0:00:02 > 0:00:08This programme contains scenes which some viewers may find disturbing
0:00:08 > 0:00:11This is the Wagah border crossing between India and Pakistan.
0:00:11 > 0:00:13Every evening, the flags of these two great nations
0:00:13 > 0:00:17are lowered in a hugely popular display of national pride.
0:00:18 > 0:00:23But just 70 years ago, this border didn't even exist.
0:00:23 > 0:00:28In 1947, 200 years of British rule came to an abrupt end
0:00:28 > 0:00:30and this vast subcontinent
0:00:30 > 0:00:34was divided between an independent India
0:00:34 > 0:00:38and the new Muslim homeland of Pakistan.
0:00:39 > 0:00:41It was called Partition,
0:00:41 > 0:00:43but this British-led plan
0:00:43 > 0:00:48became one of the most catastrophic events of the 20th century.
0:00:48 > 0:00:52Across India, millions of Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs
0:00:52 > 0:00:57fled their homes in the largest forced migration ever recorded.
0:00:57 > 0:01:00Over a million people lost their lives
0:01:00 > 0:01:03in the chaos and violence of Partition
0:01:03 > 0:01:06and families like mine were torn apart.
0:01:08 > 0:01:12Many Partition survivors decided to rebuild their lives in Britain.
0:01:12 > 0:01:16And now, 70 years on, we, their children and their grandchildren,
0:01:16 > 0:01:20are going back to discover how Partition dramatically changed
0:01:20 > 0:01:22our family stories forever.
0:01:29 > 0:01:33Two years ago, I explored my family history on Who Do You Think You Are?
0:01:33 > 0:01:37What I learned about Partition was a turning point in my life.
0:01:37 > 0:01:40It's the most shocking, horrifying account
0:01:40 > 0:01:42of what humans are capable of.
0:01:43 > 0:01:45TEARFULLY: It's bonkers. I can't...
0:01:49 > 0:01:53The story I uncovered had a huge impact on me and on many viewers
0:01:53 > 0:01:55who contacted me afterwards,
0:01:55 > 0:01:56and I've made it my mission
0:01:56 > 0:02:01to complete the journey I started and to help other British families
0:02:01 > 0:02:03explore their own Partition stories.
0:02:07 > 0:02:10In this series, I and three other Britons
0:02:10 > 0:02:14from different religious backgrounds will be doing just that
0:02:14 > 0:02:17in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
0:02:17 > 0:02:19- What do you think, Mum?- Beautiful.
0:02:19 > 0:02:21It feels like we've stepped back in time.
0:02:21 > 0:02:25We'll be returning to the homes our families were forced to flee...
0:02:25 > 0:02:28- So, recognise it? - TEARFULLY:- Oh, my God...
0:02:28 > 0:02:31..and hearing first-hand from survivors.
0:02:31 > 0:02:33MAN WEEPS
0:02:33 > 0:02:36We saw dead bodies in the middle of the road, pavements.
0:02:36 > 0:02:40We come from all sides caught up in the violence -
0:02:40 > 0:02:44Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, and British Colonial.
0:02:44 > 0:02:4670 years on,
0:02:46 > 0:02:50this is our last chance to hear the truth about Partition
0:02:50 > 0:02:53from the people who lived through it.
0:02:53 > 0:02:56The flashback comes often.
0:02:56 > 0:02:59I feel God was very cruel to us.
0:03:05 > 0:03:10In the 1940s, the British Colonial population in India
0:03:10 > 0:03:12was 100,000 people.
0:03:12 > 0:03:17They ruled over more than 380 million Indians.
0:03:18 > 0:03:21But the Empire was on its last legs.
0:03:21 > 0:03:25India was on the verge of independence from British rule
0:03:25 > 0:03:27and the future of this vast country
0:03:27 > 0:03:32was being fiercely contested along religious lines.
0:03:32 > 0:03:34Muslim leaders wanted to create
0:03:34 > 0:03:37a new, independent homeland called Pakistan,
0:03:37 > 0:03:39while Hindu and Sikh politicians
0:03:39 > 0:03:42were desperate to keep India as one country.
0:03:44 > 0:03:49As religious violence gripped the nation, in August 1947,
0:03:49 > 0:03:52the British announced their solution.
0:03:52 > 0:03:56Partition would split the states of Punjab and Bengal
0:03:56 > 0:03:59to create East and West Pakistan.
0:03:59 > 0:04:02As Hindus and Sikhs fled to India
0:04:02 > 0:04:03and Muslims to Pakistan,
0:04:03 > 0:04:0715 million people became refugees.
0:04:07 > 0:04:11People who'd lived together for generations, ate the same food,
0:04:11 > 0:04:16spoke the same language, celebrated each other's religious festivals,
0:04:16 > 0:04:19were suddenly and violently split apart.
0:04:19 > 0:04:24Hindus and Sikhs on one side, and Muslims on the other.
0:04:24 > 0:04:2870 years on, many of their descendants, like me,
0:04:28 > 0:04:30now live in Britain.
0:04:30 > 0:04:34And our first story begins in Cheshire.
0:04:38 > 0:04:43Binita Kane is the daughter of a Hindu Partition survivor.
0:04:43 > 0:04:45A doctor, she lives with her husband, Mark,
0:04:45 > 0:04:48and their daughters, six-year-old Jasmine
0:04:48 > 0:04:50and four-year-old Maya.
0:04:50 > 0:04:53I am conscious that I have lived a very privileged life
0:04:53 > 0:04:55compared to my father.
0:04:55 > 0:04:59But it's something I'm absolutely grateful for every day.
0:05:03 > 0:05:06Binita's father, Professor Bim Bhowmick,
0:05:06 > 0:05:09lived through Partition as a child
0:05:09 > 0:05:12and came to Britain from India in 1969.
0:05:12 > 0:05:17Also a doctor, he lives with his wife, Aparna, in North Wales.
0:05:17 > 0:05:22In 2002, he was awarded an OBE for his services to medicine.
0:05:24 > 0:05:27I am 77 years old
0:05:27 > 0:05:31and I was born in a beautiful little village
0:05:31 > 0:05:36called Mandari Gram, in Bengal,
0:05:36 > 0:05:38which was part of India.
0:05:38 > 0:05:43I'm one of...ten children
0:05:43 > 0:05:44and I was...
0:05:46 > 0:05:48..number nine.
0:05:50 > 0:05:52My dad and I are really close.
0:05:52 > 0:05:57He's very warm-hearted, he's generous.
0:05:57 > 0:06:01He's very funny. When you think of everything that he's been through,
0:06:01 > 0:06:04some of the things he's achieved - getting his OBE -
0:06:04 > 0:06:06he has got an amazing character.
0:06:06 > 0:06:07- Hi.- Hello.
0:06:07 > 0:06:09Hello!
0:06:09 > 0:06:13Binita is... I call her almost "my heart".
0:06:13 > 0:06:16And she's so caring.
0:06:17 > 0:06:21Binita has agreed to become the first member of Bim's family
0:06:21 > 0:06:26to return to the village where he was born, in what is now Bangladesh.
0:06:27 > 0:06:29This is the refugee certificate.
0:06:29 > 0:06:32We had to keep it because this is the only evidence
0:06:32 > 0:06:38that we were a refugee. I'll write down the English names.
0:06:38 > 0:06:40When he was only six years old,
0:06:40 > 0:06:43Bim's village was attacked in one of the first outbreaks
0:06:43 > 0:06:45of Partition violence.
0:06:45 > 0:06:47His father, Jamini, led the family
0:06:47 > 0:06:50on a long and dangerous journey to safety.
0:06:52 > 0:06:54The other thing I got is this.
