The Crimson Lily in our Midst

homeland. Decision on the boundaries had been somewhat haphazard and arbitrary.

There arose a deep sense of insecurity on both sides of the divide. There were Muslims in India who wished to move to Pakistan and Hindus in Pakistan anxious to move to India. Those who moved had to surrender homes, property and security that had been built up over generations. The moves were carried out in an atmosphere of angry hysteria. The civil administration lost control of the situation. Terrible atrocities occurred, such as have left India and Pakistan a legacy of hatred and suspicion.

The new governments had to decide what had to be done about the abandoned properties and what compensation should be paid to persons who felt forced to move. They achieved some sort of breathing space by issuing government bonds of indemnity for property that had been lost. It was to be some time before these bonds could be encashed; but they were made negotiable. They could thus be traded in return for abandoned property or disposed of at discount in order to gain ready cash.

In this dangerously volatile situation, there were three groups that could, to some extent, stand aloof from the turmoil. These were the Christians, the Mazbi Sikhs and the Balmikis. They remained as tenants on the abandoned farms. In due time, they hoped, new owners would come and their positions would be regularized. New Muslim owners did arrive; but they felt that their primary obligation was to provide roofs and employment for their poorer Muslim brethren. The Christians, the Mazbi Sikhs and the Balmikis were evicted. Some of the latter two groups chose to become Muslims and achieved the status of Musali. Others became Christian, for Christianity was beginning to be recognized as a bastion of safety in an increasingly insecure world. Some who were evicted gravitated towards the towns. There they constituted a new under-class that was poor and insecure.

The non-Catholic Christians were less fortunate than the Catholics. The Edinburgh Conference Comity Agreement of 1910 meant that many arrived without their pastors.

The Catholic catechists gathered the Catholics into mutual support groups that were known as baradaris. A fair number of non- Catholics were attracted to these baradaris and, in time, they themselves became Catholics. The baradaris became anchors that helped the new Catholic community in the diocese to become very closely bonded At the same time there was an outflow of Catholic population. This was of three main types. The first was that of the British army. The Pakistan army that replaced it was predominately Muslim. Some local Catholics remained, but in such small numbers that their care was assigned to catechists only. The diocese’s commitment to the provision of military chaplains was greatly reduced. The second outflow was that of the Goan and Madrassi personnel who had been employed by the army in a number of capacities. Many of these elected to return to their hometowns and villages. Perhaps the saddest group was the Anglo-Indians. Under the British, they had been a privileged class. Their privileges could hardly be expected to continue.

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