Ammi Or Bebe
(A HEART TOUCHING EMOTIONAL STORY)
Bebe – (mother is called BeBe in Sikh Community)
Ammi – (mother is called Ammi in Muslim Community)
Disclaimer: This story was told to me by an Indian citizen and it’s not my own creation. It is based on folktales and some true events of a village in Punjab (India) during the partition of, India and Pakistan in 1947. The names of characters and places have been changed.
The year was 1947 when India was divided into pieces by the British. Western Pakistan and Eastern Pakistan (Bangladesh) had become separate entities, and the atmosphere was extremely hostile everywhere. Hindu-Muslim riots were rampant. Division or partition was not good for any community. The people who had been celebrating festivals and happiness together for so many years had now been sown with the seeds of hatred, and they thirsted for each other’s blood.
Hindus and Muslims were thirsting for each other’s blood. Muslims were prepared to kill Hindus on sight, and many people were leaving India for Pakistan, while others were coming from Pakistan to India. Many houses had been destroyed, and the eyes of the people were filled with sorrow, tears, and hatred.
To evict people from their homes overnight was the biggest crime, and this crime was happening against humanity. Trains from Pakistan were filled with the bodies of Muslims, and trains from India were carrying bodies to Pakistan. A horrific scene of looting and murder was unfolding all around. It was during this time that there was a village in Punjab’s Malwa region called Abdulapur. In this village, the Muslim families outnumbered the others. Hindus and Sikhs believed that since Muslims had now got their own country and had divided it, they should leave India and not a single Muslim should remain here.”
“To bring this incident to a conclusion, on the night of Friday, September 12, 1947, Hindus and Sikhs surrounded the entire village with a plan to eliminate the Muslims. In the evening, armed with swords, Khanda (a type of sword), and knives, they hid on all sides of the village. They had decided that as soon as the call to Azaan (Muslim prayer) would be heard, they would launch an attack on the Muslims from all directions. When the time came, as soon as the call to prayer was heard, they launched a fierce attack on the Muslims. The Muslims tried to flee, but their attempts were unsuccessful.
In that village, there was one affluent family named Jamal Uddin Siddiqi. They owned their own car, horses, and a mansion. Jamal Uddin Siddiqi, a tall and robust man of 6 feet 3 inches, joined the fight along with his servants. His wife’s name was Nafiza, and they had two children, Kabir and Saiyad. As the mob attacked their mansion, the servants of the mansion began to confront them. Jamal Uddin Siddiqi also got involved in the battle. Jamal Uddin Siddiqi and his servants managed to defeat 10 to 15 people, but the mob kept growing. Eventually, one by one, all his servants were killed. Jamal Uddin Siddiqi took Nafiza and both children with him and rushed towards his car. He quickly seated the children in the car and sped away.
The mob, armed with swords, had gathered at the mansion’s gate, but Jamal Uddin Siddiqi didn’t care. He drove his car over them and continued ahead.
But the mob had jumped onto his car, and the children’s eyes were filled with terror. People with blood-soaked swords were running towards the car from all sides. Nafiza held onto the children’s hands tightly. As the vehicle passed over a couple of people, someone managed to grab the car’s rear door, and it swung open. As a result, Nafiza fell out of the vehicle. Nafiza intentionally let go of the children’s hands. Kabir and Saiyad screamed, ‘Ammi!’
Until Jamal Uddin Siddiqi stopped the car and looked back, the car had moved about 15 to 20 meters away. Jamal Uddin Siddiqi turned around and saw that Nafiza was not in her seat; the children were crying out, ‘Abba! Ammi has fallen, Abba!’ (Abba means father)
Jamal Uddin Siddiqi’s face turned red with anger. He grabbed his revolver and was about to open the door when a man appeared at the car’s left window. Jamal Uddin Siddiqi immediately shot him. Due to Nafiza falling from the car, several people had stopped there. But as soon as they heard the gunshot, some people rushed towards the car at full speed. When Jamal Uddin Siddiqi saw that the mob was approaching him with swords, his children persuaded him not to get out of the car. They said, ‘Abbu, hurry, drive the car quickly.’
