1293S

However, the British adopted secular approach towards the religious affairs of the
local communities. According to Dushka H. Saiyid, if the British supported any one
of the existing religions in the Punjab, it would have displeased the other religious
communities . 67
The Punjab, when the British annexed it in 1849 had already been divided into
urban and rural populations with a variety of religions. 68 The Muslims, Hindus and
Sikhs were scattered with a diverse proportion throughout the region. All of them had
been rulers of the Punjab. With the fluctuating proportion, the non-Muslims were
overwhelmingly concentrated in the eastern, Muslims in the western and a slight
balance in the central districts but overall, the Muslims were in a majority in these
areas. The urban life during the British period was a facilitated and well aware of the
historical realities, politics, business, education and other avenues of life. This
awareness proved fatal as far as the Muslim-Sikh relations are concerned under the
communitarian identity and was later transmuted into communalism. The political
leadership coming from the rural areas was capacious due to congenial traditions of
mutual harmony but remained confined to personal gains while the urban leadership
was more concerned with the majority-minority question. The communalism was a
spontaneous outcome of the political contest for power. Such contests grew in
significance as the British authorities steadily introduced the representative politics
from the 1860s onwards. The political demands most of the time were conflicting in
nature to each other. The new educational, political and constitutional reforms
engaged the locals in securing the maximum communitarian benefits.
The rural areas wherein a vast majority of the proportion resided retained
partly the character of a liberal society. The role of saints and cultural bonds in this
regard seems a potent factor in the peaceful arrangements nevertheless, the religious
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