Historians have unearthed many instances when people helped one another during the Partition, even when they belonged to different religions. A good example is that of Dr. Khush Dev Singh. He was a Sikh. He worked at Dharampur (Himachal Pradesh) as a specialist of TB (tuberculosis). He continued working day and night, giving food and medicine, helping people of different communities. The faith of the Muslims in Dr. Khush Dev Singh of Dharampur was like the faith the Muslims of Delhi had in Gandhi. One of the riot victims, Mohammed Omar, wrote to Khush Dev Singh a letter. He said that only in his protection he would feel secure and so he should be given a place in his hospital.
We learn more about the relief work done by Khush Dev Singh from his memoirs. In his book called “Love is Stronger than Hatred – 1947 – a Reminiscence” Khush Dev wrote, “What I did were my simple endeavours to do my duty as a human being to my fellow human beings.”
He visited Karachi twice in 1949. He has described his experiences in his book. His old friends and those who were helped by him spent some hours with him at the Karachi airport. There were also six police constables. They accompanied him to the aeroplane and saluted him. Khush Dev Singh says that his eyes were filled at the love shown by them.
