ABSTRACT
While Partition has become synonymous with alarming carnage between Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims, the region of Sindh remained relatively free of communal violence until the winter of 1947–1948. This chapter, which is largely based on my book, The Making of Exile: Sindhi Hindus and the Partition of India (Westland Tranquebar, 2014), explains the structure and nature of pre-Partition Sindhi society. It then goes on to describe and explicate the increasingly vitiated communal atmosphere in Sindh from 3 June 1947, when Partition was announced, until December 1947. The chapter then dwells on two significant episodes of violence that took place in Sindh: the anti-Hindu pogrom in Hyderabad on 17 December 1947 and the anti-Sikh and -Hindu pogrom in Karachi on 6 January 1948. It was after these two pogroms that there was a massive exodus of Hindus and Sikhs from Sindh, which continued for months. The chapter then goes on to describe the process of the resettlement of Sindhi Hindus in India, as well as the various problems that they faced.
