DefinePK

Abstract

Large-scale migration had taken place between the borders of Pakistan and India with the announcement of independence and transfer of power from the British colonial masters to two independent states in August 1947. This paper deals with the issues including what kind of problems were faced by Muslim women in the whole process of migration? What help and support had been extended to them by the women on Pakistani side to settle down in the new country? After giving background of partition, paper will mostly focus on the months from August 1947 to December 1947 during which most of the massacre, ethnic cleansing, rape and kidnapping of women had taken place. Communal civil war 1947 of the Punjab had proved to be one of the largest campaigns of ethnic cleansing in the world history. The horrible experiences of Muslim women included, besides bloodshed, thousands of incidents of rape, kidnapping, keeping women as hostages, forced conversion to Sikhism or Hinduism, killing and forced marriages. It was very hard to sooth the traumatic women but the settled women of West Punjab helped the migrated ones to settle down gradually. This paper has been produced on the basis of primary source material which includes the archives of the Pakistan Movement Workers Trust. Personal narratives of the female victims are the most important source of information to build the argument in this paper, which also enriches the living history of the Punjab partition. The newspapers, biographies and autobiographies of women workers and victims are other important source materials