Hinduism in Pakistan - Hinduism and Independence

Hinduism and Independence

When Pakistan was formed in August 1947, over 8 million Hindus and Sikhs from what was East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and Pakistan's Punjab, Sindh and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwas were forced to leave this new state for India, and a similar number of Muslims chose the other way. The reasons for this incredible exodus was the heavily charged communal atmosphere in British India, deep distrust of each other, the brutality of violent mobs and the antagonism between the religious communities. The fact that over 1 million people lost their lives in the bloody violence of 1947, should attest to the fear and hate that filled the hearts of millions of Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs who had to leave ancestral homes during hastily after indepenedence.

Many Hindus who attained great success in the public eye in India, like the filmstars Dev Anand, Raj Kapoor, and Sunil Dutt trace their birthplaces and ancestral homes to the towns of Pakistan. Independent India's first Test cricket captain, Lala Amarnath hailed from Lahore, prime ministers I K Gujral and Manmohan Singh are also from the part of the Punjab which became part of Pakistan, and former deputy prime minister Lal Krishna Advani was born in Karachi. Nearly all of these individuals left their homes due to the violence and turmoil of independence.