Today, 73 years later, several facts related to India’s Independence and Partition may come as a surprise to many in the present generation, especially those who rely on WhatsApp forwards for knowledge. Such as that the India that became free on August 15, 1947 was about half the size of the subcontinent, with many chunky princely States joining the Union only in the following months or years. Or that for two full days even after Independence, people in many cities were clueless whether they would be a part of Pakistan or India because Lord Mountbatten released the map only on August 17. Or that the pillars demarcating the lines of Partition began to be laid out only later that year and that it wasn’t until 1986 that barbed fences began to be erected along the border with Pakistan.
These facts have faded; for the lay civilian, what shines today, loud and bright, is the border check-post between the villages of Attari (in India) and Wagah (in Pakistan), as the ultimate symbol of jingoism and of hostility with the neighbour. Until COVID-19 interfered, about 25,000 Indians and perhaps an equal number of Pakistanis gathered at this spot — about 40 km from Amritsar and popularly known as ‘Wagah border’ — every afternoon to witness the flag-lowering ceremony at sunset. The high kicks and the hard stamping of boots by the sentries from both sides make it one of the most dramatic rituals in the world, so much so that both countries are constructing new galleries to accommodate more spectators.
It wasn’t always like this. The high-profile check-post, located on the historic Grand Trunk Road, has had a humble beginning. It was established nearly two months after Partition by Brigadier Mohindar Singh Chopra on October 11, 1947. By then, he had already played another key role related to Partition: just months earlier, as a Lt. Colonel, he had been responsible for the conduct of the referendum in Sylhet. Even though not much is known about him to the general public, the Sikh officer — who was born in 1908 and died in 1990, after having retired from the Army as a Major-General — remains a key figure in the process of Partition.
His son Pushpindar Singh Chopra, who is now 78 and who inherited the personal diaries and records maintained by Maj. Gen. Chopra, told The Hindu: “The traffic on the Grand Trunk Road acquired a sombre character during mid-1947. The first tentative thousands of Punjabis moved to the east or to the west in a somewhat organised manner, but this flow rapidly became a torrent as August 15 loomed, and soon afterwards, lakhs of terrified refugees were using the G.T. Road to flee to the east or west. This continued for the next two months even as the Punjab Boundary Force and the Military Evacuation Organisation struggled to protect and evacuate the millions.”
That’s when the setting up of a check-post became imperative. “There was no marker or pillar to designate the exact spot where the GT Road left India and entered Pakistan. But there was the nominal boundary between the Lahore and Amritsar districts of the undivided Punjab. So it was here that my father, who was commanding the 123 Infantry Bridge Amritsar at the time, set up a joint check-post on October 11, 1947,” Mr. Chopra said.
“A few hastily whitewashed drums and rubble of stones were placed along the berms of the G.T. Road, marking the new international border. Some tents were pitched to house the few troops on duty (1 Dogra from the Indian Army and 4 Baluch from the opposite side). Two sentry boxes, painted in national colours of each country, were set up, separated by a small swing gate meant to regulate traffic. Two flag masts completed the picture. A small brass plaque installed there by my father to mark the event still happens to be in place,” he said.
Partition had turned out to be a personal loss for the officer as well. “Both my father’s and mother’s families lost their homes in Lahore and Murree,” said Mr. Chopra, who lives in New Delhi. “I was five at the time of Partition and have childhood memories of those days and would later hear stories from those traumatic times. But our family moved on and we kept the past as past.”
