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Gurbakhsh Garcha

Gurbakhsh Garcha was 12 at the time of independence. He lived in Dhandari Khurd, a small village in Punjab of around 150 who were mostly Sikh, like Gurbakhsh, a quarter Muslim, and there was one Hindu family. It was a tight knit community. They spoke Punjabi together and shared a distinctive Punjabi culture. Two days after independence, his village crowded around one radio to hear which side of the border the village was in. The village was awarded to India. He soon noticed Muslim families begin to leave for Pakistan.

Gurbakhsh never thought violence would come to his peaceful village but he noticed posters around the village inciting hatred against Muslims. Sikh gangs arrived from other villages carrying swords and spears but Gurbakhsh’s grandfather stood up to them to protect the Muslims working on their land. In a later attack on a neighbouring village, the village headman tried to protect Gurbakhsh’s Muslim teacher but was unable to. After that, all the other Muslim’s left.

Gurbakhsh saw millions of refugees fleeing by foot, caravans of people many miles long. He witnessed trains coming from both sides of the border carrying refugees, many of whom had been attacked.

Gurbakhsh is still angry at the way and manner of the British withdrawal. He travelled to Britain in 1958 and was Mayor of Lewisham from 1994-95.