Page 131 - Train to Pakistan

The lad glared angrily at Meet Singh. ‘What had the Sikhs and Hindus in
Pakistan done that they were butchered? Weren’t they innocent? Had the women
committed crimes for which they were ravished? Had the children committed

murder for which they were spiked in front of their parents?’
Meet Singh was subdued. The boy wanted to squash him further. ‘Why,

brother? Now speak and say what you want to.’
‘I am an old bhai; I could not lift my hands against anyone—fight in battle or
kill the killer. What bravery is there in killing unarmed innocent people? As for
women, you know that the last Guru, Gobind Singh, made it a part of a

baptismal oath that no Sikh was to touch the person of a Muslim woman. And
God alone knows how he suffered at the hands of the Mussulmans! They killed

all his four sons.’
‘Teach this sort of Sikhism to someone else,’ snapped the boy
contemptuously. ‘It is your sort of people who have been the curse of this
country. You quote the Guru about women; why don’t you tell us what he said

about the Mussulmans? “Only befriend the Turk when all other communities are
dead.” Is that correct?’

‘Yes,’ answered Meet Singh meekly, ‘but nobody is asking you to befriend
them. Besides, the Guru himself had Muslims in his army …’
‘And one of them stabbed him while he slept.’
Meet Singh felt uneasy.

‘One of them stabbed him while he slept,’ repeated the boy.
‘Yes … but there are bad ones and …’

‘Show me a good one.’
Meet Singh could not keep up with the repartee. He just looked down at his
feet. His silence was taken as an admission of defeat.

‘Let him be. He is an old bhai. Let him stick to his prayers,’ said many in a
chorus.
The speaker was appeased. He addressed the assembly again in pompous

tones. ‘Remember,’ he said like an oracle, ‘remember and never forget—a
Muslim knows no argument but the sword.’
The crowd murmured approval.

‘Is there anyone beloved of the Guru here? Anyone who wants to sacrifice his
life for the Sikh community? Anyone with courage?’ He hurled each sentence
like a challenge.

The villagers felt very uncomfortable. The harangue had made them angry and