0:06:54 > 0:06:56We never had a photo of my father,
0:06:56 > 0:07:01so we asked an artist and he did an oil painting
0:07:01 > 0:07:02and every time I go home,
0:07:02 > 0:07:06I go to this picture and bow and I say,
0:07:06 > 0:07:08"Dad, you'll be proud of me."
0:07:09 > 0:07:12I think he's got some fears and some worries about me going.
0:07:12 > 0:07:14He's never been back.
0:07:14 > 0:07:17He's never had to confront,
0:07:17 > 0:07:18really, what happened.
0:07:18 > 0:07:21I'm really looking forward to going.
0:07:21 > 0:07:23I'll be fine.
0:07:27 > 0:07:31Mandy Duke is also planning to retrace
0:07:31 > 0:07:33her family's Partition history.
0:07:33 > 0:07:36She works as a carer in Winchester.
0:07:36 > 0:07:38I like to look after people.
0:07:38 > 0:07:41It's very satisfying when you come away from someone's house
0:07:41 > 0:07:43and you know you've helped them.
0:07:44 > 0:07:48Mandy's grandfather, Arthur Wise, was born in India.
0:07:48 > 0:07:51But after Partition, he brought his family back
0:07:51 > 0:07:53to start a new life in England.
0:07:53 > 0:07:55That's me being held by Grandpa.
0:07:55 > 0:07:57Loved Grandpa to bits.
0:07:57 > 0:08:00I miss him every day. He made me feel special...
0:08:00 > 0:08:02Sorry.
0:08:02 > 0:08:05This is really silly. I always feel like this when I think about him.
0:08:07 > 0:08:10Arthur Wise died in 1992.
0:08:10 > 0:08:13His eldest daughter, Mandy's Aunt Pamela,
0:08:13 > 0:08:15is 90 and lives in Surrey.
0:08:17 > 0:08:19Mandy was very fond of my father,
0:08:19 > 0:08:24but she never knew anything about our life in India,
0:08:24 > 0:08:28and so I think it will be quite a surprise for her,
0:08:28 > 0:08:31the things that happened out there.
0:08:31 > 0:08:33Hello, Mandy. Hello.
0:08:33 > 0:08:35Welcome to Owlwoods.
0:08:35 > 0:08:38- Good to see you.- Yes. Come this way.
0:08:41 > 0:08:46Mandy's grandfather, Arthur Wise, was a keen amateur film-maker.
0:08:46 > 0:08:49This film is taken over 70 years ago.
0:08:49 > 0:08:53This is 9 Harrington Street, which is our home in Calcutta.
0:08:53 > 0:08:55These are our servants.
0:08:55 > 0:08:57We had eight servants,
0:08:57 > 0:08:59Hindus AND Muslims.
0:08:59 > 0:09:02And here they're just playing around.
0:09:02 > 0:09:04It was a wonderful lifestyle.
0:09:04 > 0:09:05We wanted for nothing.
0:09:05 > 0:09:08This is my father playing in the garden.
0:09:08 > 0:09:10How did Grandpa end up in India?
0:09:10 > 0:09:13His family had been there for generations
0:09:13 > 0:09:16and he was a very successful businessman
0:09:16 > 0:09:18and very respected by everybody.
0:09:20 > 0:09:22This is bringing back memories, that's the thing,
0:09:22 > 0:09:24- while I'm looking at it. - Well, that's nice.
0:09:24 > 0:09:26I mean, this is what I want to know.
0:09:26 > 0:09:29I want to know what it was like. That looks such a happy time.
0:09:29 > 0:09:32It was a happy time, before all the trouble started.
0:09:34 > 0:09:36Well, I hope you have a wonderful time
0:09:36 > 0:09:39when you go out in the footsteps of the family!
0:09:39 > 0:09:41And I look forward to hearing about it.
0:09:41 > 0:09:43I'll come back and tell you all about it.
0:09:47 > 0:09:52Our third story belongs to 78-year-old Asad Ali Syed.
0:09:52 > 0:09:53During Partition,
0:09:53 > 0:09:57Asad fled India with his family for the new country of Pakistan.
0:09:59 > 0:10:03He moved to Britain in 1965 and now lives in Sheffield.
0:10:03 > 0:10:06I was born at Ambala in India.
0:10:06 > 0:10:09My father was a doctor
0:10:09 > 0:10:12and I can remember there were no worries at that time.
0:10:12 > 0:10:16I was a happy-go-lucky sort of child,
0:10:16 > 0:10:17you know what I mean!
0:10:20 > 0:10:24Asad has come to Manchester to visit his grandson Sameer
0:10:24 > 0:10:26and his young family.
0:10:28 > 0:10:30Assalamu Alaikum!
0:10:30 > 0:10:32THEY GREET EACH OTHER IN OWN LANGUAGE
0:10:34 > 0:10:36- Assalamu Alaikum!- Dada!
0:10:36 > 0:10:39Assalamu Alaikum.
0:10:39 > 0:10:43My grandfather doesn't really talk a lot about his childhood.
0:10:43 > 0:10:46- Assalamu Alaikum. - ALL GREET IN OWN LANGUAGE
0:10:46 > 0:10:48But the things he has mentioned to me,
0:10:48 > 0:10:50the things that he's seen,
0:10:50 > 0:10:53I can't imagine anybody going through that
0:10:53 > 0:10:58without having some kind of... trauma or damage.
0:11:01 > 0:11:04Asad was only seven when he and his Muslim family
0:11:04 > 0:11:09were forced to flee their home in the Indian town of Ambala.
0:11:09 > 0:11:13These are the only photographs that I have left from India, you know?
0:11:13 > 0:11:16Um, here's my father.
0:11:16 > 0:11:20- Gosh.- Yeah.- I've never seen this photo.- This is the surgery.
0:11:20 > 0:11:23- Oh, wow.- He practised at Ambala for 22 years, actually.
0:11:23 > 0:11:26- Yeah.- He was quite famous.
0:11:26 > 0:11:29- This is my picture. - That's you in the middle?
0:11:29 > 0:11:32I'm not even sure how old I was at that time.
0:11:32 > 0:11:35- Not more than three.- So, like, the same age as my daughter.
0:11:35 > 0:11:37Your daughter, younger daughter, yes.
0:11:40 > 0:11:41Sameer has never been to India
0:11:41 > 0:11:45and has agreed to travel there with his grandfather.
0:11:46 > 0:11:50The reason I want Sameer to go with me to Ambala
0:11:50 > 0:11:55is I want him to know the real story about my life,
0:11:55 > 0:11:57about Partition, because...
0:11:57 > 0:12:00HE SOBS
0:12:00 > 0:12:02..very difficult time.
0:12:05 > 0:12:08Asad, Sameer, Mandy and Binita
0:12:08 > 0:12:14are going back to explore their Partition stories and find the homes
0:12:14 > 0:12:18that their families were forced to flee 70 years ago.
0:12:20 > 0:12:24During Partition, Bengal was split to create East Pakistan,
0:12:24 > 0:12:28now the predominantly Muslim country of Bangladesh.
0:12:34 > 0:12:36Binita has come here to look for the village
0:12:36 > 0:12:41where her father Bim's Hindu family lived for generations.
0:12:43 > 0:12:47This is my first time in Bangladesh.
0:12:47 > 0:12:51It's amazing to be here where it all started.
0:12:54 > 0:12:58This is the first time that anyone from Binita's family
0:12:58 > 0:13:01has returned here since Partition.
0:13:02 > 0:13:06I've brought the refugee certificate that my dad gave me
0:13:06 > 0:13:08and translated for me.
0:13:08 > 0:13:11It has the address, so the district of Noakhali,
0:13:11 > 0:13:15and I'm heading towards the village of Mandari right now.
