Page 106 - Train to Pakistan

all suspiciously cunning. Surely Meet Singh was the one to answer questions
about the babu; some of the babu’s things were still with him in the gurdwara.

Meet Singh was pushed up to the front.
The head constable ignored Meet Singh and again addressed the group that
had been answering him. ‘I will speak to the bhai later,’ he said. ‘Can any one of

you say whether this man came to Mano Majra before or after the dacoity?’
This was another shock. What would an urban babu have to do with dacoity or
murder? Maybe it was not for money after all! No one was quite sure. Now they

were not sure of anything. The head constable dismissed the meeting with: ‘If
anyone has any authentic information about the moneylender’s murder or about
Sultana or about Mohammed Iqbal, report at the police station at once.’

The crowd broke into small groups, talking and gesticulating animatedly.
Meet Singh went up to the head constable who was getting his constables ready
to march back.

‘Sentry Sahib, the young man you arrested the other day is not a Mussulman.
He is a Sikh—Iqbal Singh.’
The head constable took no notice of him. He was busy writing something on

a piece of yellow paper. Meet Singh waited patiently.
‘Sentry Sahib,’ he started again as the other was folding the paper. The head

constable did not even look at him. He beckoned one of the constables and
handed him the paper saying:
‘Get a bicycle or a tonga and take this letter to the commandant of the
Pakistan military unit. Also tell him yourself that you have come from Mano

Majra and the situation is serious. He must send his trucks and soldiers to
evacuate the Muslims as early as possible. At once.’

‘Yes, sir,’ answered the constable clicking his heels.
‘Sentry Sahib,’ implored Meet Singh.
‘Sentry Sahib, Sentry Sahib, Sentry Sahib,’ repeated the head constable
angrily. ‘You have been eating my ears with your “Sentry Sahibs”. What do you

want?’
‘Iqbal Singh is a Sikh.’

‘Did you open the fly-buttons of his pants to see whether he was a Sikh or a
Mussulman? You are a simple bhai of a temple. Go and pray.’
The head constable took his place in front of the policemen standing in double

file.