The Second Migration: Displacement and Refugees from Rawalpindi during Partition

While the trauma in forced migration leaving one’s home remains an uncontested emotive domain, any experience of frequent movement suggests a better ability to resettle in a new place. This paper shows that through a history of frequent migration, a separate class among Punjabis emerged that was mobile, resourceful, and modern in its outlook. The commonsensical approach to resettlement, which they display after the Partition, is derived from such a mobile history. This article focuses on the last mass migration, before 1947, that took place in the late 19th century. Hindus and Sikhs from East Punjab had migrated to West Punjab (now Pakistan) following the British project of agrarian colonisation. These very migrants and their descendants were forced to migrate back to India with the creation of Muslim Pakistan in mid 20th century. In their actual and inherited memory, Partition was the second displacement they had experienced. ________________________________________________________________