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Dedication I dedicate this book to Abbu, my maternal grandfather (Mirza Qamar Beg), for letting me bring his story to life.
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Table of Contents I.
Foreword ……………………………………………………………………... 4
II.
“All For a New Car” (Historical Narrative) …………………………………
III.
Storyboard & Notes …………………………………………………………. 8
IV.
Bibliography ………………………………………………………………….. 11
V.
About the Author …………………………………………………………….. 12
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I. Foreword On August 14th 1947 Britain’s long rule over India ended and a new country, Pakistan, came into being as a homeland for Indian Muslims. The celebration of the independence of India and Pakistan did not last long. The partition of the two countries saw bloody rioting between Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus. It is estimated half a million people died in the communal violence and millions more became homeless in one of the largest human migrations in history. This is my maternal grandfather’s memory of the events of that year. My grandfather’s family was Urdu-speaking Muslims living in Delhi at the time of Partition. He was 4 years old at the time. His father was in the Indian Army and all the officers were given the option of staying on in India or choosing to move to Pakistan. The Muslim-majority regions of Undivided India were designated to become Pakistan; since my grandfather’s family did not live in a Muslim-majority region they knew they would have to be part of the one million people leaving everything behind for a new home. Please watch the short video below (“1,000,000 Refugees On The Move”), which is a news report from the time for greater historical context. To watch the video double-click the image below, or click this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ClIajkFSuc
This map shows both East Pakistan and Pakistan separated by India.
Typical scenes to be seen on both sides of the new border.
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II. All for a New Car “Come on Qamar, let’s play a new game,” Ami smiled and called me towards the bathroom. My older brothers were already following her, but they seemed quiet. This is probably not a fun game, I thought. After all, who played fun games in the bathroom? Besides, something didn’t feel right. We weren’t even home but in a strange new place; my brothers called it a “rest house”. We had left our house in such a rush. There was no time to pack, Daddy had said. I even left my favorite toy car behind, and it was a new one, not even one of my brothers’ old ones. Daddy said he would buy me a new one when we got to Karachi. I don’t know any place called Karachi, but it is to be our new home in a new country called Pakistan, where everyone will be like us.
My grandfather travelled from New Delhi to Karachi by train, bus and on foot.
“Come on, Qamar, we’re playing a game in the bathtub,” said Ami. She was speaking in that high, squeaky voice she uses when she says everything is fine but it really isn’t.
“But I don’t wan…” my complaint was cut off by the sound of the hammering on the door. There were men outside, banging hard, screaming.
“We can hear you. Open this door now!” The men were shouting and I thought the door would break.
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Ami pushed me into the bathtub, still pretending we were playing a game. All three of us were in the tub now, and she threw a big towel over us. The last thing I saw was a tear trickling down her face, even as she continued to smile at me.
My middle brother Asif kept asking my older brother Sabir “Where’s Daddy? Why isn’t he here?” They were both crying too, but quietly so no one would hear them.
The shouts at the door got louder. “I tell you they are Muslims, that is why they are hiding behind closed doors, the cowards,” said one voice. The others started chanting, “No dirty Muslims in our neighborhood! We will beat them out!”
I knew we were Muslims because just two months ago Daddy had said I was growing up and soon would go to the mosque for Friday prayers with him, Asif and Sabir. But what had we done that we had to run away? And is that why we were in the bathtub, because we were dirty?
They were lucky not to have lived in a refugee camp like the one shown.
The sounds at the door seemed to change suddenly. I could hear the scuffle of feet and voices that seemed more familiar. A little while later, I heard the door burst open and Ami say “Allah ka shukar!”
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That’s when we threw over the towel and ran out to see what was happening. Daddy was back with some of his army friends. They carried guns bigger than me. We would be safe now, I thought. We would soon be on our way to Karachi, this mysterious new home where I would get a new car. Maybe it would be green and white, like the flag of this new country.
It's hard for us to imagine the great difficulty the people endured.
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III. Storyboard & Notes
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IV. Bibliography •
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Brass, Paul R. “Journal of Genocide Research (2003), 5(1), 71–101 The Partition of India and Retributive Genocide in the Punjab, 1946–47: Means, Methods, and Purposes 1.” Journal of Genocide Research (2003), 5(1), 71–101 The Partition of India and Retributive Genocide in the Punjab, 1946–47: Means, Methods, and Purposes 1, 6 Aug. 2003, pp. 1–32. faculty.washington.edu/brass/Partition.pdf. Dwivedy, Sumit. “These 40 Shocking Images Of The India-Pakistan 1947 Partition Will Leave You Reeling!!” Buzz, 11 Aug. 2015, buzz.iloveindia.com/40-rare-images-from-india-pakistanpartition-1947-thatll-shock-you.html. Jacob, Frank. “Peacocks at Sunset.” Opinionator The New York Times, Opinionator, 3 July 2012, opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/03/peacocks-at-sunset/?_r=1. “Partition and Independence.” BBC, Destiny, news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/south_asia/2002/india_pakistan/timeline/1947.stm. Singh, Sardar Gurbachan. “Partition of India.” Partitionof1947, partitionof1947.blogspot.com.tr/. Dalrymple, William. “The Great Divide.” The New Yorker, 29 June 2015, www.newyorker.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/150629_r26683-1200.jpg. “New Delhi India Center of Excellence to Combat Chronic Diseases.” U.S National Library of Medicine, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 27 Aug. 2012, www.nhlbi.nih.gov/about/org/globalhealth/centers/new-delhi-center-of-excellence.htm. “Timeline Photos - Some Rare Pics of Sikhism | Facebook.” Pinterest, www.pinterest.com/pin/432345632951374220/.
The creation of two countries from one requires the division of everything, including books in a library.
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V. About the Author Qais Mirza is an award winning sports hero and a footballing idol for children worldwide. He was born in Karachi, Pakistan in 2003 and currently he is living in Istanbul, Turkey. He is a student in 7th Grade at IICS, where he has been studying for the past 5 years. Both his parents are Pakistani and he has one older sister and a younger brother. In his free time you can usually find him playing football, reading fantasy and sci-fi books, or playing video games.
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