Historians have analyzed the feelings of the common people during and after the Partition. Many have written about the terrible experiences of many women. The worst victims of the Partition were women. Many of them were raped. Many were kidnapped and sold. They were forced to live a new life with strangers in a strange land. Somehow many of them suffered indescribable difficulties. But some adjusted with the new situation.
The governments of India and Pakistan did not bother to realise the complexities of human relations. Both governments decided to exchange women belonging to their respective countries – the Pakistani women in India had to go to Pakistan and Indian women in Pakistan had to come to India.
Following this, a countrywide search was made to locate the women abducted from both sides. Those who were found were sent back to their countries. Nobody bothered to seek the opinion of the women involved in this exchange. Thus women were denied to take decisions about their own lives.
According to statistics, a total of 30,000 women were rescued this way – 22,000 women from India and 8000 women from Pakistan. This rescue operation lasted until 1954.
