Train to Pakistan

A young Sikh who was educated abroad, Iqbal Singh is now a left-wing political activist who comes to the rural village of Mano Majra to educate and organize the people there. From the moment of his arrival, he is viewed with suspicion by the people of the village, with the exception of Sikh leader Meet Singh. The kindness the Sikh leader shows is the only comfort Iqbal has when his stay in the village turns into turmoil. He is arrested, framed as a member of the militant Muslim League, and forced to work with his polar opposite, Jugga, in order to return to the village. While Iqbal does not have significant personal relationships with any of the other characters, his inner conflict between his convictions, his fear, and his issues with the culture he finds himself in, drives his decisions throughout the book. He is one of the four main characters, and as such his fate is left unknown, along with the identity of the man on the railway tracks.

The local magistrate, Hukum Chand is a political animal who has spent most of his career trying to keep up appearances. He is very willing to bend ethical boundaries in the service of his job, and he sets the events of the novel into motion when he chooses to frame Jugga and Iqbal and release the actual culprits in the murder of Lala Ram Lal. While he is an unsympathetic character and commits many unethical acts, he is humanized by his connection to the young prostitute, Haseena, who he is shocked to see is the same age as his late daughter. When he begins to fear for her safety as the situation in Mano Majra rages out of control, he is forced to take bold action and release the very men he framed. Filled with guilt over his actions, his fate is unknown as he is one of the men who might have sabotaged the rope on the bridge and paid the ultimate price.

The local Sikh leader, Meet Singh lives a comfortable life in the temple. While he is not a particularly learned man, he has taken on the aura of a wise man and, as such, many Sikhs in the village come to him for advice. He is a kind and hospitable man, and is the only person in the village who welcomes Iqbal with open arms; in fact the young visitor finds his offers of food a bit overwhelming. Meet Singh plays a more prominent role in the latter half of the novel, as he becomes the staunchest defender of the community’s Muslim population. He is horrified by the attack proposed by the visiting militants, and attempts to dissuade the Sikh community from them, but to no avail. Due to his age, it is perhaps unlikely that he would be the man sabotaging the rope at the end of the book, but his strongly held convictions mean he can’t be discounted.

Imam Baksh is the local Muslim leader and the father of Nooran. His wife and son are deceased, and he is mostly blind. Despite his age and disability, he is widely respected in the community. However, it is implied that he is a very traditional man, as his daughter fears he will kill her if he finds out she is pregnant outside marriage. He is a practical man, resigned to the fact that his community will have to leave to guarantee their own safety.

Nooran is Imam Baksh’s daughter and Jugga’s beloved. Despite the taboo on romantic relationships between Muslims and Sikhs, Nooran and Jugga plan to run away to be together. Their plans are complicated by both the growing religious conflict and Nooran’s pregnancy. She only appears in a few scenes, but her role is significant due to her intense connection to one of the main characters. After leaving a message with Jugga’s mother, she is assumed to be on the train that proceeds safely to Pakistan.

A young Muslim prostitute and performer who is guarded by her fierce grandmother, Haseena is brought to perform for Hukum Chand, who becomes fascinated with her. She is roughly 16 and about the same age as his late daughter. The connection they form, which is only partially sexual and as much rooted in Chand’s desire to protect her like the daughter he lost, is the driving force behind Chand’s change of heart in the latter part of the book. She is assumed to be on the train that proceeds safely to Pakistan.

The subinspector is one of Hukum Chand’s subordinates and a go-between for the government and the local police, at the start of the novel he is a respected and upright individual. However, as Chand’s orders him to undertake more questionable acts, he becomes harsher and more corrupt himself. The subinspector represents the ability of brutal circumstances to corrupt ordinarily decent men into doing things they never previously would have considered possible.

A cruel and ruthless gang leader and long-time rival of Jugga’s, he sets the plot into motion by murdering a prominent citizen of the village. When circumstances conspire to allow him to escape justice for his crimes, he and his gang take advantage of the opportunity to dominate the people of Mano Majra, loot the village, and eventually join the planned assault on the train that is ultimately foiled by one man’s sacrifice.