The Daily Times; COMMENT : The July 15, 2013 House of Lords ceremony — Dr Ishtiaq Ahmed

Baroness Flather recalled her joyful days in Lahore as a teenager. Her closest friends were Muslims. She would go to the Imambargah and her Muslim friends were always taking part in Hindu festivals 

On July 15, 2013, Baroness Shreela Flather, great granddaughter of the great builder, social reformer and philanthropist of undivided Punjab, Sir Ganga Ram, hosted my book The Punjab Bloodied, Partitioned and Cleansed (Oxford, 2012), in Committee Room No. 2 of the House of Lords. It was packed to full capacity and many people had to stand for the two hours we spent discussing it.

Once the hereditary preserve of the British aristocracy (now includes non-hereditary peers), the House of Lords historically played the decisive role as a counterweight to absolute monarchy and thus set into motion the democratisation process that over several centuries culminated in power transferring decisively to the directly-elected House of Commons. The two houses of Parliament stand majestically in the centre of London at Westminster.

Baroness Flather welcomed the guests, who included members of the two houses of the British Parliament, a cross section of Indians and Pakistanis, and even a Sri Lankan gentleman, Joe Nathan, Editor of Confluence. Some relatives of British officers who served in the Punjab in 1947 also attended the book launch.

Baroness Flather recalled her joyful days in Lahore as a teenager. She lived with her family next to the Sherpao Bridge. Her closest friends were Muslims, especially a Shia family bearing the surname Hakim. She would go to the Imambargah and her Muslim friends were always taking part in Hindu festivals. Then in May 1947 that halcyon world came crashing down as criminals aided and abetted by biased police (73 percent of the Punjab police was Muslim) began to hound the Hindus and Sikhs out of Lahore. However, in England she continued to meet Pakistanis and visited Lahore a number of times. Her best friend in Lahore was the late Afsar Qizilbash. She surprised everyone by saying that she always received more love and affection in Pakistan, especially Lahore, than in India.

Eminent Punjabi poet and leading scholar of Punjabi sufism, Sarwat Mohiuddin, travelled all the way from Lahore to share her authoritative views on my book in the light of sufism. She observed that even in the greatly disturbed atmosphere of 1947, the humanistic teachings of sufis, sants and gurus stood in good stead and helped save lives. Her speech was very well received.

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