0:13:22 > 0:13:26Mandari lies in the heart of the rural province of Noakhali,
0:13:26 > 0:13:29several hours' journey from the nearest city.
0:13:30 > 0:13:34It's really, really remote.
0:13:35 > 0:13:38I remember Dad describing...
0:13:38 > 0:13:42his memories of this place as it felt like a paradise...
0:13:43 > 0:13:46..and a beautiful, beautiful place to live and I can really see that.
0:13:52 > 0:13:56- BIM:- Mandari was a beautiful, tranquil village...
0:13:58 > 0:14:01..away from the spoils of the city and the din and bustle.
0:14:03 > 0:14:06You are living carefree, happy.
0:14:06 > 0:14:08Nothing else touches you.
0:14:08 > 0:14:12We never heard any radio or newspaper,
0:14:12 > 0:14:15anything, came ever to the home.
0:14:15 > 0:14:1770 years after Partition,
0:14:17 > 0:14:22Hindu visitors like Binita are still rare in Mandari.
0:14:22 > 0:14:25Thank you. We seem to have attracted rather a crowd of locals,
0:14:25 > 0:14:28who seem very interested in what's going on.
0:14:29 > 0:14:31Hello. Say hello.
0:14:34 > 0:14:39Er, Binita. My father was born here 77 years ago.
0:14:42 > 0:14:43Yes. I am.
0:14:43 > 0:14:46And I've never been here. This is my first time.
0:14:48 > 0:14:50SHE CHUCKLES
0:14:50 > 0:14:52Maybe!
0:14:55 > 0:14:59Aww, thank you. Thank you, it's really amazing to be here.
0:14:59 > 0:15:01OK, everybody.
0:15:01 > 0:15:06- BIM:- We were the only Hindu family in that village.
0:15:06 > 0:15:10My father, Jamini Mohan Bhowmick, he was a landowner...
0:15:12 > 0:15:15..and he always employed the local Muslims
0:15:15 > 0:15:19and used to arrange the entertainment in the evening.
0:15:19 > 0:15:22Everybody say after me, "Hello, Jasmine!"
0:15:22 > 0:15:24He used to play Bengali songs
0:15:24 > 0:15:26and the villagers will come
0:15:26 > 0:15:29and everybody is nodding their head and enjoying themselves.
0:15:31 > 0:15:33There was a very pleasant atmosphere.
0:15:36 > 0:15:42Never heard any hard words or anti-Hindu feelings whatsoever.
0:15:46 > 0:15:50Mohammed Kanchan, a local Muslim, has lived in Mandari all his life
0:15:50 > 0:15:53and is one of the oldest men in the village.
0:15:53 > 0:15:55Assalamu Alaikum.
0:15:55 > 0:15:56Wa alaikum assalam.
0:15:56 > 0:15:59So nice to meet you.
0:16:02 > 0:16:04My father was from this village.
0:16:04 > 0:16:07His father was Jamini Mohan Bhowmick.
0:16:07 > 0:16:09Did you know my family?
0:16:13 > 0:16:14Wow.
0:16:30 > 0:16:34So, you used to put the sweets in here
0:16:34 > 0:16:36and take them home, like that?
0:16:36 > 0:16:37OK.
0:16:47 > 0:16:54My father told me that Jamini Mohan had some land in this area?
0:16:59 > 0:17:01All of that land there, wow.
0:17:27 > 0:17:29Mr Kanchan has brought Binita
0:17:29 > 0:17:33to the house where her father Bim was born.
0:17:33 > 0:17:37The family that own it now have agreed that she can look around.
0:17:39 > 0:17:40Wow.
0:17:45 > 0:17:46Oh...
0:17:49 > 0:17:53It's just hard to believe my grandma could have given birth
0:17:53 > 0:17:56to ten children somewhere like this...
0:17:57 > 0:17:58..70 years ago.
0:18:03 > 0:18:05Corrugated iron.
0:18:06 > 0:18:11And my dad was born in this room and this is where he lived as a child.
0:18:11 > 0:18:15Somewhere where my family were obviously very happy at one time.
0:18:15 > 0:18:16But, at the same time,
0:18:16 > 0:18:20it's the house that they had to flee from in terror.
0:18:25 > 0:18:28The first outbreak of Partition violence
0:18:28 > 0:18:32occurred in the summer of 1946 in Calcutta.
0:18:33 > 0:18:36Reports of atrocities against Muslims
0:18:36 > 0:18:40spread throughout Bengal, and in Noakhali district,
0:18:40 > 0:18:44roaming gangs of armed Muslims began a campaign of terror
0:18:44 > 0:18:46against Hindus.
0:18:46 > 0:18:49On the 10th of October, the peace and harmony of Mandari
0:18:49 > 0:18:53was shattered as a mob arrived in the village
0:18:53 > 0:18:56to attack Jamini Bhowmick and his young family.
0:18:56 > 0:18:59DOGS BARKING
0:18:59 > 0:19:02You could hear the dogs howling,
0:19:02 > 0:19:04which, in our mythology,
0:19:04 > 0:19:06signs of bad omen.
0:19:08 > 0:19:09We went to bed as usual.
0:19:11 > 0:19:15We were sleeping, we didn't know anything.
0:19:15 > 0:19:18Suddenly, Mum came to our room
0:19:18 > 0:19:20and said, "Shush, just run."
0:19:22 > 0:19:26We could hear the shout, "Allahu Akbar".
0:19:26 > 0:19:30We could see smoke coming out from the next village.
0:19:30 > 0:19:32Somebody's house must be on fire.
0:19:32 > 0:19:35It's probably another Hindu family.
0:19:35 > 0:19:39And then we are down in the field and hide.
0:19:44 > 0:19:47You could see the fear. Everybody's trembling.
0:19:52 > 0:19:55After about an hour, we could hear my father coming
0:19:55 > 0:19:59and my father said, "They will come again tonight."
0:19:59 > 0:20:03We just thought the noose is very, very tight.
0:20:03 > 0:20:05You can't go anywhere
0:20:05 > 0:20:07and you'll be dead.
0:20:10 > 0:20:12I was six years old,
0:20:12 > 0:20:14very close to my father.
0:20:14 > 0:20:16To see him...
0:20:16 > 0:20:20That he can't do anything for us.
0:20:20 > 0:20:21We are trapped.
0:20:23 > 0:20:24Totally trapped.
0:20:31 > 0:20:33I've heard my dad tell me that story before,
0:20:33 > 0:20:38but it didn't really make any sense back then.
0:20:38 > 0:20:41And now it's very tangible, it's very real,
0:20:41 > 0:20:44sitting looking out over my grandad's land.
0:20:45 > 0:20:50How he got them out of here, I just don't know.
0:20:57 > 0:21:00250 miles west of Mandari,
0:21:00 > 0:21:02across the Indian border, lies Kolkata,
0:21:02 > 0:21:05formerly the capital of British India.
0:21:09 > 0:21:12Mandy has arrived in the city where her grandfather, Arthur Wise,
0:21:12 > 0:21:15and his family used to live before Partition.
0:21:16 > 0:21:18The driving's scary as hell.
0:21:18 > 0:21:21All the buses and cars all seem to have dents and scrapes in them.
0:21:21 > 0:21:23You can see the difference...
0:21:23 > 0:21:25Oh, crumbs.
0:21:25 > 0:21:28This is Mandy's first trip to India.
0:21:28 > 0:21:31Oh, wow. Goats walking along the high street
0:21:31 > 0:21:33as if it's perfectly normal.
0:21:33 > 0:21:35Beautiful buildings.
0:21:35 > 0:21:39You can see that that must have been wonderful in its day,
0:21:39 > 0:21:41but it's got a little bit dilapidated.
