Hindu and Christian refugees in India – two sides of the same coin – II

(After the First Part)

Ellen Bal wrote an article ‘ Becoming the Garos of Bangladesh: Policies of Exclusion and the Ethnicisation of a ‘Tribal’ Minority’

…..Amongst the Garos of Bangladesh we may broadly distinguish four categories on the basis of habitat. The large majority reside in the most northern fringe of what used to be called Greater Mymensingh, bordering the Indian state of Meghalaya. A second category (some 15 percent) live in the Modhupur forest. A third segment are those who in the years after the Partition of 1947 moved to the tea estates and pan plantations in Sylhet (north-eastern Bangladesh, bordering the Khasi Hills in India). The fourth, evergrowing sub-section are those Garos who migrated to the larger towns and cities such as Mymensingh, Dhaka and Chitta-gong.

…..On the eve of Partition, the PEA came to play a central role in the attempts of a number of politically-active low land Garos, the selfstyled A’chik Shongho, to have their ‘homeland ’ included in India. They wanted, in the words of formerA’chik Shongho general secretary Arun Gagra, ‘that our PEA should be amalgamated with Assam. We didn’t want to remain in Pakistan because we have most social similarity with the hill people’.The A’chik Shongho members raised money to send a ‘Garo delegation’ to Calcutta to meet members of the Partition Boundary Commission—but only low land Garos took part.

Monendra, one of its members, recalls:

We sent our demands to the commissioner of the Division Committee. Radcliffe was in charge of this area. He was in Calcutta, so we went there to meet the committee …. There was a lawyer who dealt with the objections about the Partition. We met him and he listened very carefully. He tried his best but did not manage to settle the matter. Radcliffe said that this was a very small area without a special boundary, so it was not possible to attach the area to India.

The story is confirmed by an unpublished report of members of the Boundary Commission. Two of its Muslim members wrote:

A claim has been made on behalf of a minor non-Muslim organization that the non-Muslim portion of the Partially Excluded Areas located on the northern side of Mymensingh district in East Bengal should be excluded from East Bengal and added to the Garo Hills area of Assam. The main ground for this claim is that this area is inhabited by tribes who have not much in common with the residents of the remaining part of East Bengal, but have racial, social, and economicties with the tribes inhabiting the Garo Hills. But the bid failed.

On 15 August 1947, the Garos of Bengal became citizens of the newly-established Dominion of Pakistan. The Boundary Commission had found no reason to take the Garo claim into consideration. Nevertheless, their territorial link with the PEA continued to play a vital role in the self-perception of the Garos.

Unwelcome in East Pakistan

According to the 1951 census, only some 40,000 Garos lived within the borders of East Pakistan. Documentation about the Mymensingh border during the first months after Partition is scarce, and only a few elderly Garos have any clear recollections of the period. Yet it seems that, compared to other parts of the Bengal border land, this area remained relatively undisturbed for some years to come.Slowly, however, the Garos were confronted with the fact that they had become a tiny minority in an overwhelmingly Muslim, Bengali-dominated society. At the same time, the cosy relationship between the Christian missionaries and the state was severed. While the missionaries had been in a relatively influential position earlier, they now were confronted with a suspicious state—despite their efforts to demonstrate a pro-Pakistan attitude. In 1952, three criminal cases were filed against foreign Catholic missionaries in Haluaghat and Durgapur accusing them of forcing Muslim converts (Garos) to return to Christianity.

Although the sparse data (occasional interview fragments, missionary documents, and administrative notes) suggest that the situation in the border area remained comparatively calm, life never returned to what it had been before Partition. Fear and insecurity became a constant factor in the lives of Bengal’s Garos. An elder Garo informant told us that after the Partition we knew that it would become difficult for non-Muslim people to live in East Pakistan. The leaders of the Muslim League spoke openly that everyone in East Pakistan had to become Muslim, or leave the country’.

1964: The Great Exodus

At the beginning of 1964, northern Mymensingh witnessed a sudden influx of Bengali refugees from Assam, followed by Bengalis from other parts of Mymensingh (such as Gafargaon, Kishorganj, Trisal, and Nandail). Although the inflow had begun in 1963, it increased dramatically in early 1964 when India and East Pakistan witnessed new outbursts of communal violence. In the wake of these riots, East Pakistan took in more than a million Muslim refugees from the Indian states of West Bengal,Tripura, and Assam.

The arrival of Bengali new comers coincided with thi every and intimidation of the local non-Muslim population and with illegal settlements on their lands. Rumours rapidly spread throughout the border area that more Bengalis would come to rape and kill. Within one month, almost all the Garos from the border area had fled (with the exception of the people from Durgapur thana). Haluaghat thana, where I conducted most of my field research, was seriously affected by the disturbances. Villagers’ stories tell of an influx of Muslim Bengali refugees from India; the arrival of landless Muslim Bengalis from other places in East Pakistan; illegal occupations; illegal settlements on the land of local non-Muslim people; robbery;the spread of rumours; and intimidation (with a strong communal flavour) by the newly-arrived Bengalis, local Bengalis, and representatives of the state ( East Pakistan Rifles, paramilitary Ansars, and police).

