The summer of 1947, shortly before India gained independence from Britain and split into two nations, was one of the worst ever periods in the country’s history, with riots, killing and burning throughout the country on a horrendous scale. In this part of Saeed’s memoirs, he describes the tensions in the city of Lahore at the time — as well as the “moment of great joy, elation and pride when, at the stroke of midnight between 13th and 14th August 1947, we heard in the stately and pure-washed language of the announcer Shakeel Ahmed: This is the Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation, Assalam-u Alaikum Radio Pakistan, Lahore, Shakeel Ahmed at your service. Pakistan Zindabad.”

“I can still”, writes my father, “vividly remember the thrill that went through my body on hearing that historic announcement.”

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