Interview with Azim Uddin- Actual Migrant from India to Pakistan (This interview was translated from Urdu

to English by Azim Uddins daughter, Saima Khan)

Interviewer: How old were you when you first decided to visit Pakistan? Why did you decide to go to this land that you knew nothing about? Azim Uddin: Well, I had never grown up in a proper home and really I just moved around from place to place where ever I could find a living. When I heard about the trains taking people to this new nation, Pakistan, I thought I would go simply to visit the country and see the air of the society. I never had a permanent home so leaving wasnt so bad. However, I had no intentions on beginning a life in this new country.

Interviewer: And, how old were you again? Azim Uddin: Oh, well I was around twenty-one.

Interviewer: You mentioned briefly about the trains to Pakistan, did you take a train to reach Pakistan and if so, how was that experience? Azim Uddin: Yes, I did. Many people avoided the trains, including my wife who also migrated to Pakistan. I didnt know when I boarded my train that many trains were actually stopped along the way and the people that were boarded were killed. And these were both Hindu and Muslims killed, committing act not justified by religions which was ironic because they were fighting because of religious differences. There were two trains at the same station, and the train I had boarded upon was just like another train but along the way there as a halt. I didn't find out until afterwards that the people in the train before us were all killed by Hindus. I can only thank God for sparing my life for such sorrowful end. Its frightening to imagine the poor people on the train before me, and how close I was to boarding that train.

Interviewer: You said you had no intentions of staying in Pakistan, but yet you did. What changed your mind? Azim Uddin: Well being a Muslim, and Pakistan was a country created by a Muslim nationalist movement, I felt a very strong religious connection to the land. When I arrived to Pakistan, the new land and community had a feeling of happiness and I felt welcomed, and so I decided to live in Pakistan. As simple as that.

Interviewer: I noticed you mentioned that your wife didnt travel by train. So how did she come to Pakistan? Azim Uddin: well, my wife was very young when she came to Pakistan. She doesnt really remember much of it but she has accounts from her brothers and sister. According to them they arrived to Pakistan by boat because they had actually heard about how dangerous it was to take a train there, and so the safest route for them was by a boat.

Interviewer: So, going back to leaving by train where did your train depart from and where did you arrive? Azim Uddin: The train I boarded was in Amdabad and it was leaving to Karachi, which later became the capital for Pakistan.

Interviewer: Growing up in India, and having moved around from place did you see much of the Hindu- Muslim tension that lead to the partition? Azim Uddin: Oh, definitely. There was constant fighting between the two groups. Tensions especially increased after the proclamation of two different states, also known as the twonation theory. Also right before the partition there was much fighting, and conditions got pretty dangerous. It wasnt like this everywhere, but for many of the places I lived it was.