Travel in groups

In the upheaval of Partition, many displaced people crossed Punjab in groups on foot or with carts, often described as kafilas or caravans. Families moved in both directions across the new border, and journeys could take days. In a 15 September 1947 meeting, the Indian Cabinet Emergency Committee discussed foot convoys that had already started and concerns about their protection. These minutes record officials’ information and decisions at a particular moment; they are not a complete list of convoys. The size, route and conditions of each journey varied, and many people also used trains or vehicles.[1]

A family recollection

A Gresham College lecture includes Harchet Bains’s recollection of leaving a home in West Punjab and walking with his family behind a bullock cart. The lecturer describes other villages joining the convoy and reports that the journey to India took about eight days. Bains recalls hunger, fatigue and fear during the journey. This is an individual retrospective account presented within a lecture, not a complete record of all routes or experiences. Details such as its length and timing belong to that account and should not be generalised to every group crossing Punjab.[2]

Routes and recollection

The Museum of British Colonialism records a family story in which Fauja Singh and others left their village in a kafila during Partition. Such accounts give names, relationships and details of movement that may be absent from official convoy statistics. They can also include memories passed through relatives as well as a narrator’s own recollection. Reading individual accounts alongside contemporary records helps distinguish reported experience from administrative plans. Walking journeys could involve hunger, separation and violence, but the circumstances and choices of those who travelled differed. No single route or testimony describes the entire migration.[3]

Sources & notes

Source records include access dates and, where known, limits on what was examined. Checks used AI assistance; independent human or specialist review has not been completed.

  1. Cabinet Emergency Committee. Record of the Eleventh Meeting of the Cabinet Emergency Committee ↗Written source · Source date: 1947-09-15 · Locator: Extract on foot convoys and protection, Selected Works vol. 4, pp. 74–76. Accessed 2026-11-03.The displayed extract was inspected; the complete meeting record and convoy estimates were not independently examined.Return to Travel in groups, paragraph 1 ↑
  2. Gresham College. Partition of British India: 75 Years On ↗Written source · Source date: 2022 · Locator: Harchet Bains’s recollection. Accessed 2026-11-03.Written record or reported recollection inspected; perspectives attributed.Return to A family recollection, paragraph 1 ↑
  3. Museum of British Colonialism. Braving Betrayal, Tragedy, and Partition ↗Written source · Source date: publication date not established · Locator: Fauja Singh family story. Accessed 2026-11-03.Written record or reported recollection inspected; perspectives attributed.Return to Routes and recollection, paragraph 1 ↑
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Record PH-HIS-0128 · English edition · human review not performed