Revoke the naming of 14 August as Partition Horrors Remembrance Day
Revoke the naming of 14 August as Partition Horrors Remembrance Day
Why this petition matters
As citizens of this great country which suffered Partition at the hands of its departing colonial rulers, we wish to keep the memory of Partition alive and to always honour our countrypeople who suffered its anguish in varying forms and degrees.
Most of those who are alive today were children at the time. For them, the shock of displacement and loss, and the range of disturbances and atrocities they faced, were the reality. Independence was incidental.
We therefore wish to honour them at the SAME time as we celebrate our Independence, and NOT separately.
Further, we have no wish to commemorate the HORROR or nurture any bad feelings in any way. We wish to honour them by acknowledging their suffering and bravery, by showering them with love and compassion, and by honouring the memories of those whom they suffered with but are no longer alive – and not by reliving the horrors.
Finally, we wish to acknowledge that people of every community suffered, in both India and Pakistan.
14 August was declared Pakistan’s Independence Day by the departing colonial rulers. To name it as Partition Horrors Remembrance Day is to deeply dishonour every Indian of Undivided India who suffered the catastrophic trauma of Partition.
While we are grateful to you for creating a national platform to recognize and honour those who suffered Partition, we most humbly petition you to revoke the naming of 14 August as Partition Horrors Remembrance Day.