Jamal Uddin Siddiqi had no choice but to speed away to save the children as from a distance Nafiza was shouting “Save my children”. Tears flowed from Jamal Uddin’s eyes, and Kabir and Saiyad’s tears showed no sign of stopping. Jamal Uddin Siddiqi kept silently praying, ‘Ya Allah, have mercy. O my Lord, spare my wife’s life, save her. Later, I will come back for her.”
On the other hand, after falling from the car, Nafiza was sitting on the ground surrounded by people. Everyone had swords in their hands. A Sikh shouted, “Cut the neck of this Muslim woman, these people have killed our brothers and relatives, we will quench the thirst of our swords with her blood. Kill this Muslim.” Then came Balwinder Singh’s strong voice, “Stop everything.” Balwinder Singh was the leader of all the Sikhs. “We do not oppress women and children,” he said. We are not like those rioters who kill women and children. Our honorable Shree Gurus including their children and women had sacrificed their lives to save humanity, they have not killed anyone’s children or women” So one person in the crowd said, “If it is so, you keep her and marry her.” “Anyway, in these riots your whole family has been killed .” Everyone retreated, and Balwinder Singh walked towards the mansion with Nafiza.
Today the mansion was deserted, all the beauty had disappeared in front of Nafiza. She was crying bitterly, her house, family, children, everything was ruined. It was done. Her tears were not stopping.
Days passed, Nafiza was living her life in the darkness of sorrow and Balwinder Singh was living in the mansion as her husband to protect her as Balwinder Singh’s entire family was killed in the partition riots. Neither Nafiza considered him as her husband nor did Balwinder consider her as his wife. They were just spending their days together.
On the other hand, Jamal Uddin Siddiqui fled the car reached the police station, and pleaded to save his life. The police gave him protection and took him to the place named Attari near the border of India and Pakistan and explained that he should never think of turning towards India until the situation improves. The police inspector even said that by now Hindus and Sikhs must have killed his wife. But in his mind, he was not able to accept that anything had happened to his Nafiza, he felt that Nafiza was safe.
Time changed and a lot of time passed, Nafiza used to cook food for Balwinder Singh and do all the work that a wife does, but she was still sad at heart. One day the Quran (Muslim’s Holy Book) came into her hands and one thing was written in the verses of the Quran which shocked her heart. It was written in it that “The one who supports you in trouble or saves your life is equal to an angel of Allah (God).” She regretted her past days and fell crying at the feet of Balwinder Singh and requested him, “She wants to be his wife, and whatever has happened was written by fate. But now she wants to start a new life.
”Anand Karaj (the name of marriage in Sikh religion) marriage of Balwinder Singh and Nafiza took place in the Gurudwara (Temple of Sikh’s Guru). Now Nafiza’s new name had become Paramjeet Kaur after the marriage. Time passed and Paramjeet Kaur alias Nafiza gave birth to two children from Balwinder Singh. They named one Parminder Singh and the other Dilawar Singh.
After the partition, Jamal Uddin Siddiqui was very worried about his wife Nafiza. After a few months, he lodged a complaint with the police that his wife Nafiza had remained in India. Two years had passed till 1949, in the meanwhile many Muslim women were brought to Pakistan and many Hindu/Sikh women were brought to India. For several months he kept visiting the police station, but nothing was found.
In fact, at that time, after the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947, there were a lot of atrocities on women. These atrocities to the extent of cruelty to humanity took place both in India and Pakistan. Many women were abducted and forcibly married; women were also subjected to collective indecent behavior; many women committed suicide to save their lives and honor.
There was terrible violence in both India and Pakistan, many Hindu and Sikh people were killed, and in the fire of revenge, many Muslims were also killed. Approximately 75,000 to 1 lakh women were sexually exploited, murdered and raped. Such brutal atrocities on such a large number of women may have never been seen in history.