When news reached the villagers that the East Pakistan Rifles (EPR) had been shooting at the Garos fleeing across the border, the villagers gathered on the Catholic mission compound and decided to leave. Within one day, on 5 February 1964, almost all the Garos left—leaving behind the Muslim Bengalis.

A Garo informant recounted the events of the day :

The next day, we found all surrounding houses and villages occupied by [Bengali] refugees. Not a single house was left unoccupied. The same day, Bengalis from Trisal, Nandail, Kishorganj and Gafargaon arrived by buses and trucks. I don’t know how they got the news so quickly. The whole day they continued to arrive.

In India, the Garo refugees were housed in camps. Conditions were bad. Many people fell ill and died. Local Garos encouraged the refugees to stay, and both missionaries and the Indian government took steps to rehabilitate them and provided financial support. Nevertheless, many did not want to stay in India. After two or three months, people started, slowly and hesitantly, to return. The newsletter ‘ Chronicles of Biroidakuni Mission’ reported: ‘there is a state of restlessness very noticeable in those who have returned to stay and in those who went back to the hills. They seem to be going in circles’. Our informants provided several reasons for this behaviour. They wanted to escape the dire conditions in the camps but many also wanted to return to the place they considered home: ‘It was our motherland, and we had lands here. That is why we came back.

Garos refer to the 1963 –64 events as a conscious attempt by the Pakistan government, in the words of one informant, ‘to drive the tribals out of this area’. ‘After the eviction of the Hajongs (in 1950) they now wanted to kick out the Garos’. Another Garo contended that the government had been behind the lootings and sup-pression of the Garos and other minorities in the border area. Available documents support the suggestion that state agencies, such as the East Pakistan Rifles, the para-military Ansar, and the police played an active role in the suppression and intimidation of the Garos and that the leniency of the central government allowed the situation to escalate. For example, after a visit to the border area, the Archbishop of Dhaka wrote in his yearly Easter message in March 1964:

I was aware of the danger long ago, and I warned the Government of what was likely to happen if strict measures were not taken to stop these injustices. Unfortunately, my warnings were not heeded. I have spent a great deal of time during these months in the border area,trying to keep our people from going away. You would not believe that such things could happen in such a short time.

Remarkably in light of these atrocities, the Pakistan government finally invited the Garos to return—literally called on them to do so through loudspeakers installed on the border. This sudden change in state attitude was probably caused by international pressure. On other levels, however, a more aggressive state attitude towards the non-Muslim population of northern Mymensingh developed after 1964. For example the ‘Enemy Property Ordinance’ ruled that the property of Indian nationals and East Pakistanis residing in India was forfeit to the Pakistan government. People who had their lands declared ‘Enemy Property’ were forced to spend a great deal of money on court cases. Meanwhile lands belonging to non-returnees were occupied by Bengalis, whether illegally or under the ordinance. It has been argued that the law was strategically (mis)used against all non-Muslim inhabitants of East Pakistan (and later of Bangladesh).

After 1965, foreign missionaries were no longer allowed to work in the border area. In practice, this meant that particularly the Garos of Mymensingh (living in a border-land) lost their support. Contemporary Garos often point to 1964 as the turning point between good and bad times, between the days when they were left to themselves and the days of Bengali Muslim domination. Only then did all the Garos put aside their differences and come to realise that they were one and the same people.

An informant recalled :

In 1964, the Mandi [i.e., Garo] people got in trouble for the first time.These problems were the same for all groups and everyone had to flee to India. During those days, all Mandis became united. They realised that they were the same people. Since then they have not cared about who is an Atong or a Megam. Before that, we maintained no relationships with Megam and Atong.

 

On 6 April 1964 Union Minister Sri Meher Chand Khanna said in the Parliament: 

When I went  to the Garo Hills and I saw a large number of refugees there, I talked to them, and some of them told me these things. A very respected padiri told me that, “We were told six months ago that ‘You may sow the harvest, but you shall never be allowed to reap it.”

I have on my right side a colleague of mine who three or four months ago came and told me that this was what he had heard about the happenings in East Pakistan. Even then one may accept or may not accept at face value the statement of these unfortunate people who have told me that there is a deliberate policy of throwing out the minorities from East Pakistan.

A Report to the Indian Commission of Jurists by its Committee of Enquiry on Recurrent Exodus of Minorities from East Pakistan and Disturbances in India in 1965 . It was comprised of President :  M.C. Setalvad, Vice-President :  N.C. Chatterji General Secretary :  Purshottam Trikamdas, Treasurer :  S.T. Desai, Joint Secretaries :  I.N. Shroff , S.P. Varma ; Executive Council :  Justice S.M. Sikri  C.K. Daphtary Justice S.K. Das , G.S. Pathak and Naunit Lai . I quote here some extract of the report ( part 3 chapter 8 Mymensing District) .

Rev. N.A. Kirkwood, Liaison Officer for Church World Service in his report of a survey of Garo Hills Refugee Camps, made in March, 1964 says

“ A book could be written on the atrocities, shooting, bayoneting, baton attacks and raping inflicted by the East Pakistan Rifles and Ansar personnel of the East Pakistan border forces upon the fleeing refugees. Stories of looting and of the abduction of tribal maidens by Muslim men of the area are common. More could be written concerning reasons for the fear and insecurity which caused this mass exodus of these minority groups into the Garo Hills from this border strip of East Pakistan.”

