Editing Sialkot (section)

====Partition====
The couplet and religiopolitical slogan '''[[Pakistan Ka Matlab Kya La Ilaha Illallah|Pakistan ka matlab kya, La Illaha Il-Allah]]''' ({{langx|ur|{{Nastaliq|پاکستان کا مطلب کیا لاالہ الا اللہ}}}} — ; ''lit.'' ''What does Pakistan mean?... [[Shahada|There is no God but Allah]]'') was a couplet and political slogan coined in 1943 by Sialkot born and raised poet [[Pakistan Ka Matlab Kya La Ilaha Illallah|Asghar Sodai]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Ayres |first=Alyssa |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FddJQi1dQ30C&pg=PA194 |title=Speaking Like a State: Language and Nationalism in Pakistan |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-521-51931-1 |page=194}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2007-08-14 |title=An unsung national hero |url=https://www.dawn.com/news/261147/an-unsung-national-hero |access-date=2024-12-08 |website=DAWN.COM |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Asghar Sodayee, The Creator Of Famous Pakistan Movement Slogan |url=https://www.urdupoint.com/en/pakistan/asghar-sodayee-the-creator-of-famous-pakista-1511652.html |access-date=2024-12-08 |website=UrduPoint |language=en}}</ref> The slogan became a battle cry and greeting for the [[Muslim League (Opposition)|Muslim League]], which was struggling for an [[Pakistan Movement|independent country for the Muslims of South Asia]], when [[World War II]] ended and the independence movement geared up.<ref>{{cite book |last=Ḥasan |first=Khālid |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SgxlAAAAMAAJ&q=Pakistan+ka+matlab+kya |title=Remembrances |publisher=Vanguard |year=2001 |isbn=9789694023526 |accessdate=29 October 2018}}</ref> This slogan shows the religious identity of Pakistan too.<ref>{{cite book |last=Ayres |first=Alyssa |title=Religion and Conflict in South and Southeast Asia: Disrupting Violence |publisher=Routledge |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-134-15306-0 |editor1=Linell E. Cady |page=111 |chapter=Religious Violence beyond Borders |editor2=Sheldon W. Simon |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ccJ8AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA111}}</ref>

The first communal riots between Hindus/Sikhs and Muslims took place on 24 June 1946,<ref name="azadi">{{cite book|last1=Nahal|first1=Chaman|title=Azadi|date=2001|publisher=Penguin Books India|isbn=9780141007502}}</ref> a day after the resolution calling for the establishment of Pakistan as a separate state. Sialkot remained peaceful for several months while communal riots had erupted in [[Lahore]], [[Amritsar]], [[Ludhiana]], and [[Rawalpindi]].<ref name="azadi"/> The predominantly Muslim population supported [[All-India Muslim League|Muslim League]] and the [[Pakistan Movement]].

While Muslim refugees had poured into the city escaping riots elsewhere, Sialkot's Hindu and Sikh communities began fleeing in the opposite direction towards India.<ref name="azadi"/> They initially congregated in fields outside the city, where some of Sialkot's Muslims would bid farewell to departing friends.<ref name="azadi"/> Hindu and Sikh refugees were unable to exit Pakistan towards Jammu on account of conflict in Kashmir, and were instead required to transit via Lahore.<ref name="azadi"/>