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- Had the government published the number of casualties suffered by each religious group, it was entirely possible- given the environment of reprisals and revenge pervading the partition of the country- that communal rioting would only have increased or lasted longer than it already had. It was quite common to hear one community swear to avenge their own losses by murdering twice that many people of the opposing community- and this was simply on the basis of rumors. To give such numbers greater legitimacy by associating them with a government fact-finding mission could only have worsened this trend.<\/li>\n
- By reading Punjab High Court justice G.D. Khosla\u2019s version of the reports (published in 1949 as Stern Reckoning<\/em>), it becomes abundantly clear that both the Indian and Pakistan governments were implicated in not only the armed violence perpetuated between both communities, but the rape and abduction of women whom they would later vow to \u201crescue.\u201d Khosla\u2019s reports are replete with the misconduct of police and military personnel who, taking advantage of both their authority and the chaotic atmosphere in the Punjab, subjected young girls and women to horrific sexual violations. Social workers such as Anis Kidwai and Kamla Patel corroborate this allegation.<\/li>\n
- There is power in knowledge, particularly of the kind found in the Fact Finding reports. By keeping to itself the exact number of casualties (and even these are entirely arbitrary estimations), the Indian government could choose to use- or alter- these facts for political undertakings requiring public support. Veena Das argues that by deciding to actually publicize- to some extent- the number of abducted women of each community, the state could convey the magnitude of the problem, therefore justifying its response (Abducted Persons Act). Exceptional numbers justifies exceptional state power. <\/strong><\/a>The sheer amount of women to be saved not only portrayed the other community as one ruled by uncivilized passions, but allowed the state to construct itself as the only institution with enough power to confront this problem, therefore becoming the guarantor of order- an attribute political philosopher Max Weber has deemed necessary for any state seeking legitimacy.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
But though the Fact Finding Organization’s reports were never published, G.D. Khosla, the aforementioned Punjabi justice in charge of collecting these reports, did publish an account of the information he had thus gathered in\u00a0Stern Reckoning<\/em>. Interviewing liaison officers of the Military Evacuation Organization, as well as some of the thousands of refugees streaming into each newly formed nation, Khosla documents in great detail the riots, massacres, and abductions in each part of the Punjab, Sindh and the North West Frontier Province.<\/p>\n
This account is of great factual and historiographical use. It is the only detailed and public account of the unimaginable violence of the years 1946-7, and is perhaps most useful in its unconventional mix of objective and subjective perspectives. Khosla lists- almost detachedly- the instances of riots in most every major village in each province of the Punjab, noting the estimated number of deaths, financial and structural losses and abductions and rape of young girls and women. Yet Stern Reckonings<\/em> is unique in the obvious biases expressed by its author; the document is a product of its time, and carries the prejudices and social \u201cetiquette\u201d one might expect of a male, Hindu Indian government official witnessing the division of his country.<\/p>\n
The way in which Khosla documents the violence against women is especially notable.<\/p>\n
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![\"An](\"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/golz-2014-women-partition-india-pakistan\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/50\/2014\/07\/Screen-Shot-2014-07-31-at-12.28.08-AM-284x300.png\")
An estimated 100,00 Hindu, Sikh and Muslim women were abducted during Partition; only 25,000 were allegedly recovered<\/p><\/div>\n
In every village of the Punjab that Khosla reports upon, he notes, without fail, the rape, molestation, and abduction of Hindu and Sikh women. It is therefore clear that the silence that surrounds this subject in South Asian history is not due to a lack of truth or evidence. It would be macabre and insensitive, perhaps, to merely list the exact humiliations and types of violence that women were subjected to. But, in the same vein of thought as Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, \u201cSilence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.\u201d For this reason, under Victims: Evidence<\/strong>,<\/a> there are a selection of numbers and accounts of this violence. Turning our eyes away because of our own discomfort does no good- \u201cto forget a holocaust is to kill twice.\u201d<\/li>\n
- Though Khosla does not ignore the plight of women, there is a strong element of silence even within his reportage of their violation. Most abductions and rapes are mentioned at the end of a long list of other losses- particularly material and territorial loss. The abductions are stated in a matter-of-fact way, usually within a sentence and most often simply: \u201cMany young girls were abducted.\u201d Khosla does mention the abduction and conversion of Muslim women, but does so with an air of disbelief.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
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- Merely stating the violation of women, symbols of a community, is enough to raise the fury of the Hindus and Sikhs (or Muslims, respectively) \u2013 there is little more that Khosla has to say to convey this humiliation to his audience. Numbers alone are enough to foment the hatred between the communities of India and Pakistan.<\/li>\n
- Khosla, like most men of this time and place, understood the dishonor girls and women bore due to such violations. By foregoing the details and names of the few women he did interview, Khosla is exemplifying one of the most important reasons for the silence on violence against women: it is a shame for the woman<\/em>, one she can only hope to escape or ignore by hushing over her pain and memories. The newly independent India had no interest in reliving this \u201cscandal.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Despite the unprecedented scale upon which violence was waged between communities, and especially upon women, neither the Indian, Pakistani nor Bangladesh government have ever recognized this tragedy through a national monument or museum, lending to the aura of silence surrounding the subject. Nor did any government ever mount an official inquiry into the matter, making […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":138,"featured_media":0,"parent":77,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-79","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/golz-2014-women-partition-india-pakistan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/79","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/golz-2014-women-partition-india-pakistan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/golz-2014-women-partition-india-pakistan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/golz-2014-women-partition-india-pakistan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/138"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/golz-2014-women-partition-india-pakistan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/golz-2014-women-partition-india-pakistan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/79\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/golz-2014-women-partition-india-pakistan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/77"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/golz-2014-women-partition-india-pakistan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
- Though Khosla does not ignore the plight of women, there is a strong element of silence even within his reportage of their violation. Most abductions and rapes are mentioned at the end of a long list of other losses- particularly material and territorial loss. The abductions are stated in a matter-of-fact way, usually within a sentence and most often simply: \u201cMany young girls were abducted.\u201d Khosla does mention the abduction and conversion of Muslim women, but does so with an air of disbelief.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
- There is power in knowledge, particularly of the kind found in the Fact Finding reports. By keeping to itself the exact number of casualties (and even these are entirely arbitrary estimations), the Indian government could choose to use- or alter- these facts for political undertakings requiring public support. Veena Das argues that by deciding to actually publicize- to some extent- the number of abducted women of each community, the state could convey the magnitude of the problem, therefore justifying its response (Abducted Persons Act). Exceptional numbers justifies exceptional state power. <\/strong><\/a>The sheer amount of women to be saved not only portrayed the other community as one ruled by uncivilized passions, but allowed the state to construct itself as the only institution with enough power to confront this problem, therefore becoming the guarantor of order- an attribute political philosopher Max Weber has deemed necessary for any state seeking legitimacy.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n