The Shiromani Akali Dal made the call to Sikhs to carry out a day of prayer in protest at any decision that would threaten the territorial integrity of the Punjab to the detriment of the Sikhs.

Reuters reported on the developments as follows:

“SIKHS WEAR BLACK ARMBANDS IN PROTEST AGAINST PARTITION

NEW DELHI, 8 July 1947

India’s 5,700,000 Sikhs, most of whom live in the Punjab, wore black armbands as they prayed in their Gurdwaras (temples) today in protest against the threat to split their community under the British Plan for India.

In growing alarm at the possibility of their people being split by partition of the Punjab, Sikh leaders West of the provisional partition line are urgently endeavouring to impress about 1,500,000 Sikhs in rural areas with what they consider a danger to the existence of the community.

The protest day of prayer passed quietly in the Punjab, according to reports so far received.

Gurdwara congregations approved a resolution declaring that “any partition that did not secure the integrity and solidarity of the Sikhs would be unacceptable and create a difficult situation”.

Leaders of the Shiromani Akali Dal, leading Sikh religious and political organisation which sponsored the protest day, said that though they did not wish to disturb the Punjab’s precarious situation they felt something must be done to arouse the Sikhs to effective protest before the Boundary Commission declares its findings.

Black-bearded, blue-turbaned, carrying three-foot curved swords like walking canes, the Organisation’s Acting President, Amar Singh Dosanj, and General Secretary Amar Singh Ambalvi, said there could be no peace in the Punjab if the Sikhs were dissatisfied by the partition.

They declared a boundary on the River Chenab was their minimum demand adding that when the Sikhs asked for partition of the Punjab they had in mind the separation of preponderently Moslem areas from the rest of the Punjab.

Hindu and Sikh shops in Old and New Delhi remained closed today as a mark of protest.

Addressing a meeting Sardar Baldev Singh, Defence Member of the Interim Goverment said Sikhs should be prepared to make all sacrifices if the verdict of the Boundary Commission went against them.

Sikhs had accepted the British statement of June 3 but acceptance never meant they should acquiesce in decisions which threatened their very existence, he declared.
Sikhs had a great stake in the fertile canal zone in the Moslem majority area, he said, and in their sacred Gurdwaras.

The percentage of taxes they paid and the property they held should be taken into account before the boundaries were fixed, he added.

The Referendum whether to join the new Pakistan Constituent Assembly or the existing India Constituent Assembly began today in four more districts of the North West Frontier Province — Peshawar, Mardan, Kohat and Bannu.

In the other two districts, Hazara and Dera Ismail Khan, it start [s] on Sunday.
The Referendum is proceeding peacefully.”

Source: ‘Sikhs Wear Black Armbands in Protest Against Partition’, Report from Reuter Indian Service, New Delhi, 8 July 1947, cited in Nicholas Mansergh & Penderel Moon (eds.), Transfer of Power, vol. XII, p. 17-18