There are similar reports in the World Press ranging from Argentina to West Germany which mention the mass migration from Mymensingh District into the Garo Hills of Assam.

The southern border of Assam (India) coincides with the northern border of Mymensingh District. The northern part of Mymensingh District which is also hilly is inhabited by various tribes like Marak, Sangma and Momin, which are largely Christians. There are also the Hajongs who contain a mixture of Christians and non-Christians. There are also the Hindu tribes of Rajbansis, Kochs and Kacharis. These tribals live mostly in the hills but there are some who inhabit the plains, south of the hills.

In this area also the general insecurity had been existing for a considerable time but the large scale atrocities which began in early January in Khulna and the other southern districts and in Dacca District from January 13, 1964, spread to the district of Mymensingh in the middle of January 1964, resulting in large scale attacks on these unfortunate tribal as largely composed of Christians.

The first wave of migrants entered the Garo Hills of Assam on January 18, 1964, most of these being Christians. Soon the attention of the world became focused on this migration. The World Press reported it widely, because by the end of February 80,000 refugees had crossed into Assam. It may be mentioned here that the exodus of Christians in large numbers led some foreign correspondents to go to Tura, where the fleeing refugees were being received and housed in an improvised camp.

On February 6, 1964, a large group of about 3,000 refugees started for India. These were from villages close to the border. They were ambushed on the way and fired upon, and only 1500 managed to cross the border. Many of these injured were treated for gun-shot wounds in Tura hospital. How many of the 1500 were killed is not possible for us to determine but the witnesses who managed to cross the border on that fateful day described a large scale shooting by the Pakistani police or the East Pakistan Rifles in which many people were killed and many more were injured.

Seeing that these unfortunate people were driven out of their homes and told to leave Pakistan, it is difficult to understand why the shooting took place. It is possible, as the large scale exodus of Christians had aroused a tremendous interest in the Christian World, as reflected by the World Press, that the authorities in Pakistan wanted to stop a further exodus. And if that was the intention, it could only be achieved by stopping the harassment and the attacks on the villagers. However, that was not done and the exodus continued unabated. It may be mentioned that the attacks which began in January 1964, were led by members of the E.P.R., the police, the Ansars and the Chairmen and Members of the Union Councils.

On February 7, 1964, the Chief Secretary of Pakistan was informed about the firing by a telegram by the Assam Government. The Ministry of External Affairs of India presented a formal note to the Deputy High Commissioner of Pakistan on February 13, 1964, in which the shooting was referred to as “ cold blooded murder” (column 2578, 2579, *Lok Sabha Debates, Wednesday, February 26, 1964).

The World Press also reported the reasons for this exodus.

The Observer (U. K.) February 23, 1964, published a despatch by James Mitchell datelined, Tura, February 22, 1964,

In this despatch reference had been made to James Wood, Baptist from Lincoln, Nebraska, and Julius Downs from New York City, both missionaries who had lived in Garo Hills for more than 10 years. These two confirmed the stories of the refugees mentioned in the despatch. The despatch also mentions Father Antoni Buccieri, a Sicilian priest heading the Roman Catholic Mission in Tura, since 1939. All these missionaries agreed that the refugees had been driven out of Pakistan.

It says

‘ Once their homes and their crops have been taken’ said Downs, “ What else could they do ? They had to run away.” Father Buccieri says most of the Roman Catholics still in the area had to be regrouped in one place, where they hope to get better protection. Economic reasons as well as religious intolerance may have played a part in the persecution. Mymensingh District is one of the most over crowded districts and driving out the ‘foreigners’ was probably a means of recovering land for the Muslims” .

The Daily San (Australia) February 22, 1964 says :

“ A Garb Baptist missionary said he and other Christian villagers from Nalitabari in Mymensingh District of East Pakistan fled into India when mobs set neighbouring villages on fire on January 19, 20 and 21, 1964.”

The Sunday Telegraphs (U. K.) February 23, 1964 published following abstract from its New Delhi correspondent :

About 35,000 Pakistani Christians including children from border areas between Mymensingh in East Pakistan and the Garo Hills District of Assam have been fleeing from alleged religious intolerance for the past month” .

The Globe and Mail (Canada), March 2, 1964: refers to

the despatch from Dacca which said, “ Calls for ‘Jehad’ or holy war against infidels are being shouted.”

Similarly, The Nepali, March 3, 1964, in its leading article says :

“ As a result of ‘Jehad’ against the minorities in East Pakistan for the last two months or so, news has been coming about the flight of the afflicted people in large number as refugees.

