<code>

Research Assistant Name [Family, Given]:

PUBLICATION INFORMATION
Title of Source Book: Jawaharlal Nehry Speeches Volume One September 1946 May 1949
Publishers City: Publications Division Ministy of Information and Broadcasting
Government of India
Publication Date [yyyy-mm-dd]:
Title of Source Website:
URL:
Date Retrieved on [yyyy-mm-dd]:

LEADER AND COUNTRY INFORMATION

Leaders Name [Family, Given]: Nehru, Jawaharlal
Country:
Political Office:
Political Party:

SPEECH/INTERVIEW INFORMATION
Title: THE TRAVAIL OF PARTITION
Date Delivered [yyyy-mm-dd]: 1947-08-19
Type of Text: Prepared-Speech
Scope of Audience: Large-Numbers
Circle of Audience: Own-Country

MISCELLANEOUS

Broadcast from New Delhi, August 19, 1947

</code>

0N THE 15th and 16th August, India celebrated the coming of independence; not only
India but Indians wherever they happened to be in this wide world. I have received
thousands of messages of greetings from abroad. They have come from representatives
of great nations, from famous men and from Indians from every remote corner of the
world. While I have been deeply moved by these messages from the leaders of other
countries welcoming India into the fellowship of free nations, nothing has affected
me more than the very touching messages from our countrymen overseas. Cut away from
their Motherland they have hungered for India's freedom even more perhaps than we
have, and the coming of this freedom has been a tremendous event in their lives.
May the New India always remember her children abroad who look to her with such
pride and affection and give them all the succour she can.
Nearly the whole of India celebrated the coming of independence, but not so the
unhappy land of the five rivers. In the Punjab, in both the east and the west,
there was disaster and sorrow. There was murder and arson and looting in many
places and streams of refugees poured out from one place to another.

One of the first tasks of our Government was to think of the Punjab and so I
hurried thither on the morning of the 17th, accompanied by my colleague, Sardar
Baldev Singh, the Defence Minister, and Mr. Liaquat Ali Khan, the Prime Minister of
Pakistan, and some of his colleagues. I want to tell you what we found there and
what we did there. There have been wild rumours enough and people's minds all over
India are naturally agitated, because whatever happens, the people of the Punjab,
whether they live to the east or to the
west, are our own kith and kin and anything that affects them affects us.
You must remember that till the 15th August there was a different regime in the
Punjab as a whole. The province was governed under Section 93 of the Government of
India Act. The change-over took place on the 15th and the new Provincial
Governments thus are only four days old. So also are the new Central Governments.
These Governments, Central or Provincial, are directly responsible only since the
15th August. The Provincial Governments of East and West Punjab had to face a
terrible crisis in the very hour of their birth, even before they had settled down
to work or had proper offices functioning.

The story of the disastrous happenings in the Punjab takes us back many months to
March of this year. One disaster has followed another, each producing its reaction
elsewhere. I am not going to narrate the story, nor am I going to apportion blame.
There has been sufficient murder and arson and crime of all descriptions in many
parts of the Punjab, and this fair province, so rich in promise, has suffered
untold agony during these months. It would serve little purpose to go into this
long story. We begin our new life from the 15th August.
Mr. Liaquat Ali Khan, Sardar Baldev Singh and I went to Ambala first and held a
conference there with Ministers of East and West Punjab and various civil and
military officers. We met also the leaders of various communities, notably the
Akali Sikh leaders, Master Tara Singh and Giani Kartar Singh. We went then to
Lahore and had a first-hand account of occurrences there and then to Amritsar.
In both Amritsar and Lahore we heard a ghastly tale and we saw thousands of
refugees, Hindu, Muslim and Sikh. There were some fires still burning in the cities
and reports of recent outrages reached us. We were all unanimously of opinion that
we must deal firmly with the situation as we found it and not enter into
acrimonious debate about the past, and that the situation demanded that crime must
be put an end to immediately at whatever cost.

The alternative was complete chaos and ruin for the land and for every community.
Anti-social elements were abroad, defying all authority and destroying the very
structure of society. Unless these elements were suppressed, to whatever community
they belonged, there was no freedom or even security for any person; and so all of
us who were present, whether we belonged to the two Central or the two Provincial
Governments or whether we were leading members of the various communities, pledged
ourselves to do our utmost to put an end to this orgy of murder and arson.
We have taken effective steps to this end, effective not only from the
administrative and military point of view, but what is even more important, from
the point of view of a popular approach to all our people. We have established
high- level committees of the two Provincial Governments of the Punjab and liaison
officers between the civil and the military authorities, so that there should be
the fullest amount of co-operation between the two Provincial Governments and the
military forces. We have pledged the Central Governments to help in this task.
Popular leaders have assured us of their fullest co-operation.

I am convinced that we shall deal with this situation effectively and that fairly
soon security will return to the Punjab, but that requires the utmost effort and
constant vigilance from all concerned, whether they are Government officers or
others. Each one of us who cares for his country must help in this business of
restoring peace and security.
In the past we have unfortunately had communal troubles on a large scale. They are
not going to be tolerated in the future. So far as the Government of India are
concerned, they will deal with any communal outbreak with the greatest firmness.
They will treat every Indian on an equal basis and try to secure for him all the
rights which he shares with others.
Our State is not a communal state but a democratic state in which every citizen has
equal rights. The Government is determined to protect these rights.

I have been assured by Mr. Liaquat Ali Khan that this is also the policy of the
Pakistan Government.
We have made arrangements for the transport of refugees from Lahore to Amritsar and
Amritsar to Lahore. They will be carried by railway trains and motor lorries and we
hope that very soon most of those who so want will be carried to their
destinations. We are further making arrangements for their proper accommodation and
food. The Government of India have sanctioned today a sum of Rs. 5 lakhs to the
East Punjab Government for the care of refugees. They have sanctioned a further sum
of Rs. 5 lakhs for the help of refugees who have come to Delhi and elsewhere. Our
Refugees Commissioner, Mr. Chandra, is proceeding immediately to Amritsar.
We are appointing a Deputy High Commissioner in Lahore to look after our interest
there, and more especially to look after the refugees who wish to come to East
Punjab. We hope to provide a number of tents to the East Punjab Government for
accommodating the refugees. In every way that is possible to us we shall help the
unfortunate sufferers in the Punjab. So far as Eastern Punjab is concerned, it is
our direct responsibility and we shall act accordingly.

While we shall give every help to those who wish to come to East Punjab, we would
not like to encourage mass migration of peoples across the new borders, for this
will involve tremendous misery for all concerned. We hope that very soon peace and
order will be established and people will have security to carry on their
avocations.
While we have done all this, ultimately the future depends on the co-operation we
receive from the people. It is with confident expectation of this co-operation that
we are proceeding and declaring with conviction that we shall settle this Punjab
problem soon. We can make no progress there or elsewhere in India if these horrible
disturbances continue. I appeal, therefore, to all people concerned to face this
task with firmness and courage and thus to demonstrate how Free India can handle a
difficult situation.

The Punjab problem is one of first priority with us and I propose to go there again
soon, or whenever needed. Because we seek the co-operation of the people, we must
also take them into our confidence. I have, therefore, spoken to you today and I
propose to do so again whenever necessity arises. Meanwhile, I hope that people
will not give credence to wild rumours which spread so easily and influence
people's opinions. The reality has been bad enough, but rumour makes it worse.
To those who have suffered during these dark days in the Punjab, our deepest
sympathy goes out. Many have lost their lives, many others have lost everything
else that they possessed. We cannot restore the dead, but those who are alive must
certainly receive aid from the State now, which should later rehabilitate them.