The Reminiscences of Zafrulla Khan — Page 169
153 REMINISCENCES OF SIR MUHAMMAD ZAFRULLA KHAN Conditions in Lahore at that time were all topsy-turvy. The permanent pressure and anxiety was how to handle the refugee problem. Were it not that the people as a body rose to the occasion, I am sure the provincial government would have proved absolutely unequal to the task and the administration would have foundered. It was the spirit of the people that carried us through and a few devoted officers and workers, naturally, like Khwaja Abdur Rahim and his colleagues who were dealing with this influx of refugees. Trainloads came in full of dead and wounded, children with their eyes gouged out and hands cut off, women with their breasts cut off! Such savagery and inhumanity! There was nothing to choose between the two sides. I imagine the same things occurred on the other side. That part of the country seemed to have become a howling wilderness of beasts rather than a land of human beings. All humanity had been purged out of them, all mercy and pity and human love and affection seemed to have evaporated. Altogether a dreadful business. I hate to recall it. One had to work under those conditions, so it was not very surprising that everybody was at sixes and sevens and nothing could be arranged for certain. Before leaving Mamdot Villa I had requested the Nawab of Mamdot to arrange that by 8 o'clock the next morning I should have two stenographers at my disposal, at my residence which was almost opposite to the Villa, who would work in relays, and I should have the usual office equipment, pencils, papers, typewriters. He had assured me that everything would be in readiness by 7:30. So I went back and started working on whatever material was available, and worked late into the night. I started again early in the morning, and after breakfast I was ready at about 7:30 and inquired whether the stenographers had arrived. There was nobody. At a quarter to eight there was nobody. Eight o'clock, nobody, not a pencil, not a sheet of paper, not a typewriter, not a stenographer. Again, I had recourse to Khwaja Abdur Rahim, whose tent-office was fortunately right opposite to me on the same road where I was staying, and he very kindly offered to send over his two stenographers, who came over, and I started dictating. I do not know how I got through that delicate and complicated task within the space of two days, and got the draft ready by Thursday night. On Thursday night I insisted that at least two of the Punjab ministers, Mian Mumtaz Daultana and Sirdar Shaukat Hayat Khan, should come