Amarinder inaugurates World's first Partition Museum; dedicates it to nation

Amritsar, Aug 17 : Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh today inaugurated the world’s first Partition Museum as a tribute to the sacrifices of the millions of people who lost their lives and homes in the Partition of the country in 1947 with a call for learning lessons from history to ensure that such a sad event was never repeated in any part of the world. Capt Singh unveiled the plaque of the museum -- an initiative of The Arts and Cultural Heritage Trust or TAACHT, at a special commemoration ceremony which scripted the observation of August 17 as the Partition Remembrance Day. A minute of silence was observed after the ringing of a bell at the historic Town Hall, where the Museum has been built. The Chief Minister dedicated the Museum, developed in collaboration with the state government, to the nation on the occasion. In a speech, Capt Singh lauded the efforts of Lord Meghnad Desai in giving shape to the first-of-its-kind museum, which had 'recreated a very said chapter of our history.' The museum, along with The Azadi Memorial in Jalandhar and similar initiatives, would serve to help the younger generations know and understand their past and learn from it, said Capt Singh, adding that no nation could do well without learning their lessons from history. He said while for the younger generation, those days of the Partition had been reduced to statistics, those who went through it had many sad and grim memories of those times. The museum, he said, would help the youngsters actually see and experience one of the greatest migrations in history. He recalled his own memories of the partition, when, as a young boy, he was coming back home from his boarding school in Shimla in a train and had pushed the curtain aside to see bodies lying at one of the stations. It was a memory still etched in his mind, he added. UNI