Akhbar-i-Darbar-i-Mu’alla was a court bulletin of the Mughals which included the provincial reports of the transfers, appointments, promotions, dismissals, and other state matters to update the royal authority. Such a manuscript of the reports from 1708 AD to 1730 AD with gaps has been preserved at Bikaner in Rajasthan (India). These documents reveal the royal campaigns against Banda Singh Bahadur Bairagi and the decrees against the Sikhs by the Mughal emperors Farrukh Siyar and Bahadur Shah. Dr. Ganda Singh worked on these Persian manuscripts and separated with special reference to the Punjab and Sikhs and now the manuscript
The British Punjab was the cornerstone for the All-India Muslim League to win Pakistan while this region religiously, economically, politically, culturally and historically was everything to the Sikhs, the followers of Guru Nanak Dev. It was a main focus of the political panorama of the 1940s particularly for the Muslims and Sikhs as both claimed to be the masters of the region. England and India are said to have preserved a huge source material on the British Punjab and many researchers perceive it as nothing has been done in this regard in Pakistan. This article is an endeavor to explore the source material relating to the topic ‘Muslim-Sikh relations in the British Punjab during the period of 1940 to 1947,’ one of the most critical phases of the political history of British India. Many misperceive that the scarcity of the sources in Pakistan has made research impossible on the British Punjab as all the material locates either in the British Library, London or India. This survey undertakes to pinpoint the locations in Pakistan which contain abundant material relating to the subject of Muslim-Sikh relations in the Colonial Punjab.
A researcher undertaking the task to dig out material on the area ‘Muslim-Sikh relations in the British Punjab during the period of 1940 to 1947’ has to deal with the advent of Islam and Sikhism in the Punjab, historical development of these religions in the region, turning points pertaining to their relationship, political and economic interests and the conflicting issues between the communities. The culture of the land of five rivers, which directly or indirectly impressed upon the inhabitants of the Punjabi society, is another vast ad interesting field of study.Therefore, the subject apparently ramifies in various domains but provides enormous information about the Muslim-Sikh relations.
Primary sources are available in two forms including published and unpublished ones. Research on the topics relating to the discipline of history virtually depends on ‘Basic Documents.’2 Research aims to ‘re-conclude the conclusions’ or to ‘restructure the existing historical structures.’ To give a new dimension to any existing conclusion requires support of the relevant primary sources which play crucial and decisive role in proving or disproving hypotheses. The governments of India, Britain and Pakistan have officially published correspondence or other documents to project their national standpoints respectively on the political developments during the freedom struggle. They also desired to facilitate their researchers in providing them opportunities to peep into the past and interpret the historical events and records according to their national stand.Most of these publications are available in the prominent libraries of Pakistan including the National Documents Wing, Library and National Archives of Pakistan, Islamabad and the libraries of the Pakistan Study Centre and Centre for South Asian Studies, University of the Punjab, Lahore. The prominent names of the editors or compilers in this regard are Lionel Carter, Nicholas Mansergh, Penderel Moon, Rizwan Ahmad, V. P. Menon, Z.H. Zaidi, H. N. Mitra, O. P. Ralhan and Suresh K. Sharma, Henry Hayes, P. N. Chopra, S. Qaim Hussain Jafri, S.M. Burke, Sharifuddin Pirzada, and others. They compiled or edited the correspondence related to the government policies and the local leadership under the auspices of the British, Indian and Pakistani governments. Some other writings such as Disturbances in the Punjab 1947, The Partition of Punjab, Note on the Sikh Plan, RSS in the Punjab, The Sikhs in Action are the books published by the Pakistani government that reveal, how the Muslim migrants were massacred by the Sikhs and Hindus during the gory migrations of 1947. Obviously these sources present the Muslim contention regarding the mass killing of the year 1947.A researcher obtains library-oriented information mostly from the relevant books, journals, newspapers and magazines which stand very important to review the existing directions, objections or hypotheses pertaining to the area of research. The study of existing literature gives sufficient information about ‘gaps’ which can be addressed in the research projects if some newly declassified documents are accessed. The Muslim and non-Muslim writers exerted a lot in producing very useful work on the history of the Subcontinent and the communities living in it.However, the area of focus in this article is the British Punjab and the politics of its two major communities, the Muslim and Sikh.
