L - Gurmat Veechar

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