 

 Sri Chapalakanta Bhattacharyya (MP, Congress)said in the Lok Sabha on 6 April, 1964 on this vital issue: – 

Today, rehabilitation looms large before our eyes. Therefore, that part of the Ministry’s work occupies our attention more than the other obligations that it has to discharge.When the Rehabilitation Ministry by itself was closed and the responsibilities of that Ministry were merged with those of the Ministry of Works and Housing, it was expected and it was anticipated that perhaps the exodus from East Pakistan had come to a close. But, today we find our expectations and our anticipations all belied. The exodus has begun again, and this is the fourth exodus after the Partition. Let us have no illusion on that score. This is the last and the final phase of the Pakistani minorities coming over to India. This exodus is not going to stop. and Pakistan will see that the exodus does not stop till East Pakistan is completely exhausted of its minorities as West Pakistan has been. That is the position today, and We should be all awake to it, and we should entertain no illusion on the score that the minorities there will have any more chance to stay there and live a life with social peace, honour and security, I may go further and say that this time what Pakistan is doing is a declaration of a total war on the minorities in East Bengal. In the previous three exoduses that took place, only the Hindu minorities were affected, but this time, the Hindus, the Christians and the Buddhists, in fact, all the ,non-Muslim minorities of Pakistan are affected and uprooted and are being pushed out. This is a total war, and our arrangements should be on a war footing. That is my request to the hon. Minister and he may kindly give his attention to this.

When the Tibetans were ousted by the Chinese, India offered them a hospitable home. When East Pakistan minorities are going to be entirely ousted by the Pakistan Government. India has again to offer a hospitable shelter to them. That is our duty. That is a duty which it is not merely a human obligation, but here is an additional obligation under which this should be done, for these are the people who fought with us for the Independence of India.

In fact, East Pakistan has been a fertile ground for producing revolutionaries who fought and sacrificed themselves from generation to generation so that India might be free. If the jails could reveal their tale, if the Andaman Islands could reveal their tale, what they did and what they sacrificed and what their families had suffered from generation and generation could be recorded. Then, again, they sacrificed themselves further when the question of· Independence was staked against Partition. They accepted that sacrifice for themselves so that India might have a free government and India might be a free country. So, that obligation also rests on us, and we must see that that obligation is discharged.

Only a few days back, this House passed a resolution to the effect that world opinion should be made awake to its duty to the oppressed minorities of Pakistan. In fact, world opinion has already been drawn to this matter.

Our Ambassador in Washington, Shri B N Chakravarty while making a statement in the Security Council on March 17th, on Kashmir, drew the attention of the Security Council to this aspect of the present difficulties of India, and, said:

“Members of the Security Council are even now witnessing the large exodus of minorities from East Pakistan into India. It is only with the flight, this time of the Christian minorities of East Pakistan, that the Western countries are now becoming aware of the tragedy that is being enacted there. A reign of terror for the minorities has been let loose in East Pakistan which the Government of Pakistan is either unable or unwilling to control. Acts of violence, deprivation of property, assault on women, etc., have become the order of the day in East Pakistan. There is a daily influx of over 3,000 refugees who are fleeing Pakistan because of calculated persecution and continued insecurity as regards their life and property. This, of course, is not a matter before the Council. We realise that, but India is faced with the prospect of hundreds and thousands of refugees pouring into India from East Pakistan.. The Government and people or India are directing their resources and energies towards meeting this tremendous human problem and are undertaking measures for rehabilitation and resettlement of this unfortunate people fleeing from persecution by Pakistan. My Government believe that first things must come first. The dimensions of the problem are assuming more and more & staggering proportions every day and are a source of grave concern to my Government….

This was what our Ambassador stated in the Security Council, drawing the attention of that world organisation to the colossal tragedy that is now being enacted In Pakistan . In making this statement, Ambassador Chakravarty did not overstate the facts, but I should say that rather he understated them, because the Minister of Rehabilitation here states that·-

the influx from Pakistan is of the order of 5000 per day, whereas the figure given in Ambassador Chakravarty’s statement is mere 3000 per day. Perhaps, he had not the latest figures with him, and that was why he has given a lower figure .

The Minister of Works, Housing and Rehabilitation (Shri Mehr Chand Khanna) : My hon. friend is quite right. .

Shri C. K. Bhattacharyya: . In any Case, the case of the East Pakistan minorities is already before the Security Council, and if they want, they may take cognisance of it. When I deal with this aspect, I am reminded of a talk that I had with Gandhiji while he was in Noakhali. The people were fleeing Noakhali under oppression. I met Gandhiji at .Srirampur, and we had a talk on this aspect of the matter. Gandhijl said, ‘This is a land of gold. Why are the people going out? Just ask them to stay and stop this exodus.’. I told Gandhlji , ‘This exodus can be stopped in a minute’. He asked me, ‘How?’.

I said: “If you can persuade the leaders of the people here to talk to the local people in the same language in which you and Pandit Nehru are talking to the Hindus of Bihar, this exodus will stop immediately’.  He heard it. He was taking his glass of fruit juice. He sank back in the pillow, and gave an answer which made me feel that he thought it next to impossible. That was the situation when he was in Noakhali and the situation has not improved. Rather, it has worsened during the last 17 years.

In. fact, when propaganda for Pakistan was carried on in East Bengal, the slogan was that if Pakistan was established, the majority community people of East Bengal would get possession of all that the non-Muslims population in East Pakistan had got.