Ancient Punjab
Mahabharta and other Hindi literature preserved the history of this region as the land of five rivers, ‘panjnad.’ It was the reign of Jalal-ud-Din Muhammad Akbar3 when, for the first time, this patch of land got popularity as ‘Punjab’ with its larger size. Therefore, the sources on the ancient history of the Punjab are an interesting area of study on which many eminent historians have produced valuable work. Joseph Davey Cunningham, History of the Sikhs (1849), R. C. Temple, Legends of the Punjab, S. S. Thorburn, The Punjab in Peace and War, J. Royal Roseberry, Imperial Rule in Punjab, 1818-1881, W. H. McLeod, The Evolution of the Sikh Community, Fauja Singh, The History of the Punjab, Bakhshish Singh Nijjar, Punjab under Sultanates, Punjab under Mughals and Punjab under the British throw light separately on the Punjab in the ancient times and on Punjab under Muslim,Sikh and the British rule. The work on the spiritual personalities (Sufi) is also supportive which depicts the cultural, political and other social aspects of the region. This also tells as to how religion permeated the rural Punjab which was never affected by any of the foreign cultures.The Sikh history starts with Guru Nanak Dev (1469-1539) who emerged on the scene during the last phase of the Muslim rule of the Lodhis. He had to experience numerous setbacks at the hand of the Muslim ruler Ibrahim Lodhi in the name of religion. When Zaheer-ud-Din Muhammad Babur got foothold in the Subcontinent the Guru was under the custody of the royal authorities on the charge of profanity. Before this, Guru Nanak Dev had been arrested from Saidpur4 by the Mughal military general who inflicted corporeal punishments upon the Guru and other faqeers (saints). So the Muslim-Sikh relations set in with the Mughal advent in the Subcontinent but before they took over the founder of the Sikhism had tasted the wrath of the Muslim rule.5
The subsequent Sikh Gurus had engaged in the religio-political activities with the coming Mughal rulers which strained the relations between the Muslims and Sikhs. So, the books on the Mughal rule present all information about the social and political interaction of the two communities with each other.Turning over the pages of the contemporary work of the eminent writers on the Mughals and the autobiographical accounts provide very important and authentic data on the subject. Tozk-i-Jahangiri, Ma’asar-i-Alamgiri, Gokal Chand Narang, Transformation of Sikhism, W. Croock, The Popular Religious and Folklore of Northern India, J.
C. Archer, The Sikhs in Relations to Hindus, Moslems, Christians and Ahmadiyas: A Study in Comparative Religion (1946), M. A. Macauliffe, The Sikh Religion, Muhammad Latif, History of Punjab, George Forster andscholarly work of hundred of writers throw light on the Sikhs, Muslims and their relations in the Punjab.The Sikh history remained an interesting area of research for the British and other foreign writers who got opportunity to interact with the Sikhs and seemed keen to share their information and analyses on the Sikh history. They, particularly the British, took pains for the Sikhs and their advancement in the political, educational and other social walks of life. Joseph Davey Cunningham’s book is a marvelous piece of writing on the Sikh history published in 1849 when the British won the day against the Punjabis particularly the Sikhs by annexing their region. Dr. G. W. Leitner worked on the educational system of the Punjab during the last decades of the 19th century and opined that the indigenous school system was the best one. He also concluded that the Sikh females were at the top in education.6 Nevertheless, he hardly highlighted the official supervision or contribution of the government in the educational uplift of the people of the Punjab. By this reason, the Punjabis could not establish any tradition of scholarship and research. Even no record like personal dairies, memoirs, revenue records, letters,or other unofficial documents can be presented as evidence that the people of the Punjab had been benefiting from this impressive system of education. To win over the Sikhs was a top priority for the Britishers who believed that the Deputy Commissioner of district Amritsar was an ambassador to the Sikh community whose military services were much valued by them. Major Short, Penderel Moon and others played impressive role in creating friendly atmosphere for the British and Sikhs to have cordial relations throughout the raj.
Muslim Point of View
One incident in history can be observed from different angles and communitarian approaches which, although contradictory, broaden the scope of the event. One happening in the British Punjab can be interpreted in the perspective of the Sikhs, Muslims, Hindus and the British. Most of the time, a specific incident remained conflicting or contradictory to the Muslims and Sikhs or to other communities. The political and educational reforms introduced by the ruling British, for example, were taken by the locals in the same zeal but resulted in the communalism, a dominating and pestering element in the political history of the Punjab. Therefore, the British have their own point of view while the Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims perceive the incidents in their respective perspectives. In Pakistan, A. B. Rajput, Muazaz Punjabi, S. M. Ikram, Khalid Bin Sayeed, Shariful Mujahid,Shaukat Hayat, Ikram Ali Malik, Dr. Qalb-i-Abid, Dr. Sarfraz Khawja, Syed Shabbir Hussain, Dr. Muhammad Azam Chaudhri, Imran Ali, Ch. Khaliquzaman, Ch. Muhammad Ali, Ashiq Hussain Batalvi, Syed Noor Ahmad,Jahanara Shahnawaz, Feroz Khan Noon, A Aziz, Isphahani and other writers of the freedom movement have marvelous contribution to the topic and projected mainly the Muslim point of view in their writings.
Indian Perspective
Nationalism moves writers whether under pressure or thinking it a national responsibility to defend their nation particularly the founding leadership and their struggle. Such Indian writers include Gurmit Singh, Hukam Singh,K. C. Gulati, A. S. Narang, Bhagwan Josh, Dr. J. S. Pakkar, J. S. Grewal, Mohinder Singh, H. S. Bhatia,Khushwant Singh, Harbans Singh, K. C. Yadav, Nina Puri, Anita Inder, B. R. Nanda, Ram Gopal, Abul Kalam,Azad, Kirpal Singh, Raghuvendra Tanwar, Prithipal Singh Kapur, Amrik Singh, Sohan Singh Josh, Ajit Singh Sarhaddi, Satya M. Rai, Dr. Padmasha, Ajit Javed, Master Tara Singh and the other eminent scholars who fulfilled the national duty to interpret the Punjab politics in the Indian or Sikh point of view. They have tried to reconcile the communal and nationalist character of the Akali and other Sikh leadership otherwise it is quite difficult to accept any community or nation simultaneously as communalist as well as nationalist.
