may
be mentioned here that the truck
driver was a Muslim and the fauji
guard was a Sikh.
On way to Lahore, the truck driver
stopped the truck and demanded
more money from our father and he
gave some more money to him. The
truck driver threatened that he would
not let us reach Lahore. To our bad
luck just as we crossed the river Ravi
and entered Lahore, the fuel in the
truck was exhausted. We were left at
the mercy of God.
Since we were destined to live, the
Sikh guard spotted one Gorkha guard
standing in front of a gate-this was the
camp of the Gorkha army. He
immediately rushed to the Gorkha and
told him about the plight of our truck
and with the help of Gorkhas, the truck was taken to the Gorkha camp and
Gorkha has provided the security
cover to us. After getting fueld, the
Gorkhas took our truck to the refugee
camp in Government College Lahore
building where we stayed for three
days. As we had two bags of atta, we
could manage to cook chapattis to eat
and also distributed Atta to other
campers.
I would also like to mention here as
our father had flour mill in Nankana
Sahib, he started free distribution of
As we reached Lahore from
Nankana Sahib, since the
Muslim driver had
harassed us, there was
rumour in Nankana Sahib
that the entire Bawa family
had been looted and
eliminated at Lahore. But
people had a sigh of relief
when they learnt that we
all were safe and hail and
hearty at Amritsar.
atta which was lying in stock to the
refugees who had come from
Rawalpindi side. This lasted for a
month.
After three days of staying in the
camp at Lahore, one evening some
buses came from Amritsar to collect
the refugees from the camp. Our
father saw one bus which had come
from Nankana Sahib and he contacted
the driver who brought us to Amritsar
from the Lahore camp.
I simply remember that bus left us
in Amritsar on a road in the open sky.
We spent the night without any food
on the road. Next day morning, we
had some relations in Dhab Wasti Ram
area and we contacted them. They
came and took us to their house and
there we stayed for a week or so. They
had a house in some locality which
was lying vacant. They gave us that
house to live in and we stayed there
for about a month and from Amritsar
we moved to Ludhiana.
While traveling in a train from
Amritsar, the track had been damaged
and human deadbodies were floating
in the floodwaters. It had rained
heavily during that year. In Ludhiana,
we came to a house where already
some people were living. We could get
some accommodation in a veranda
without any proper cover. We had a
big family gradually all moved from
that house and got the possession of
the house and started living
independently. Now the question was
how to run the house as we had
become 'Raja and Runk'. We started
working in a hosiery factory and
started earning some money.
Our father was looking for some
business and he found a deserted
diesel engine run atta chakki at
Machhiwara and he got it on lease
from the government. After great
labour, he started the atta chakki. But
there was hostile reception from the
local chakki owners and our father did
not lose heart and came into
competition with them. Our father
reduced the milling rate and 'karta'.
The refugees who had settled at
Machhiwara and adjoining villages
came to our support and for threefour
years, they extended whole
hearted support to us. During this
period we could start our studies also.
Our father had to go back to Nankana
Sahib to bring back our Masar and he
succeeded in his mission.
As we reached Lahore from
Nankana Sahib, since the Muslim
driver had harassed us, there was
rumour in Nankana Sahib that the
entire Bawa family had been looted
and eliminated at Lahore. But people
had a sigh of relief when they learnt
that we all were safe and hail and
hearty at Amritsar.
We are grateful to Almighty Guru
Nanak Dev Ji who protected us at all
the difficult times we finally settled at
Ludhiana. Three of our brothers
became renowned journalists who
served the people with great sense
of honesty and dedication and
earned the goodwill of the people of
the Punjab and the National Capital,
New Delhi.