If you read the papers recently, you will read that Sikh pilgrims from India had to apply for visas from Pakistan to visit the birthplace of Guru Nanak.
This is because the city of Nankana Sahib lies 85 km west of the border with India. It is in Pakistan.
Why did the Sikhs accept the Partition of Punjab into two? Who were their leaders in the negotiation with Lord Mountbatten? Why were they ineffective?
Why is it that most, if not all, partition books talk of the negotiations between Mountbatten and Gandhi, Nehru, and Jinnah? Why are the Sikhs left out of the narrative?
The Sikhs were loyal servants of the British Raj. They helped the British suppress the Indian Mutiny, mainly by Hindu and Muslim sepoys. Why did the British ‘abandon’ them?
In Borders and Conflict in South Asia by Lucy P. Chester (2023 paperback), she said, “The British claimed to be baffled by the Sikhs’ acceptance of the partition plan. Mountbatten publicly said, ‘…I was astounded to find that their plan divided their community into two almost equal parts’ (p. 17).
What is the truth?
LWH, 3 Nov 2025, 10 p.m.