Her: On the Sindhi Hindu Exodus

[Inder_Kirpalani@RAILCOM.COM.AU]

Of course, I know of many Sindhi Hindus who did not leave, even though
they were living in cities such as Karachi, and they survive there to
this day.  But I also know the fear and terror they have had to live
with, particularly during and after the refugee influx towards the end
of 1947.

My father Late Diwan Issardas Kirpalani travelled to Bombay in
February 1947 for the surgery on one of his lungs which was badly
affected due to Tuberculosis. He stayed in J.J. Hospital Bombay upto
his discharge in October 1947. By then India was partitioned, and he
had to seek visa for him and my late mother Smt. Sushila Kirpalani
from Pakistan High Commission in Bombay. The records available with me
describe that they got visa for only one month to visit Hyderabad
Sindh as he was considered an Indian citizen by the new Government of
Pakistan.

Diwan Issardas was the only son of my grandfather Late Diwan Lekhraj
Kirpalani who was a feudal aristocrat of Hyderabad that owned lands at
Khorwah, Taluka (now District) Badin. He was a well established
landlord of early 1900s, who used to pay double water tax to colonial
government as he was permitted to develop additional exclusive water
course for his 1500 acres of land. As a young bachelor of well
established family Diwan Issardas went to Hong Kong in 1936, where he
established his import/export business which went into flames as a
result of Japanese invasion of HongKong. He returned back to Hyderabad
in 1946 after the end of War and married my late mother Smti. Sushila
Bai.

Going through my father's personal documents, which include court
papers of his two long battles with the government; one with respect
to his permanent residency in Sindh and other to get back his lands
which were declared evacuee property by the government; I find that it
was an uphill task for a man of frail health, who was deeply in love
with the land of his birth. In the course of these battles he was
harassed by immigration department police and hostile new bureaucracy,
but the truth eventually prevailed and Diwan Issardas' both claims
were decided in his favour, ironically after the Martial Law of Late
Field Marshal M. Ayub Khan in October 1958.

I am grateful to my both late parents who presented before me the
values of valour, persistency , truth and commitment in life for ones
land of birth; which at times may require personal sacrifice of
material and financial well being, control over the wounded ego, and
in the process even life itself. Diwan Issardas Kirpalani passed away
as a victorious proud man soon after defeating the government on both
counts, but he lost the war with life; being unable to cope the
pressure of court battles, re-emergence of old disease and ensuing
economic hardships.

The tune of violin always appeals to the listeners, but who really
knows the pain suffered by violin itself.


*****************************
Life is but our perception

Inder Kirpalani
Bathurst, Australia.