75 years gone, Partition ordeal still fresh in Panipat handloom trader's mind

Mukesh Tandon

Panipat, August 13

The unbearable pain of Partition and its horrific memories are still fresh in the mind of 81-year-old Darbari Lal, who is a renowned yarn trader here.

Recalling the Partition trauma, Darbari Lal said he was around seven years old when he along with his family had left their house and belongings in Sakhi village of the Sheikhupura tehsil of Gujranwala district in Pakistan to save their lives. “I can still identify my house in Sakhi village,” he said.

Born in January 1941, Darbari Lal said the atmosphere had turned horrific suddenly and his mother, Ramrakhi, took his older brother and him on a horse to their relatives’ home at Kala ki Mandi, which is around 10-12 km away from their village.

They stayed there for around 10-12 days but his mother had a dream about a fire incident in Kala ki Mandi after which the trio returned to the village, he said.

Notably, only 10-12 houses belonged to the Hindus in the village. My father, Ram Lal, owned a kiryana shop and did some work related to ornaments, Darbari Lal added. “When my father came to know that I was the target of some notorious Muslims, all Hindu families gathered at our house and they locked the door from inside,” he recalled.

All this happened when Darbari Lal was playing in the street with his friend, Shabiru, who was also a Muslim. Meanwhile, Shabiru’s mother took him away and hid him in a “bharola” (a big drum made of soil) to save him, he added.

“My father then gave 1,100 silver coins to an SHO for providing free passage to us after which the latter asked us to leave immediately,” he said.

“My family and I reached Kala ki Mandi on our horses and stayed there for 10-12 days,” he said.

After this, a cavalcade of 10-12 trucks reached Kala ki Mandi and scores of people sat boarded the vehicles, but were massacred on the way and the same happened with those who sat in the second group of trucks, Darbari Lal added.

They were not able to sit on the trucks as these were overcrowded and his elderly grandfather and grandmother were with them, he said. “So, we boarded the third group of trucks and reached Amritsar, and stayed in a small shop for around one-and-a-half month. After that, we reached the Kurukshetra camp by train,” he said.

They stayed there for a month, but two of their relatives died due to some ailment after which his grandfather asked his father to leave the camp. They then reached Panipat in 1947 and got settled here, he added.

“We had no documents and that’s why couldn’t claim compensation. We started the yarn business in 1952. We bought handmade yarn from Punjab and started selling it to loom owners in Panipat.”

Like Darbari Lal and his family, many people — Master Bhagwan Das; Master Dayal Das; Amrit Lal Batra; Diwan Chand Bhatia; Narain Das, Hargovind Singh, Master Kalu Ram, Hari Chand Vij — who migrated from Pakistan, established their handloom business here.

Started business in 1952

We had no documents and that’s why couldn’t claim compensation. We started the yarn business in 1952. We bought handmade yarn from Punjab and started selling it to loom owners in Panipat. Darbari Lal, yarn trader