Page 86 - Train to Pakistan

‘No, no. I just went round the servants’ quarters. You are early. I hope all is

well.’
‘These days one should be grateful for being alive. There is no peace
anywhere. One trouble after another …’
The magistrate suddenly thought of the corpses. ‘Did it rain in the night? How

is it going near the railway station?’
‘I went by this morning when the rain had just started. There wasn’t very

much left—just a big heap of ashes and bones. There are many skulls lying
about. I do not know what we can do about them. I have sent word to the
lambardar that no one is to be allowed near the bridge or the railway station.’
‘How many were there? Did you count?’

‘No, sir. The Sikh officer said there were more than a thousand. I think he just
calculated how many people could get into a bogie and multiplied it by the

number of bogies. He said that another four or five hundred must have been
killed on the roofs, on footboards and between buffers. They must have fallen
off when they were attacked. The roof was certainly covered with dried-up
blood.’

‘Harey Ram, Harey Ram. Fifteen hundred innocent people! What else is a
Kalyug? There is darkness over the land. This is only one spot on the frontier. I

suppose similar things are happening at other places. And now I believe our
people are doing the same. What about the Muslims in these villages?’
‘That is what I came to report, sir. Muslims of some villages have started

leaving for the refugee camps. Chundunnugger has been partly evacuated.
Pakistan army lorries with Baluchi and Pathan soldiers have been picking them
up whenever information has been brought. But the Mano Majra Muslims are

still there and this morning the lambardar reported the arrival of forty or fifty
Sikh refugees who had crossed the river by the ford at dawn. They are putting up
at the temple.’

‘Why were they allowed to stop?’ asked Hukum Chand sharply. ‘You know
very well the orders are that all incoming refugees must proceed to the camp at
Jullundur. This is serious. They may start the killing in Mano Majra.’

‘No, sir, the situation is well in hand up till now. These refugees have not lost
much in Pakistan and apparently no one molested them on the way. The
Muslims of Mano Majra have been bringing them food at the temple. If others