42
SCHEDULED CASTE REFUGEES NEGLECTED
After partition, in Bengal and in Punjab, communal clashes between Hindus and Muslims arose on a scale never experienced in the past. Both the communities suffered badly. But the illeffects of that dissension were felt even by a large number of Untouchables living in those areas, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar had received a number of letters describing sufferings undergone by the Untouchables by the Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Jats. He, therefore, wrote a letter (dated 18th December 1947) to the Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, informing him of the sufferings of the Untouchables and requesting him to give relief to the Scheduled Caste refugees—Editors.
“New Delhi,
The 18th December 1947.
My dear Shri Jawaharlal,
I have been receiving so many complaints from the Scheduled Castes evacuees who come over from Pakistan to India as well as from those who have been looked up by the Pakistan Government and prevented from coming over to India. I feel that the time has come for me to draw your attention to their sufferings. For the purpose of giving you an idea of what is happening and what is required to be done, I am setting out below the causes of their sufferings and the measures that should be adopted to remove them.
I
(1) The Pakistan Government are preventing in every possible way the evacuation of the Scheduled Castes from their territory. The reason behind this seems to me that they want the Scheduled Castes to remain in Pakistan to do the menial job and to serve as landless labourers for the land holding population of Pakistan. The Pakistan Government is particularly anxious to impound the sweepers whom they have declared as persons belonging to Essential Services and whom they are not prepared to release except on one month’s notice.