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what can be the explanation? The explanation lies in the genesis<br />
of the rise and growth of Sikhism. It appears that Sikhism, apart<br />
from other things, also led to the revival of Punjabi nationalism.<br />
Possibly the Muslims themselves saw in the Sikh Gurus deliverers<br />
of the common man in Punjab and the Muslims certainly<br />
constituted the majority in Punjab.<br />
Well, this thought is not mine. Khushwant Singh was the<br />
first to articulate it. He was able to do so perhaps because he<br />
had much more intimate knowledge of the Muslim psyche in<br />
Punjab. The kind of interaction he had had with them in Lahore<br />
before Partition must have told him that all that the Muslims<br />
wanted was to be approached differently, which means on the<br />
basis of the universalism of the Sikh Gurus. The Hindus<br />
organising themselves as a nation and the Sikhs under the Akalis<br />
doing likewise and that too in a theocratic manner which means<br />
with the aim of cutting the Muslims to size, must have fmally<br />
driven them into the arms of Mr. Jinnah. And it happened<br />
because the British also wanted it to be so.<br />
Otherwise, Sir Sikandar Hayat Khan was no less a protector<br />
of the Hindus. It was he who not only banned the Khaksar<br />
movement in Punjab, but also brutally rained bullets on it,<br />
unmindful of how the Muslims in general might react. He<br />
defended the police action of invading the Bhatti Gate mosque<br />
in Lahore and killing the Khaksars inside it because they had<br />
taken refuge there by creating lawlessness through an engineered<br />
communal fracas. In fact, there are many more instances in which<br />
he acted as an utterly patriotic Punjabi, not caring for the<br />
consequences. Only one more example will suffice.<br />
During the later years of the Second World War, some Yanky<br />
soldiers who had forcibly lifted a girl of the Fateh Chand College,<br />
were killed right on the Nicholson Road in Lahore by some Hindu<br />
and Muslim college boys who were playing a hockey match in<br />
the University grounds at that time. There was great panic and<br />
consternation in the air. No one knew how the military authorities<br />
might react. The Defence of India Rules were still in force. But<br />
Sir Sikandar stood his ground manfully. He refused to take action<br />
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