0:21:43 > 0:21:47In the 1940s, Calcutta was a thriving business centre
0:21:47 > 0:21:51where many of the wealthiest British families lived.
0:21:51 > 0:21:55Mandy is searching for the house where her Aunt Pamela grew up.
0:21:55 > 0:21:58We lived in Harrington Street.
0:21:58 > 0:22:00It was a lovely house with big rooms,
0:22:00 > 0:22:05a wonderful veranda where we used to take tea.
0:22:08 > 0:22:10Local historian Dr Jayanta Sengupta
0:22:10 > 0:22:13has agreed to help Mandy with her search.
0:22:13 > 0:22:16- Hello, Mandy.- Hello, Jayanta. - Good morning.- Good to meet you.
0:22:16 > 0:22:20This is the exact location where your family house was.
0:22:20 > 0:22:23- Unfortunately... - Oh, right.
0:22:23 > 0:22:25It's a shame.
0:22:25 > 0:22:27The house was demolished a couple of decades ago.
0:22:27 > 0:22:31This garden in the front is the only part of the house that remains.
0:22:31 > 0:22:34I've seen cinefilms of my family in that garden.
0:22:36 > 0:22:40My mother and father did entertain quite a lot.
0:22:40 > 0:22:45Food was always served on silver salvers with crystal glasses.
0:22:45 > 0:22:47The best of everything.
0:22:49 > 0:22:51It was a wonderful life, actually.
0:22:53 > 0:22:55What I've seen of the films,
0:22:55 > 0:22:59they looked incredibly happy here, and they looked very settled.
0:22:59 > 0:23:00Yeah, why wouldn't they be?
0:23:00 > 0:23:03They had an incredibly comfortable lifestyle here.
0:23:03 > 0:23:06Your grandfather managed an American oil company
0:23:06 > 0:23:09- and your grandfather is right here...- Yeah, I can see him.
0:23:09 > 0:23:12- ..with the garland.- There's a lot of staff there, isn't there?- Yes.
0:23:12 > 0:23:13It just looks like a big family photo
0:23:13 > 0:23:16- with three white men in the middle of it.- That's right.
0:23:16 > 0:23:20They had lived in this safe and secure bubble for so many years.
0:23:20 > 0:23:24But this is the time when that bubble burst.
0:23:26 > 0:23:28After 200 years of British rule,
0:23:28 > 0:23:33the calls for Indian independence had become impossible to ignore.
0:23:33 > 0:23:37By 1946, Mahatma Gandhi's Quit India campaign
0:23:37 > 0:23:40had widespread support throughout the country,
0:23:40 > 0:23:42particularly in Calcutta.
0:23:46 > 0:23:48I was cycling down one day.
0:23:48 > 0:23:52Out of the blue, an Indian man pushed me off my bike
0:23:52 > 0:23:55in the heavy traffic and shouted at me, "Quit India!"
0:23:55 > 0:23:58It was a miracle I wasn't run over.
0:23:59 > 0:24:05When my father came home in the evening and saw me cut and bruised,
0:24:05 > 0:24:08he said, "If this is what's going to happen in India,
0:24:08 > 0:24:10"you'll have to make plans to leave."
0:24:10 > 0:24:14It wasn't safe to stay any longer.
0:24:14 > 0:24:17Shocked by the attack on his eldest daughter,
0:24:17 > 0:24:20Arthur Wise sent his family back to Britain.
0:24:20 > 0:24:24But he stayed on in Calcutta, where he'd been elected leader
0:24:24 > 0:24:28of the European group on the City Council.
0:24:28 > 0:24:32My father was really not happy about the Partition.
0:24:32 > 0:24:36He knew that it would be terrible between Muslims and Hindus
0:24:36 > 0:24:39and he decided that if he could better the life
0:24:39 > 0:24:42of people in Calcutta, he would do so.
0:24:45 > 0:24:48Jayanta has brought Mandy to the council chamber,
0:24:48 > 0:24:50where in the build-up to Partition,
0:24:50 > 0:24:54tensions were rising between Muslim and Hindu councillors
0:24:54 > 0:24:57over which country Calcutta would belong to.
0:24:57 > 0:24:59So...
0:24:59 > 0:25:02- Wow!- This is the...
0:25:02 > 0:25:06council chamber of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation.
0:25:06 > 0:25:09It's just amazing. It's absolutely stunning.
0:25:09 > 0:25:13Your grandfather was a key member of this council
0:25:13 > 0:25:18- for four years...- Really?- ..1944 to '48.- Wow. I didn't know that.
0:25:18 > 0:25:20The most turbulent years in the city's history.
0:25:20 > 0:25:23Bengal being a Muslim-majority state
0:25:23 > 0:25:26had a real chance of going over to Pakistan.
0:25:26 > 0:25:29This was the scene of very heated arguments
0:25:29 > 0:25:32and some fist-fighting between Muslim members and Hindu members
0:25:32 > 0:25:34over the future of Calcutta.
0:25:34 > 0:25:38- And so we have a speech here from your grandfather.- Thank you.
0:25:40 > 0:25:42OK, there he is. Councillor AA Wise.
0:25:42 > 0:25:45"This evening's meeting is a disgraceful exhibition
0:25:45 > 0:25:48"of the conduct of some of our city's representatives."
0:25:48 > 0:25:50- Oh, he's angry.- Yes.
0:25:50 > 0:25:54"It was up to them to object in a constitutional manner
0:25:54 > 0:25:57"and not express themselves in such a violent manner."
0:25:57 > 0:26:00That so sounds like Grandpa, telling him to wind it in.
0:26:00 > 0:26:01- Doesn't it?- Yeah.
0:26:01 > 0:26:04"We must not lose our hopes,
0:26:04 > 0:26:07"but rather bring about a better understanding
0:26:07 > 0:26:10"between our fellow councillors." So, he's a peacemaker.
0:26:10 > 0:26:13Yes. Most of the British, when they saw trouble,
0:26:13 > 0:26:16they would pack up and leave, but not your grandfather.
0:26:16 > 0:26:19- He tried to mediate as a voice of peace.- It's really amazing.
0:26:19 > 0:26:21I never realised he was part of this at all.
0:26:21 > 0:26:23He never talked about it.
0:26:23 > 0:26:26I knew he lived in India, I knew he was born in India,
0:26:26 > 0:26:30but I had no idea he was actually part of trying to keep the peace.
0:26:31 > 0:26:33It was great to find out that Grandpa
0:26:33 > 0:26:35is actually in a piece of history and written down on paper
0:26:35 > 0:26:39that he wanted things to go smoothly, without violence.
0:26:39 > 0:26:42And he had the guts to say how he felt.
0:26:45 > 0:26:47After all, this was his home.
0:26:47 > 0:26:50He'd never known any other, and he didn't want to just walk away.
0:26:57 > 0:27:01As the end of British rule approached, 1,000 miles to the west,
0:27:01 > 0:27:04the Punjab was also becoming a flash point
0:27:04 > 0:27:07in the dispute over where the line of Partition should fall.
0:27:10 > 0:27:15Asad and his grandson Sameer, two Britons with Pakistani heritage,
0:27:15 > 0:27:17have arrived in India.
0:27:19 > 0:27:22They've come to the Punjabi town of Ambala
0:27:22 > 0:27:26where Asad was born 78 years ago.
0:27:26 > 0:27:28It has changed a great deal.
0:27:28 > 0:27:31- There are shops everywhere now. - Yeah.
0:27:31 > 0:27:34It was just empty roads, you know?
0:27:34 > 0:27:37During Partition, the threat of attack by Hindu and Sikh mobs
0:27:37 > 0:27:41forced Asad and his family to flee Ambala for Pakistan.