In September 1947, the then Prime Minister of India, Shri Jawaharlal Nehru, and the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Liaquat Ali, made an agreement that action should be taken to return home those women who were forcibly married according to Hindu or Muslim marriage traditions. The help of police, local people, and relatives of the women was taken in this work. Some social workers also came forward in this. The Punjab government supported a lot in this work. The non-Muslim women who were brought back home from Pakistan were kept in a refugee camp in the Jalandhar, district of India and similarly, a refugee camp was also set up in the Lahore district of Pakistan, In which the women were kept. By December 1949, about 6000 women were brought from Pakistan and about 12000 Muslim women from India were sent to Pakistan. Later, by 1952, this number had increased to approximately 9000 Indian women and 22,000 Muslim women. Many women who had married and established their own families and were not ready to move to another country were left behind.
In the midst of the Lahore refugee camp, Jamal Uddin Siddiqui was distressed, searching frantically. He inquired at government offices but found no leads. It had been six years since 1953 when Fateh Ali’s relatives said, ‘Look, sir! So many women have come from India to Pakistan, but Nafiza hasn’t arrived. If Nafiza didn’t die, she should have returned by now.’ Finally, after giving up, Jamal Uddin Siddiqui resolved to go to India, with his sons Kabir and Saiyad, for the sake of Bharat (India).
Meanwhile, Paramjeet Kaur’s elder son, Parminder Singh, had turned five, and the younger one, Dilawar Singh, was four years old. Paramjeet Kaur was leading a contented life with her husband Balwinder Singh and their two children. Little did she know that a storm was about to enter her life. Jamal Uddin Siddiqui, having discovered Nafiza’s whereabouts, reached the village of Abdulapur. The next morning, he arrived at their doorstep with the children.
Paramjeet Kaur alias Nafiza lost her senses after seeing her husband Jamal Uddin Siddiqui. He had no consciousness. His heart filled with happiness. Then his children Kabir and Syed shouted, “Mummy”. Seeing her husband and children, she could not stop herself and hugged them and started crying bitterly. Started hugging and kissing the children. Balwinder Singh and his two children Parminder Singh and Dilawar Singh stood stunned after seeing this scene.
Parminder asked his father Balwinder Singh who these people were. Balwinder Singh told his son, “These people are your mother’s real family and they were separated at the time of partition, today they have come from Pakistan after so many years.” Balwinder Singh went to Jamal Uddin Siddiqui and said, “My brother, this Nafiza is your trust.” Then Nafiza alias Paramjeet Kaur was told, “If you want, you can go to Pakistan with your husband.” Before Paramjeet Kaur could say anything, Jamal Uddin Siddiqui spoke, “My brother! Now that Nafiza’s family is settled, I cannot destroy her family.” I had come to see whether Nafiza was in this world or not, whether it was my misconception that I always thought that Nafiza was alive. Now I am relieved that he is happy and has a family.
“Unaware of all these events, Nafiza was simply gazing at her children, whom she had seen after so many years. She was showering Kabir and Saiyad with love and tears were streaming down her face. Jamal Uddin grabbed Kabir and Saiyad’s hands and began to turn back towards the Haveli (mansion). Nafiza, almost crawling on her knees, started following them.
Kabir and Saiyad also raised their hands and started calling out, ‘Ammi, Ammi!’ Then, Nafiza caught hold of Kabir and Saiyad, and, as she took a step forward, her pallu (veil) got pulled. When she turned around, she saw Parminder and Dilawar standing there, holding onto her pallu, crying and saying, ‘No, no, Bebe (mother)! Don’t leave us!’ ‘Who will take care of us without you?’ ‘No, don’t go, Bebe!’
Nafiza’s heart shattered like the sky. On one side of the Havel, Kabir and Saiyad were calling out to Ammi, while on the other side, Parminder and Dilawar were calling her ‘Bebe.’ She couldn’t bear the pain of losing anyone, and right there, with a deep breath, Nafiza, also known as Paramjeet Kaur, gave up her life and died.
Written by Tirthan Ryder
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