A Singaporean professor of Chinese-origin has written a book on the world's biggest migration of people during India's partition, highlighting the euphoria of independence and the trauma of separation.
Professor Tan Tai Yong has launched a book "Lost Heritage: The Sikh Legacy in Pakistan" where he highlights the magnitude of the migration -- 4.5 million Sikhs and Hindus uprooted from their homes in West Punjab and moved east while 5.5 million Muslims went in the opposite direction to Pakistan.
The boundary lines drawn based on a report by Cyril Redcliffe resulted in the world's biggest migration of Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims, as they were uprooted from their ancestral homes, leaving behind valuable land and heritage, Tan said.
"With this exodus came the emergence of the Sikh diaspora," Tan said yesterday.
"Many of the sites featured in this book are probably unknown to younger generations of Sikhs living in the diaspora," he said, pointing out that numerous of these sites have been forgotten and are falling into serious disrepair.
The 500-page book was a personal journey by a financial services executive turned author, Amardeep Singh, who travelled through West Punjab, Northwest Frontier and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir covering the rich history of the Sikhs while in search of his origin roots and the loss of his extended family in the massacre.