0:27:41 > 0:27:43And 70 years on,
0:27:43 > 0:27:48he's come back with Sameer to try and find his old family house.
0:27:50 > 0:27:54- That end building, does that mean anything? No?- Not in the least.
0:27:56 > 0:27:59- It must be so weird for you. - It is strange.
0:27:59 > 0:28:04I just can't believe that this is the place where I was born, Ambala.
0:28:04 > 0:28:06Oh.
0:28:06 > 0:28:12In 2013, I was diagnosed with prostate cancer.
0:28:12 > 0:28:15Because cancer has gone into my bones now,
0:28:15 > 0:28:21this is the last chance for me to go to India and see my birthplace.
0:28:28 > 0:28:31Asad's father, Hamid Ali Syed,
0:28:31 > 0:28:35was a well-known doctor in Ambala before Partition.
0:28:35 > 0:28:38Hindus and Sikhs and Christians and Muslims,
0:28:38 > 0:28:40all patients, they would come to him.
0:28:40 > 0:28:44Father had his surgery on the first floor.
0:28:44 > 0:28:46We used to live on the second floor
0:28:46 > 0:28:49and we had everything, by the grace of God.
0:28:49 > 0:28:52All the luxuries that we could think of, you know?
0:28:55 > 0:28:57Did you have a balcony?
0:28:57 > 0:28:59- Yeah.- That has a balcony.
0:28:59 > 0:29:01- Has it?- Yes. Let's have a look.
0:29:07 > 0:29:08So, recognise it?
0:29:10 > 0:29:12That was a very beautiful house.
0:29:12 > 0:29:14Everything has changed.
0:29:14 > 0:29:19From here to there, I think, it was our house.
0:29:19 > 0:29:22- VOICE BREAKING:- And we used to live in that...
0:29:23 > 0:29:25Oh, my God...
0:29:25 > 0:29:27HE SOBS
0:29:27 > 0:29:29Oh, Sameer...
0:29:34 > 0:29:39Asad's old house is now owned by a Hindu doctor and his family.
0:29:39 > 0:29:43They've agreed to let Asad and Sameer have a look around.
0:29:43 > 0:29:44Thank you.
0:29:46 > 0:29:49Go have a look. Your old house.
0:29:49 > 0:29:52The property is now used for storage.
0:29:59 > 0:30:02- This is the room where I was born. - In this room?
0:30:02 > 0:30:04- In this room, yeah.- Wow.
0:30:12 > 0:30:14I remember these pillars.
0:30:15 > 0:30:18I used to feel they were huge.
0:30:18 > 0:30:20They look so small now.
0:30:20 > 0:30:24- The children's bedroom used to be on that side.- Right.
0:30:28 > 0:30:29Tired?
0:30:34 > 0:30:37I didn't expect it to be in such a bad state.
0:30:37 > 0:30:42I expected someone to be living here and I think that's what he expected,
0:30:42 > 0:30:45as well, which is why it's such a massive shock to him.
0:30:45 > 0:30:48I'm really glad he's got someone from the family to support him
0:30:48 > 0:30:51because, you know, he needs it right now.
0:30:52 > 0:30:57It used to be such a beautiful house with those lovely balconies.
0:30:57 > 0:31:01And now it looks like a ruin, you see?
0:31:01 > 0:31:05I can't help crying, you know...
0:31:05 > 0:31:08This is not my country, this is not my house.
0:31:08 > 0:31:10- CRYING:- I don't belong here.
0:31:10 > 0:31:12Sameer...
0:31:12 > 0:31:14HE SOBS
0:31:22 > 0:31:26Before Partition, Muslims like Asad and his family
0:31:26 > 0:31:29made up almost 60% of Punjab's population.
0:31:29 > 0:31:34And the largest Islamic political party, the Muslim League,
0:31:34 > 0:31:39wanted the entire state to be included in the new Pakistan.
0:31:41 > 0:31:45My father was an active member of Muslim League at Ambala.
0:31:45 > 0:31:48I used to go to these demonstrations.
0:31:48 > 0:31:50I had a little flag of Pakistan.
0:31:50 > 0:31:52I was carrying the flag, you know,
0:31:52 > 0:31:55and I was shouting, "Pakistan Zindabad! Long live Pakistan!"
0:31:59 > 0:32:02On the 14th of August, 1947,
0:32:02 > 0:32:05the new nation of Pakistan was born.
0:32:05 > 0:32:10All the Muslims were very, very happy and we were celebrating.
0:32:10 > 0:32:12We were distributing sweets, you know?
0:32:12 > 0:32:14Embracing each other.
0:32:14 > 0:32:17Everybody was very, very happy.
0:32:17 > 0:32:22But the border between India and Pakistan still hadn't been agreed.
0:32:22 > 0:32:25As both sides staked their claim to the Punjab,
0:32:25 > 0:32:29no-one had any idea which country their home town would belong to
0:32:29 > 0:32:33after Partition, and this transformed places like Ambala
0:32:33 > 0:32:38into tinder boxes of religious tension, just waiting for a spark.
0:32:38 > 0:32:41Three days later, on the 17th of August,
0:32:41 > 0:32:45the British finally announced the line of Partition
0:32:45 > 0:32:49and Ambala fell on the Indian side of the border.
0:32:51 > 0:32:56I could see my father's face that he was really worried about the family.
0:32:56 > 0:32:58What's going to happen?
0:33:01 > 0:33:03So that's when he decided
0:33:03 > 0:33:07that he will have to go by train to Pakistan to set up a new life.
0:33:11 > 0:33:14Balbir Chan is an 81-year-old local Sikh
0:33:14 > 0:33:17and a former patient of Asad's father, Dr Syed.
0:33:17 > 0:33:20THEY GREET EACH OTHER IN OWN LANGUAGE
0:33:23 > 0:33:26He remembers the family's departure from Ambala.
0:33:51 > 0:33:54- On the front of the building? - On the front of the building.
0:33:54 > 0:33:56Yes, I know. Yes.
0:34:13 > 0:34:14Oh, wow.
0:34:18 > 0:34:20Wow.
0:34:21 > 0:34:22Yeah, yeah.
0:34:27 > 0:34:30That was quite a harsh thing to hear.
0:34:30 > 0:34:36It shows how much the Partition changed people's mentality.
0:34:36 > 0:34:40You grow up having so much faith and trust in your family doctor
0:34:40 > 0:34:44and then he expresses his political views
0:34:44 > 0:34:47and all of a sudden you want to kill him.
0:34:47 > 0:34:50That's what happened in the Partition,
0:34:50 > 0:34:53that's what it made people become.
0:34:53 > 0:34:55I can't understand it.
0:34:55 > 0:34:59It doesn't compute in my head how you get from that to that.
0:35:01 > 0:35:05As Asad and Sameer discover the dangers their Muslim family faced
0:35:05 > 0:35:07in India during Partition,
0:35:07 > 0:35:12in Bangladesh, Binita is in the remote village of Mandari,
0:35:12 > 0:35:16where her Hindu father Bim and his family were terrorised
0:35:16 > 0:35:19by a Muslim mob from outside the village.
0:35:21 > 0:35:24SINGING
0:35:25 > 0:35:28She's come to meet one of the few surviving Hindu families
0:35:28 > 0:35:30left in the area from that time.
0:35:38 > 0:35:40ALL ULULATE
0:35:49 > 0:35:52Ray Mohangal is 90 years old
0:35:52 > 0:35:55and was a good friend of Binita's grandfather.
0:35:59 > 0:36:02HE SOBS
0:36:03 > 0:36:06HE SPEAKS TEARFULLY IN OWN LANGUAGE
0:36:18 > 0:36:19So, you knew my family?
