The Association for Communal Harmony In Asia (ACHA), formed in the US in 1993, has initiated the campaign to empathise with and apologise to the victims and survivors of the 1947 Hindu-Muslim riots.
Its petition, launched on Aug 1, has been signed by hundreds of netizens and will be wrapped up at the end of this year. ACHA has as its members Indians, Pakistanis as well as Bangladeshis.
India, after it gained freedom from centuries-old British rule, was divided into two countries on the basis of religious affinities and Pakistan, a federation Muslim majority states, was born. Pakistan was later partitioned to form Bangladesh.
In the frenzy of communal violence, the petition says, around 15 million people were forced to leave their homes. Millions lost their lives. The horrific memories of mass murder, rape, pillage and suffering are unforgettable for the victims.
Sixty years since then, the wounds still ache and people have not been able to live with the rigors of the forced migration. What makes the healing more difficult is that the victims and perpetrators of the crimes were the same.
“The Partition in 1947 was perhaps the darkest period in the history of the region (sub-continent),” says Pritam K Rohila, executive director of ACHA.
Rohila, who was an eyewitness to the atrocities of the partition, feels that reconciliation begins when somebody accepts responsibility for the crime and “no one has so far accepted responsibility for these heinous crimes of 1947”.
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