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"The refugee movement each way is now at a rate of about 150,000 each week; last week it was speeded up, for both Governments hope to finish it off by mid-November. From the East Punjab into Pakistan, 2,550,000 Moslems have crossed, leaving 2,400,000 still to be evacuated; 2,275,000 Sikhs and Hindus have crossed from the West Punjab and the North-West Frontier Province into their Dominion, leaving 1,800,000, chiefly in isolated pockets, still to come. It is one of the great exchanges of population in recorded history."
The Despoiled. An American witness testified:
"It is almost impossible to have a watch repaired in New Delhi now; the watch craftsmen were Moslems. So were the tailors and the barbers, the butchers, and the cooks, the waiters and bearers, the rug dealers, and the drivers of tongas and taxicabs.
"In Lyallpur, Moslem shopkeepers refuse to sell durable goods, because the increasing scarcity is sure to force the price up; moreover, even if the shopkeeper did sell, he would have no place to bank the money (for Hindus and Sikhs were the bankers) and no wholesaler from whom to buy more goods (for Hindus and Sikhs were the wholesalers). In Lahore, on the other hand, there is a corrupt buyers' paradise in looted goods. A refrigerator goes for 100 rupees ($30), a radio for 30. Parker "51" fountain pens, which used to sell for 60 rupees, now go for 5. "There is no economic exchange between Pakistan and India. India may survive this schism; Pakistan cannot. Almost its whole middle class, which was Hindu, has fled. The literacy rate, never higher than 9%, is now less than half that. Pakistan's Government is not able to support more refugees. It is trying to shut off the flood. Moslems who hear that Pakistan will not let them enter are embittered and terrified."
The Threatened. Another witness had talked to rich Hindus who last week had begun fleeing into Calcutta from Eastern Pakistan. These Hindus, he said, reported increased activity of the Moslem League National Guard organizations. If terrorism breaks out in northeast India, where 13,000,000 Hindus live, the carnage might be unimaginably greater than in the Punjab.
And had the Punjab killing ended, or was it merely suspended? Two weeks ago Master Tara Singh, leader of the Sikhs, estimated that the killing would last three more months and that 500,000 Hindus and Sikhs and as many Moslems would die of murder, epidemic and starvation. In another statement, Tara Singh gave this grisly forecast an algebraic twist. He pointed out that fleeing Sikhs (who are richer) had left six million acres of land, while an equal number of fleeing Moslems had left only two million acres. His proposal: drive enough Moslems from their farms to balance the property exchange.
The Motive. At this point the Attorney for the Defense addressed the court:
"Do not forget that for centuries Moslem and Hindu and Sikh lived side by side, if not in harmony, at least in uneasy tolerance. It is true that over the centuries, from time to time, they killed and rioted and even fought great wars, but not more often or more fiercely than peoples elsewhere. This in spite of India's abysmal poverty which turns men against one another, in spite of the enraging climate, either osmotic dust or illimitable ooze.