That idea was injected into their minds when Pakistan was created, and that idea is bearing fruit now, and we see the result that these people are being thrown out. I wish to repeat that these minorities in Pakistan are now beyond the pale of law, they are virtual outlaws and, as I find from the report of the statement sent by the West Bengal Government to the Central Government, published in the newspapers this morning, they are in the position of slaves. No one can stay there. These are the proud people who brought independence to India. How can we expect that they can stay there under these persecutions and suppression, when the honour of not even women is safe? That position we have to consider now, and We have to take suitable measures to meet the situation. feel this is a challenge by Pakistan thrown to humanity. In all propriety, it should be judged in that way. It is not merely a question of exodus, it is not merely a question for India to tackle. They are transgressing all laws, including the laws of humanity, and that is the position which has arisen now, and which should be faced now.

In the twentieth century, we see this colossal tragedy enacted before us. and we are almost helpless witness of what is happening. At times the question arises in my mind ,where is the strength because of which Pakistan feels that she can throw this challenge to humanity?

That is the question of questions. I believe the strength that it derives lies in the support that it receives from Britain and USA , more from USA than from Britain.  Pakistan has got armaments worth more than. Rs. 3,000 crores from USA . Fifty per cent of its annual military budget is borne by USA, and as the situation is, the entire social and political structure of that State is being upheld by fund, supplied from USA. From that position of strength, it feels it can throw a challenge to humanity and do whatever it likes with its minorities, no matter whatever the suffering and whatever the reactions. That is why they have thrown this gauntlet in the face of humanity.

 

 Sri Arun Chandra Guha ( MP, Congress, Barasat, West Bengal) in the Parliament on 18 June, 1952:- 

In this House a comparison was made yesterday between what has been done for refugees from West Pakistan and those from East Pakistan. I too would like to draw the attention of the Minister of Rehabilitation to the comparative State of affairs existing on both .sides. I do not for a moment suggest that enough has been done for the West Pakistan refugees or even the barest minimum has been done for them, but what little has been done for them has not even been attempted to be done for the East Pakistan refugees. Another difference between the two problems is that for West Pakistan refugees at least you have got an idea of the whole problem, the problem has more or less been stabilised. You know the size and the enormity of the problem.

But in the case of East Pakistan refugees you have not got even that. You do not know what will be their number. Twenty-five lakhs has been given as the number who have come from East Pakistan. Of course, I do not like to accept the number that has been mentioned. I think it should have been more. But even if I accept this number. there are yet 93 lakh Hindus in East Bengal and I think our Deputy High Commissioner in East Pakistan and our Minister of Minority Affairs would testify that our people in Eastern Pakistan are not in a position to continue there. They are not tolerated. I think our Government also will testify that it is the policy of the Pakistan Government to squeeze out the East Bengal Hindus. Only the other day, the Prime Minister admitted in the House that the Hindus in East Bengal were not getting a fair deal. I want to remind him of the assurance that he gave to the East Bengal Hindus that they would get security either in their own homeland or in the alternative in India. I am afraid the Prime Minister has not been able to give them that security which he assured them he would get for them in their own homeland. The only alternative left now is to give them security here. The Government of India should take charge of these 93 lakh Hindus from East Bengal. I say this with a sense of responsibility and with some inner knowledge about the state of affairs in East Bengal. I come from East Bengal myself, and there are many political friends of mine who are working in East Bengal. I have some connection with East Bengal, which cannot be easily cut off. Therefore, I know the state of affairs there.

Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee was mentioning about the detenus. Five hundred of them are Hindus and two thousand are Muslims. The whole attempt of the East Bengal Government is to crush progressive ideas and they feel that so long as the Hindus are there, they will act as the pioneers of progressive ideas. So they are determined to crush the Hindus. When the language movement began, I know for certain that the Hindus did not take part in it and yet the leaders of the Hindu community were detained While the Muslim leaders are being gradually released from detention, the Hindu leaders continue to be detained.

Considering all this we can conclude— it would not be possible for Hindus to stay there. These 93 lakh Hindus should be given some place of security in India, or let there be a declaration, definite and unequivocal, from this Government that it has absolved itself of all responsibility for them. It is no use giving dubious hopes to these people. The Prime Minister has called them our kith and kin, the bone of our bone and the flesh of our flesh. I would ask him to redeem the assurance of security that he gave them. I would ask him to remind himself of the pledge he gave them.

Lastly I would like to state that these refugees who have come and will be coming from East Bengal must be readily absorbed by other provinces. The Government should not allow provincial and parochial feelings to stand in the way of rehabilitating them. We have won our freedom through the sacrifice of these East Bengal Hindus, and the Hindus and Sikhs of the Punjab. They agreed to the partition, knowing full well that thereby they were likely to incur an enormous amount of suffering and humiliation. They were ready to undergo these sacrifices in order that the rest of India might be free. They expected that they would get some asylum, some sanctuary, somewhere in the other parts of India.Therefore, we should not forget our responsibility and our obligation towards these refugees. I again beg of this House and of the Government to see that these refugees are rehabilitated in other parts of India, because conditions in West Bengal are such that the province cannot take any more refugees.

