(EDITORIAL) It is most unfortunate that despite assurances by Qaed-e-Azam Jinnah and other responsible League leaders that the minorities in Pakistan will not only be treated with justice but also with generosity thousands of Hindus and Sikhs are daily migrating to Hindustan. Their action, besides being hasty and ill-advised, has brought in its wake the twin evil of panic amongst those who have decided to stay put and of adding to the congestion of the places where they have taken shelter, thereby aggravating the discomforts of the local population. The well-to-do among those refugees, according to a Bombay paper, are offering fantastic sums by way of what is called “pugree” money to rapacious landlords in their frantic attempt to secure a room in the city. As a result of this migration boom, poor tenants are being ejected under flimsy pretexts.

The influx of an extra population has thus dislocated the normal life of those places… . The overcrowded city of Delhi which was originally built to accommodate three lakhs of people and which is now inhabited by nearly a million has lately had a further rise in its population as the result of this ceaseless gate-crashing by outsiders. Unless this practice is discouraged … those thoughtless persons who elect to leave their hearths and home under some imaginary fear will find themselves in the most unenviable position of being unwelcome and unwanted both in Pakistan and Hindustan.

Published in Dawn, August 4th, 2022