British Point of View
Leonard Moseley, Campbell, Mansergh, Penderel Moon, Ian Talbot, David Gilmartin, H. V. Hodson, Francis Robinson, Wavell, David Page, H. L. O. Garrett, Barrier and many other writers produced scholarly work addressing the region and historical realities of the British services to the Indian communities and their response to the British in India. It is impossible to name all the authors and their work in this article because it would be a just catalogue that is already accessible to all everywhere in the world.The individual analysis of all such works would be burdensome here for the readers therefore this article confines to exploring the places in Pakistan where these sources are located.
The Punjab Archives, Lahore
The British government established the Punjab Archives in the building of the Anarkali’s Tomb within the vicinity of the Punjab Civil Secretariat, Lahore with abundant material such as the old manuscripts, British government record, official files, original manuscripts, Police Reports, Research Reports, departmental records,Punjab Assembly proceedings, record of Maharaja Ranjit Singh government, Mutiny record, etc. In the successive years, the Governor of the Punjab took personal interest in the affairs of the Punjab Archives that made possible to organize, arrange, classify and up-to-date the records department-wise and year-wise. The record is available in two languages, Persian and English. The Records on the Agencies like Ludhiana namely Ludhiana Agency Paper,1809- 1840, Papers on jagirs and darbars related to Chiefs of the Punjab, NWFP, Afghanistan, Nepal, etc. are available here in the Punjab Archives. It also contains the Departmental Records of the governments of the Punjab, Police records, Lahore durbar, Sikh Wars, and Revenue Files. Alphabetical list of the Punjabi villages,Civil and Criminal Files of the Punjab and NWFP, Newspapers with departmental comments, Mutiny Service,etc. are the valuable documents pertinent to the Muslim-Sikh relations. The record from 1808 to 1905 is mostly in the Persian language.After 1849, English got status of official language so all the affairs were reported and recorded in that language.These records pertain mainly to the Politics, Finance, Revenue, Public Health, Commerce and Industry, Local Self Government, Education, Chief Commissioner, Forest, Home, Home General, Police, etc, Home Judicial, and other departments. All these records date from 1809 to 1947 and then to 1952. But it does not mean that all the files mentioned above are available in a complete form rather the records of some Departments are terribly missing. A researcher may be glad to read out the catalogues provided by the Deputy Director but it is disappointing when the required material would not be provided by the personnel concerned because unfortunately this Archives lack the most important Records particularly pertaining to Sikhs, Muslim League, Unionists, and other components of the Freedom Movement in the Punjab. All the files are mentioned in the Index but in the shelves 98 per cent files are not available.The Files under the Government policy had been classified in THREE categories, A, B, and C. The A category
Record was in the published form; B category Files were in original form as official Record while the C category files were perishable and could be destroyed by the officials. Therefore, 99 per cent of the C category files were destroyed by the governments consciously and amazingly and woefully all these files pertain to the Pakistan Scheme, Sikh Question, Muslim League, Shiromani Akali Dal, Unionist Party, etc. Nevertheless, the Files on communal killings in 1946-47 are accessible. All these files were arranged by the Home and Home (Military) Departments. Through these sources, a researcher can have access to an accumulative material on the areas of communal representation, various Sikh sects and their sectarian politics, Qadiani affairs, different organizations of the region, Unionists, martial and non-martial classes, lingual issues, criminal tribes, partition scheme, agriculturists and non-agriculturists, administrative policies and the actions, party politics, Mutiny or War of Independence, etc. Despite the importance, all this is not impressive and attractive for the researcher who undertakes work on the Muslim-Sikh relationship from 1940 to 1947.Police Special Branch, Lahore has record of the personal files as History Sheets of the prominent political activists during the British rule but this material has not yet been declassified and the researchers are often discouraged to consult this record. The volumes of The Secret Police Abstracts of Intelligence, Punjab have been declassified and are available in the National Documentation Wing, Cabinet Division and National Institute of Historical and Cultural Research, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad. The reports are very important because the Police officers were supposed to report an accurate and original situation of the affairs of the political groups in the Punjab because the decision-making authorities were to take measures in the light of the factual position. So, the Police reports can help a lot in the analysis of the politics of the Punjab. The information was collected by the local police and sent daily to the Daily Situation Report (DSR) branch. The next process was to reconcile all data in a summary which was dispatched to the Governor who was bound to send it to the Viceroy who sent this report to the Secretary of State for India or British government. By this, all the segments of the British government from a local police station to the Westminster were updated about the situation of law and order in the province.(Continued…………..)
Author Dr. Akhtar Hussain Sandhu is a Associate Professor Department of History Govt. Islamia College Civil Lines Lahore and Tariq Hameed Bhatti is a Deputy Secretary Higher Education Department Lahore, Pakistan