0:36:19 > 0:36:22One of those small boys would have been my father, Bimal.
0:36:22 > 0:36:24Did you know Bimal?
0:36:35 > 0:36:40Can you tell me what happened when the riots started?
0:36:46 > 0:36:49Why were you scared? What was happening?
0:36:58 > 0:37:02So, you lost 16 people in one house?
0:37:28 > 0:37:31And how did you manage to stay here?
0:37:39 > 0:37:41I know it was probably quite painful
0:37:41 > 0:37:43to talk about some of those memories,
0:37:43 > 0:37:48but we didn't even know if any of my family's friends were still alive,
0:37:48 > 0:37:51so it's just amazing to see you.
0:37:58 > 0:38:00Thank you.
0:38:00 > 0:38:03ALL PLAY MUSIC AND SING
0:38:04 > 0:38:06The attacks by Muslim gangs on villages
0:38:06 > 0:38:11across Bengal's Noakhali district, almost a year before Partition,
0:38:11 > 0:38:16were designed to clear the area of its Hindu population.
0:38:16 > 0:38:20Up to 5,000 Hindus were slaughtered
0:38:20 > 0:38:24and thousands more forcibly converted to Islam.
0:38:24 > 0:38:26A further 200,000 people,
0:38:26 > 0:38:29including Bim and his family, became refugees.
0:38:31 > 0:38:34- BIM:- The flashback comes often
0:38:34 > 0:38:38and brings you back absolutely vividly.
0:38:38 > 0:38:40There's a feeling of hurt.
0:38:47 > 0:38:51You can't get it away from your mind.
0:38:51 > 0:38:54It makes you wonder why these things happen.
0:38:57 > 0:39:01I wasn't expecting to meet any Hindu families that were still alive
0:39:01 > 0:39:04and still exist now alongside their Muslim neighbours.
0:39:06 > 0:39:09It would have been really, really hard for my dad to come back,
0:39:09 > 0:39:13to hear people talking about his father with such fond memories -
0:39:13 > 0:39:16I don't know how he would have coped, to be honest.
0:39:18 > 0:39:19It's good that he didn't come.
0:39:25 > 0:39:30In the Bengal state capital, Calcutta, a year before Partition,
0:39:30 > 0:39:33trouble was already brewing.
0:39:33 > 0:39:36Inflammatory speeches by both Hindu and Muslim leaders
0:39:36 > 0:39:39meant the tensions in the city were already high.
0:39:39 > 0:39:44Then the Muslim League announced a nationwide "Day Of Action"
0:39:44 > 0:39:49and this was to prove disastrous for the people of Calcutta.
0:39:50 > 0:39:52Mandy's grandfather, Arthur Wise,
0:39:52 > 0:39:55had already sent his family back to Britain,
0:39:55 > 0:39:58but had stayed on in the city to try and broker peace
0:39:58 > 0:39:59between the two sides.
0:40:01 > 0:40:05He filmed as the riots broke out.
0:40:05 > 0:40:07- ARTHUR:- The slaughter was terrible.
0:40:07 > 0:40:10Coming with their huge sticks
0:40:10 > 0:40:12and batons to kill one another,
0:40:12 > 0:40:16including knives, because that's what they were doing.
0:40:16 > 0:40:19They were stabbing one another on the roadside.
0:40:19 > 0:40:22They would even go in and kill the children and women.
0:40:22 > 0:40:26Mandy has never seen this footage before.
0:40:28 > 0:40:30I know we had home movies from when we were kids.
0:40:30 > 0:40:32He used to show me when they were...
0:40:32 > 0:40:34The children were running out in the garden,
0:40:34 > 0:40:37but I had no idea he had things like that.
0:40:37 > 0:40:40- PAMELA:- My father went out with his cine camera,
0:40:40 > 0:40:44just so that people could see something of what happened.
0:40:46 > 0:40:47Thousands were killed.
0:40:48 > 0:40:50They were lying all over the streets.
0:40:50 > 0:40:53The vultures even came into the city,
0:40:53 > 0:40:56and were attacking these corpses.
0:40:56 > 0:40:58It was a dreadful sight.
0:40:59 > 0:41:02That is absolutely awful, that that happened.
0:41:02 > 0:41:04And the fact that Grandpa stayed here
0:41:04 > 0:41:07in such a dangerous time... he did well.
0:41:09 > 0:41:14The riots that Arthur Wise filmed in August 1946
0:41:14 > 0:41:18became known around the world as "The Great Calcutta Killings."
0:41:18 > 0:41:21They set the pattern for the Partition violence
0:41:21 > 0:41:24that was to engulf India over the next two years.
0:41:25 > 0:41:30More than 5,000 Hindus and Muslims died in less than ten days,
0:41:30 > 0:41:33with the British authorities seemingly unable
0:41:33 > 0:41:35or unwilling to intervene.
0:41:39 > 0:41:41BELL RINGS
0:41:43 > 0:41:45- Hello, I'm Mandy.- Hello.
0:41:45 > 0:41:47Mandy has come to meet Gauranga Chattopadhyay
0:41:47 > 0:41:52and his childhood Hindu friends, Santosh and Sharm Sunder.
0:41:52 > 0:41:53My name's Mandy...
0:41:53 > 0:41:56As boys, they witnessed first-hand
0:41:56 > 0:41:59the violence that her grandfather filmed.
0:41:59 > 0:42:0316th August. We had no clue what was going to happen.
0:42:03 > 0:42:08We knew that it had been declared as "Direct Action Day".
0:42:08 > 0:42:12We thought there'd be some violence,
0:42:12 > 0:42:16but nobody imagined anything like that to happen.
0:42:16 > 0:42:19We saw dead bodies lying by the roadside,
0:42:19 > 0:42:22in the middle of the road, pavements.
0:42:22 > 0:42:25The next morning, there was no milkman.
0:42:25 > 0:42:27And we went out of our house,
0:42:27 > 0:42:29and there were some young men at the corner.
0:42:29 > 0:42:32My father said, "I'm looking for the milkman."
0:42:32 > 0:42:36He said, "Your milkman doesn't exist any more."
0:42:36 > 0:42:38That must've been really frightening.
0:42:38 > 0:42:41The initial killing was the Hindus were being killed.
0:42:41 > 0:42:43And later on, Hindus killed Muslims.
0:42:43 > 0:42:45It happened both ways.
0:42:45 > 0:42:49My father was walking near the heart of Calcutta.
0:42:49 > 0:42:51A man came out of the mosque,
0:42:51 > 0:42:55stabbed him and slit his stomach,
0:42:55 > 0:42:57and went back to the mosque.
0:42:57 > 0:43:00He survived for about three days,
0:43:00 > 0:43:02and then he didn't.
0:43:05 > 0:43:07I'm really sorry for your loss.
0:43:09 > 0:43:13I mean, that must've really affected you, you were, you were young...
0:43:13 > 0:43:1414.
0:43:14 > 0:43:20And the eldest son has the very unpleasant religious duty
0:43:20 > 0:43:22of setting the body on fire,
0:43:22 > 0:43:28by putting the fire flame on his, starting with his mouth.
0:43:30 > 0:43:32I had to do that.
0:43:33 > 0:43:35Very difficult to...
0:43:35 > 0:43:38forget that feeling, get over that feeling.
0:43:38 > 0:43:40I'm sure it was.
0:43:42 > 0:43:44Sorry if I've been emotional, please excuse me.
0:43:44 > 0:43:46We're all feeling a bit emotional.
0:43:46 > 0:43:48My father was killed
0:43:48 > 0:43:54literally a stone's throw from where British soldiers were standing.