 

1. K. Das (Contai, West Bengal ) said  in the Parliament on 21 March 1953

 

From that Survey I would like to read a few lines. They say:

“It is to be noted that the standard of literacy is much higher amongst the migrants than the prevailing standard amongst the population as a whole.”

 

On December 17, 1970 in the Lok Sabha  Sri Amiyanath Bose (Arambagh, West Bengal) said – 

Mr. Chairman, Sir, It is a tragic irony of history that after 23 years of independence this Parliament is considering a motion for rehabilitation of the East Pakistan refugees. You will forgive me, Sir, if I take my mind back to a period when this position was foreseen and the people of India and Bengal were warned of the consequences of partition by my father, Shri Sarat Chandra Bose. Recently, not very recently, a very eminent British historian in one of his books has written that some time in 1946 when he was meeting an important Congress leader that leader told him, and I quote ; “We are very tired; we cannot go to jail again. It is time that we come to power.”

Because certain Congress leaders were not willing to go to jail again. Bengal had to be sacrificed. For that the unity, the culture, economy of Bengal was sacrificed and India was betrayed. History will record them as traitors to our country.

In those tragic moments. we were still in the Congress. My father warned the people of Bengal and till the very last breath of his life he fought against the partition of India and partition of Bengal. In fact, I am reminded that almost half an hour before his death he was writing on the problems of East Bengal and the problems of East Pakistan refugees. It was only after he had completed signing the article which appeared the next morning in the paper, ‘The Nation’ that he had the heart attack and he was dead.

I do not believe that this Government will settle or rehabilitate the East Pakistan refugees. This Government is carrying on the tradition of those who destroyed the unity of India. This Government is the successor of those who destroyed the unity of Bengal. This Government is the successor of those who threw the entire East Bengal to the wolves, if I may borrow an expression from Badshah Khan.

It is fortunate that the people of East Pakistan have now reasserted themselves; perhaps, the madness of East Pakistan will now come to an end and we shall see a new horizon in East Pakistan. But apart from that has the Government of India performed its responsibilities? I remember those words of Sardar Patel; I remember those words of Pandit Nehru when he said that every East Pakistan refugee coming to India was a national responsibility. They did so in the midst of partition, when they were signing the partition agreement and were signing away the unity of India. At that time these Congress leaders told the people of East Pakistan that the life of every East Pakistan refugee was a national responsibility. Have we discharged that national responsibility? Has the Government discharged this national responsibility ? Today we are being told that we in Bengal believe in violence, that we in Bengal believe in Naxalite activities. You will permit me just to relate a story of mine.It is not a story. A gentleman comes with a letter from a person who belonged, I do not know whether he still belongs, to the extremist movement of Bengal. The young man comes into my room with a letter from that gentleman and says, “I have just passed out from the Shibpur Engineering College with a first class degree. My father died a month ago leaving my widowed mother and two young sisters. My father left no money. You are a Member of Parliament. Could you write to the West Bengal Government? I do not want a job of an engineer. If I could be made a peon in Writers Building, I could give some food to my sisters and widowed mother.” If this young man turns Naxalite. do you call him a criminal?

Therefore, I say that I really do not believe from the whole record of the last 23 years that the Government of India will solve the problem of rehabilitation of East Pakistan refugees. If this, Government does it- I hope, they will do it–they will have at least, even at this late hour, honoured the promise of leaders whose name they take every day.

Bengal is looking towards India. Bengal has made the greatest contribution for India’s independence. Bengal was sacrificed the most so that some people could get into power. Bengal demands justice.

The East Pakistan refugees demand justice. They do not want mercy; they demand justice. They want that the promises made at the time of independence of India and partition of the country should be fulfilled and the honour of India redeemed.

 

I refer the extract from the speech of the then Deputy Prime Minister Sardar Patel at the Jaipur session of the All India Congress Committee on the problem of East Bengal Hindus on December 17, 1948.

The problem of East Bengal is difficult. There are about 15 million Hindus there. They are weak and soft. The people of the Punjab were different. They were strong they could assert themselves and fight. The people of East Bengal are in a sad plight. Nobody wants to leave his own hearth and home without any reason. After all in India they would have to starve.

It is because conditions in which they live there are bad that they migrate to India. This was one of the important questions that was recently discussed at the Inter Dominion Conference, and let us hope that a satisfactory agreement will be reached. The issue is undoubtedly serious, and its seriousness has been made clear to Pakistan. The Hindus who have left East Bengal and are now in India as refugees must return there. India cannot undertake that burden and will be faced with serious problems if they were to remain here and others were to follow.

The Pakistan Government must create conditions for the peaceful stay of these persons in their own homes. They must protect them from harassment or persecution. They must be assured that their lives would not be in danger in Pakistan. I suggested some time ago that if the Hindus in very large numbers were made to leave East Bengal on account of unsatisfactory conditions created there, the Pakistan Government should provide additional space for their settlements. This suggestion was made as one of the methods of solution at this difficult problem by mutual discussions and agreement. It was not intended as a challenge or as an imposition by force.