0:43:54 > 0:43:56No action was taken.
0:43:58 > 0:43:59I... I'd like to apologise
0:43:59 > 0:44:03for anything that you feel now about the British.
0:44:03 > 0:44:05Before I came to India,
0:44:05 > 0:44:08and I met people and saw these films,
0:44:08 > 0:44:10I had no idea what had happened here.
0:44:10 > 0:44:13You don't know, you don't know what happened.
0:44:15 > 0:44:17To meet people who were actually there during that time,
0:44:17 > 0:44:20who'd lost loved ones... It's absolutely horrible, sorry...
0:44:24 > 0:44:30I felt guilty, and yet I know that Grandpa tried to make things right.
0:44:30 > 0:44:32I'm glad he did the films,
0:44:32 > 0:44:35and I'm glad that people can see what happened.
0:44:35 > 0:44:38But when you meet the people who were actually there during the time,
0:44:38 > 0:44:41it became very, very real.
0:44:41 > 0:44:43Sorry.
0:44:47 > 0:44:50As Partition violence spread throughout India,
0:44:50 > 0:44:53the British Army prepared to leave the country.
0:44:53 > 0:44:56Troops were ordered not to intervene
0:44:56 > 0:44:58unless British lives were at risk.
0:44:58 > 0:45:04And while over a million Indians died between 1946 and 1948,
0:45:04 > 0:45:07only a handful of British casualties were recorded.
0:45:10 > 0:45:13The worst violence of all took place in Punjab,
0:45:13 > 0:45:15after the line of Partition was announced,
0:45:15 > 0:45:19as millions of Hindus, Sikhs, and Muslims
0:45:19 > 0:45:21fled their ancestral homes.
0:45:21 > 0:45:23Caravans, or kafillahs, of refugees
0:45:23 > 0:45:26stretched for miles in both directions
0:45:26 > 0:45:28and made for easy targets -
0:45:28 > 0:45:31as did the packed trains full of desperate families
0:45:31 > 0:45:33trying to make their way to safety.
0:45:33 > 0:45:36MUEZZIN CALL TO PRAYER
0:45:40 > 0:45:42In the Indian town of Ambala, Asad and Sameer
0:45:42 > 0:45:45have come to the central mosque.
0:45:45 > 0:45:48Asad used to worship here as a child
0:45:48 > 0:45:50before his family fled the town by train
0:45:50 > 0:45:53days after the Partition line was announced.
0:45:53 > 0:45:55Oh, God, look at that!
0:45:55 > 0:46:00- "Welcome, Syed Asad Ali, with best compliments"!- Wow.
0:46:00 > 0:46:04The head of the mosque, Maulana Qasim, is waiting to meet them.
0:46:45 > 0:46:48After Partition, the mosque fell into disrepair,
0:46:48 > 0:46:50and only reopened in the 1960s
0:46:50 > 0:46:55as Muslims from other areas of India migrated here.
0:46:55 > 0:46:56Assalamu Alaikum.
0:46:56 > 0:46:59Dr Mohammed Khaled has been researching what's happened
0:46:59 > 0:47:04to the original Muslim residents of towns like Ambala.
0:47:04 > 0:47:07Some Muslims, they migrated to Pakistan.
0:47:07 > 0:47:10- On their own, sensing there is trouble.- Yeah, sure.
0:47:10 > 0:47:12And there were those people who were of good means,
0:47:12 > 0:47:14high means, middle class.
0:47:14 > 0:47:16That's why my father left Ambala
0:47:16 > 0:47:20as soon as he could, in the middle of the night.
0:47:20 > 0:47:23But those people who did not have means,
0:47:23 > 0:47:26who did not have any wherewithal,
0:47:26 > 0:47:27they had to go on foot.
0:47:27 > 0:47:31- Right.- And there were caravans, kafillahs, of thousands of people.
0:47:31 > 0:47:33And these are the papers
0:47:33 > 0:47:37from the former British civil servant at that time here.
0:47:37 > 0:47:39See this.
0:47:39 > 0:47:44"A foot convoy of about 15,000 Muslims under a military escort
0:47:44 > 0:47:47"was attacked by a big mob of Sikhs,
0:47:47 > 0:47:50"armed with several types of dangerous weapons.
0:47:50 > 0:47:53"The escort did not fire on the attackers.
0:47:53 > 0:47:56"About 4,000 Muslims were killed by the Sikhs."
0:47:56 > 0:48:00Just from one kafillah, one caravan. They were sitting ducks.
0:48:00 > 0:48:03Was there any provocation that made them a target?
0:48:03 > 0:48:04Read... Read this.
0:48:04 > 0:48:09This one, "August 22. Up train which left Ambala in the afternoon
0:48:09 > 0:48:11"was stopped at Doraha
0:48:11 > 0:48:13"where a large crowd of armed Sikhs
0:48:13 > 0:48:15"set upon the Muslim passengers,
0:48:15 > 0:48:20"shouting Muslim atrocities in Amritsar are to be avenged."
0:48:20 > 0:48:23- Yeah.- Right, so this was a revenge attack?
0:48:23 > 0:48:26You know, on both sides, people said that we are avenging
0:48:26 > 0:48:28what is happening on the other side of the border.
0:48:28 > 0:48:30But it was a kind of genocide.
0:48:30 > 0:48:34- Yeah.- It was not massacre, it was a genocide.
0:48:34 > 0:48:36You were just a child at that time.
0:48:36 > 0:48:39- Yeah.- And thousands of people lost their lives,
0:48:39 > 0:48:42and you were travelling through this area at the same time.
0:48:42 > 0:48:44It's amazing you survived.
0:48:44 > 0:48:48Yeah, you're lucky that you survived, your family survived.
0:48:48 > 0:48:52When Partition was announced, about 60% of the Punjab was Muslim.
0:48:52 > 0:48:58But after the Partition, in Indian Punjab, only 1.6% were left.
0:48:58 > 0:49:01It is totally ethnic cleansing!
0:49:01 > 0:49:05CHANTING
0:49:09 > 0:49:13Knowing more about where it all started, visiting these places,
0:49:13 > 0:49:17makes me realise that as a child
0:49:17 > 0:49:21my grandfather had no idea how much danger he was in.
0:49:21 > 0:49:22But his father knew,
0:49:22 > 0:49:25which is why he took them out of there in the dead of night.
0:49:27 > 0:49:30It makes me feel sorry for him,
0:49:30 > 0:49:32for having to go through that as a child.
0:49:32 > 0:49:34And I understand a bit more about why
0:49:34 > 0:49:37my grandfather gets so emotional.
0:49:37 > 0:49:42Because so many years on, he's still...not at rest.
0:49:48 > 0:49:51Back in the Noakhali region of Bangladesh,
0:49:51 > 0:49:55Binita is exploring how her Hindu father Bim and his family
0:49:55 > 0:49:59escaped the violence that descended on their village.
0:50:02 > 0:50:06During these four, five days of severe trauma and terror,
0:50:06 > 0:50:11my father went and saw one of his powerful Muslim friends,
0:50:11 > 0:50:15Mr Mojafa Mir, and I remember him very well.
0:50:15 > 0:50:17He was a regular visitor to our house.
0:50:17 > 0:50:21And he arranged a small boat for us to escape,
0:50:21 > 0:50:24which will be pulled by two local Muslims.
0:50:26 > 0:50:29The riverboats in Noakhali have changed very little
0:50:29 > 0:50:32in the last 70 years, and Binita has come to see one.
0:50:32 > 0:50:35Her father, Bim, and nine members of his family
0:50:35 > 0:50:38hid themselves in a boat just like this
0:50:38 > 0:50:40to escape the violence in Mandari.