I have no aggressive intentions against Pakistan, and I believe that the two Dominions must settle this problem amicably and by mutual discussions. I always desire peace. If I did not, I could not have spent a life with Gandhiji. I do not hesitate in saying that I feel, whether it displeases Hindus, Muslims or anybody else. I admit that I do so in blunt language, but to learn the proper language, I shall have to spend next birth also with Gandhiji. It is possible there may be other methods by which this problem can be solved, but if Pakistan has any alternative solution, she must put it down, so that we can discuss it amicably together. Whatever I am saying is not merely in the interests of the refugee, but also for the good of Pakistan. It is for Pakistan now to take concrete steps to solve the problem otherwise India cannot undertake the burden of these refugees and will be crushed under its weight.

 

Extract from the Speech of the then Deputy Prime Minister Sardar Vallabbhai Patel warning Pakistan if Hindus were driven out of East Bengal, it must part with sufficient land for their rehabilitation. ( Nagpur, November 4, 1948)

One problem alone is a sources of great worry to us. Lakhs of men are coming from East Bengal to West Bengal. What are we to do about it? When the Punjab was partitioned, Hindus and Sikhs came here and we are still shouldering the burden that has been thrown on us. They drove out Sindhis from the Sindh and Hindus and Sikhs from the North-West Frontier Province. The position in Frontier is such that those who sacrificed themselves for the sake of freedom have been clapped in jail. Patriots of the status of the Khan Brothers’ are imprisoned. There are 125 lakhs of Hindus in East Bengal. In the Punjab we could put the Hindus and Sikhs in place of Muslims who had left. What are we going to do about the Hindus from East Bengal? Think of the vast problem that has presented itself to us by this question. Do you feel we have any time to get involved in narrow provincialism, while this problem is increasing in its dimensions? How can we solve this problem? We have to tell Pakistan plainly that the problem should either be solved amicably or it is likely to prove a source of trouble between the two Dominions. We are ready for all eventualities. If you are determined to turn out Hindus, you must part with sufficient land to enable us to settle them. We cannot take things lying down.

 

Letter from the Minister of Judicial and Legislative Ministry, Government of West Bengal to Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru regarding interpretation of the Radcliffe Award on Sylhet.

 

Bombay (Camp), April 25, 1948.

Judicial & Legislative Ministry, Government of West Bengal, Camp Bombay.

April 25, 1948

My dear Pandit Ji,

As suggested by you yesterday, I am writing this to remind you of the points I discussed with you relating to the interpretation of the Radcliffe Award in respect of the south-western portion of the Sylhet district which comprises territories amounting to 1256 square miles, rich in tea and perhaps oil, and yielding a revenue of about Rs.1½ crores. This territory also forms a belt adjoining the north-western borders of the Tripura State including in it a portion of the Bengal- Assam Railway as well as Hindu majority areas from the point of view of population. The suggestions I would ask you kindly to consider for your early decision in this connection are as follows:

1. In view of the representations made fey the West Bengal Government with the support of their legal opinion followed also by the opinion of Kunwar Sir Duleep Singh, the interpretation of the Radcliffe Award advanced by the West Bengal Government and also subsequently forwarded by the Government of Assam should, in the first place, be unilaterally accepted by the Central Government apart from the question as to whether the Pakistan Government accept this interpretation or not.
2. It should be made known to the public by the Central Government as well as formally communicated  to the Government of Pakistan that according to the correct interpretation of the Radcliffe Award the area in question as the residual portion of the district of Sylhet belongs to the Indian Union although, it now happens to be under the possession of the Government of Eastern Pakistan.
3. Acceptance by the Central Government of this interpretation and their declaration, to this-effect should then be followed by concrete proposals to be thought of for implementing this interpretation.  Although, we may be aware of the fact that the Government of Pakistan will take a different view, that should be no reason for our not advancing this claim without any further loss of time.
4. The area in question being in the decided opinion of the West Bengal Government (a Cabinet decision was taken to this effect) a portion of the Indian Union, being exclusively a Bengali-speaking area, being a portion under the jurisdiction of the Bengal Provincial Congress Committee and being now one of the territories from which considerable number of refugees are arriving in the West Bengal Province, the Government of West Bengal should be recognised as vitally interested in these territories and as such should be asked to depute its representatives to form part of the Delegation on behalf of the Indian Union in any joint Commission of the Governments of India and Pakistan which may have to consider the matter.
5. I had a talk about the subject with the Hon’ble Shri G. N. Bardoloi, Premier of Assam, and as far as I understood he would welcome the Central Government including representatives of the West Bengal Government in any Delegation which may have to be formed in this connection, for negotiations. For, this subject would be entirely for the Central Government to deal with, although the territories in question form part of the province of Assam 6. Apart from any other consideration, acceptance by the Central Government of this interpretation of the Radcliffe Award will have a salutary effect on the morale of the populations inhabiting this area and help to check tendencies towards exodus to a large extent.

There are many other aspects of the question which justify the claim of the Indian Union to these territories being made immediately, irrespective of whether there is any chance of its implementation at present or not.

I press this so strongly because I have personally considered the matter most carefully and feel that I am justified in thinking that this claim sooner or later will be irresistible before any forum for mutual negotiations for amicable settlement of elsewhere. I do hope and trust you will kindly give an early decision but not an adverse one without, personally giving me a chance to argue out the whole case before you, if necessary. I hope you will kindly treat this matter as very urgent.