0:50:40 > 0:50:45We got into the stern of the boat, so that nobody can see us.
0:50:45 > 0:50:47My little brother was on top of my mum,
0:50:47 > 0:50:50and we others on top of each other.
0:50:52 > 0:50:55It was hot, sweaty.
0:50:55 > 0:50:57We could hardly breathe.
0:51:02 > 0:51:05The minute they got onto this boat, they became refugees
0:51:05 > 0:51:09and they left behind their ancestral lands.
0:51:09 > 0:51:11The big house, their wealth.
0:51:11 > 0:51:13And they didn't know where they were going,
0:51:13 > 0:51:15what the future held for them.
0:51:17 > 0:51:22I get a pang of fear, even myself, now, thinking about it.
0:51:24 > 0:51:27And as we are going, we were stopped. "Who goes there?"
0:51:27 > 0:51:30We were there and trembling now.
0:51:30 > 0:51:34Those two people were wonderful. They covered us up.
0:51:34 > 0:51:39They said, "This is... The local Muslim family is travelling."
0:51:41 > 0:51:43We owe our life to them.
0:51:56 > 0:52:00Before she leaves Mandari, Binita has come to meet Abdul Zahir,
0:52:00 > 0:52:02the grandson of Mojafa Mir,
0:52:02 > 0:52:06who provided the boats for her family to escape.
0:52:06 > 0:52:08My father wanted me to come here
0:52:08 > 0:52:13and thank you and your family for what they did 70 years ago.
0:52:22 > 0:52:27My dad told me that there was two men that pulled the boat.
0:52:42 > 0:52:45Wow, so it's this gentleman here?
0:52:47 > 0:52:50Thank you. It's so nice to meet you.
0:53:04 > 0:53:05OK.
0:53:13 > 0:53:18I... I... I just want to thank your family,
0:53:18 > 0:53:20and for you,
0:53:20 > 0:53:23you saved...my...my dad's life.
0:53:23 > 0:53:25You helped my family escape.
0:53:27 > 0:53:31- Thank you so much. Thank you.- Thank you.
0:53:31 > 0:53:36I have a photograph to show you.
0:53:36 > 0:53:38My Baba, here.
0:53:38 > 0:53:42This is the little boy who you saved.
0:53:42 > 0:53:46Bimal, he's Jamini Mohan's little boy.
0:53:46 > 0:53:49And then this is me and my family.
0:53:49 > 0:53:52My husband and my daughters.
0:53:57 > 0:54:00It was just amazing to have the opportunity on behalf of my dad
0:54:00 > 0:54:03to say thank you to some of the people who saved his life.
0:54:03 > 0:54:04Particularly as they were Muslims,
0:54:04 > 0:54:10and they actually put their own lives at risk by helping my family.
0:54:20 > 0:54:21Back in Kolkata,
0:54:21 > 0:54:24Mandy is retracing her grandfather Arthur Wise's attempts
0:54:24 > 0:54:28to bring peace to the city as Partition approached.
0:54:28 > 0:54:31She's come to one of its most famous buildings
0:54:31 > 0:54:34to meet historian Dr Rudrangshu Mukherjee.
0:54:36 > 0:54:37Even before I welcome you,
0:54:37 > 0:54:40I must request you to take your slippers off.
0:54:40 > 0:54:42OK.
0:54:42 > 0:54:45Welcome to Gandhi Bhavan.
0:54:45 > 0:54:48This area was largely slums and hovels
0:54:48 > 0:54:50where very poor Muslims lived.
0:54:50 > 0:54:53It had been witness to awful violence,
0:54:53 > 0:54:55Hindu-Muslim violence.
0:54:55 > 0:55:00Gandhi came and stayed here two days before India's independence.
0:55:00 > 0:55:04- He lived here?- Yes. And Gandhi deliberately chose to live here
0:55:04 > 0:55:07to establish peace between Hindus and Muslims.
0:55:07 > 0:55:10So, let me take you inside Gandhi Bhavan.
0:55:13 > 0:55:15By August 1947,
0:55:15 > 0:55:19Mahatma Ghandi was one of the most famous men in the world
0:55:19 > 0:55:24and revered throughout India by Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs alike.
0:55:24 > 0:55:27His 30-year campaign of non-violent protest
0:55:27 > 0:55:31had forced the British Empire to accept Indian independence.
0:55:31 > 0:55:35But now he was faced with an even greater challenge -
0:55:35 > 0:55:37to stop the violence of Partition.
0:55:39 > 0:55:42So, this is an important building for Gandhi.
0:55:42 > 0:55:45This is an important building for Kolkata.
0:55:45 > 0:55:49But for you, personally, this is also an important building.
0:55:49 > 0:55:53- Oh, why?- Your grandfather came to this building to meet Gandhi.
0:55:53 > 0:55:56- He met him?- Yes.
0:55:56 > 0:55:58- ARTHUR:- Gandhi had confidence in me
0:55:58 > 0:56:02as go-between the Mohammedans and the Hindus.
0:56:02 > 0:56:08As I walked in, he said, "Give Mr Wise a chair."
0:56:08 > 0:56:13I said, "Mahatma Gandhi, I will sit where you're sitting.
0:56:13 > 0:56:15"And that's on the floor."
0:56:15 > 0:56:20This is a photograph of Gandhi's Central Peace Committee.
0:56:20 > 0:56:24There is only one member who is neither a Muslim nor a Hindu.
0:56:24 > 0:56:26He's the only white face there.
0:56:26 > 0:56:29- Yes, that's right. - He never told me any of this!
0:56:29 > 0:56:32That committee, of which Mr Wise was a very active member,
0:56:32 > 0:56:37was the beginning of the establishment of peace in Kolkata.
0:56:37 > 0:56:42I think that makes your grandfather a very unique individual.
0:56:42 > 0:56:44I'm really pleased that
0:56:44 > 0:56:46it wasn't just me seeing that,
0:56:46 > 0:56:48- that other people saw who he was. - Yes.
0:56:51 > 0:56:54Two weeks after the Partition line was announced,
0:56:54 > 0:56:57as violence still raged across India and Pakistan,
0:56:57 > 0:57:02Gandhi and his committee held a huge rally in Calcutta
0:57:02 > 0:57:05where hundreds of thousands of Hindus and Muslims
0:57:05 > 0:57:07came together in peace.
0:57:09 > 0:57:13Arthur Wise filmed the event from the speaker's platform.
0:57:13 > 0:57:19He left Calcutta shortly afterwards to rejoin his family in Britain.
0:57:27 > 0:57:29I'm very proud of my grandpa.
0:57:29 > 0:57:32I basically thought he was one of the rich English
0:57:32 > 0:57:34who had a very, very nice life,
0:57:34 > 0:57:38and had to leave India because there was trouble.
0:57:38 > 0:57:42But I feel now that he was a very important man,
0:57:42 > 0:57:46and I hope that what he did do doesn't get forgotten
0:57:46 > 0:57:49any more than the awful things that happened
0:57:49 > 0:57:51shouldn't be forgotten.
0:57:52 > 0:57:55Mandy's Partition journey has come to an end.
0:57:57 > 0:58:00Next time, Sameer traces
0:58:00 > 0:58:03his grandfather's dramatic train journey across Punjab.
0:58:04 > 0:58:08Binita discovers how her refugee father, Bim, and his family,
0:58:08 > 0:58:10escape to India.
0:58:11 > 0:58:13And I'll be going on my own Partition journey,
0:58:13 > 0:58:16as me and my mum become the first members of our family
0:58:16 > 0:58:18to return to my grandfather's village,
0:58:18 > 0:58:20which is just over the border,
0:58:20 > 0:58:23a few miles in that direction, in Pakistan.