With kindest regards,

Yours sincerely

Niharendu Dutt Muzumdar

 

Note of Secretary, Ministry of Law commenting on the opinion of his Ministry on the interpretation of Radcliffe Award on Sylhet based on the suggestion of West Bengal Government.

 

New Delhi, May 27, 1948.

Subject: Disputed territory in the old District of Sylhet:Wrong interpretation of the Radcliffe Award.

The Cabinet at its meeting held on 6th May 1948 decided that the Ministry of Law, in consultation with the Legal Adviser of the Ministry of External Affairs and Commonwealth Relations should prepare and put up specific proposals on the above subject for consideration by the Cabinet. Accordingly the enclosed draft has been prepared by the Ministry of Law. In forwarding the draft to the Ministry of External Affairs and Commonwealth Relations the Ministry of Law have noted as follows:

1. After informal discussion with Sir Dalip Singh and Mr. S. Dutt, I have attempted a draft letter as directed by the Cabinet. I have however grave misgivings as to the immediate as well as the final making such an approach to Pakistan.
2. There can hardly be any doubt that this claim to set up “Q line” as the proper boundary between East Bengal and Assam will be rejected off-hand by Pakistan.  It is quite unlikely that Pakistan will even agree to a suggestion that this question of interpreting the terms of the award should be referred to the Joint Boundary Commission which has been agreed to by the Dominions for deciding a particular dispute. From Mr. Dutt’s note it appears that there will be some awkwardness in our suggesting it, since we have formerly rejected attempts on the part of Pakistan to bring other boundary disputes before this Commission. In the circumstances it is, I think, essential that we should, have a clear idea as to what our next step is going to be in the event of Pakistan summarily, and probably rudely, rejecting our claim.
3. We may perhaps be able to maintain before a legalistic tribunal that the wording of the award in paragraph 13 is final and conclusive and must be interpreted in the way we are seeking to interpret it, and that the statements in paragraphs 10, 11 and 12 of the Report  (of Radcliffe) are not decisive even if they are relevant. Once we admit that any statement contained in these three paragraphs actually defines the boundary notwithstanding its inconsistency with our present claim, we are bound to weaken our case. In my opinion, with all respect to Sir Dalip Singh’s arguments to the contrary, the substance of these three paragraphs read as a whole is likely to go against the interpretation we are now putting forward rather than in its favour.
4. For instance the first sentence of paragraph 10 of the Report reads: “Out of 35 thanas in Sylhet, 8 have non-Muslim majorities; but of these eight, two— Sulla and Ajmiriganj……. are entirely surrounded by preponderatingly Muslim areas, and must therefore go with them to East Bengal”.  It may be pointed out that a small part of the Ajmiriganj thana lies to the south of the straight line drawn due west of the starting point of the Radcliffe line. If we admit on the basis of the sentence quoted above that Sir Cyril Radcliffe had definitely decided to transfer this part to East Bengal, I am unable to see how we can lay any claim to “the preponderatingly Muslim areas” by which these two non-Muslim thanas of Sulla and Ajmiriganj are surrounded. These areas which according to the first sentence of paragraph 10 must go to East Bengal certainly include the thanas of Baniyachung, Lakhai, Madhabpur, Nabiganj, Habiganj, Chunarughat, and Bahubal, if not also Maulavi Bazar and Rajnagar (vide map). If we do not claim those thanas, it seems to me that the whole of the Q line theory will fall to the ground. It seems necessary, therefore, to stick to the view that even the apparently categorical statement in the first sentence of paragraph 10 of the report has not been given effect to in the award and hence is of no effect.
5. Then it seems to me that, although there is nothing to prevent making an attempt at argumentation, the general trend of paragraph 12 of the report is not in favour of our contention. In particular, it cannot be denied that the retention in Assam of the area south of the Q line will result in a very awkward severance of the railway lines within the old Sylhet district. It will also mean that communications with Sylhet town by rail from other parts of East Bengal will have to be across Assam territory.
6. For these reasons, therefore, I have preferred in my draft letter to rest the claim entirely on the wording of the award, and not on any arguments derivable from, or analysis of paragraphs 10, 11 and 12 of the Report. But I have no doubt in my mind that Pakistan will rely strongly on those paragraphs and contend that since there is a doubt, or at any rate a dispute, over the meaning of the award, these paragraphs must be looked into for the purpose of ascertaining the meaning of the award. In that very probable contingency the arguments contained in Sir Dalip Singh’s note will no doubt be of use.
7. If H.M. approves of the lines on which the letter to Pakistan has been drafted, I suggest that the file may be referred to the Ministry of External Affairs and Commonwealth Relations for any comments or suggestions they may like to make with regard to the draft. In particular, they may like to fill out the last paragraph, indicating the proposal that we should make to Pakistan in respect of our claim.

                                                                Sd/- K.V.K.Sundaram

                                                                           Secretary

                                                                              27.5.1948.

But ultimately we had lost Sylhet like Chittagong as well as the six thanas of Mymensing district. It was our fate, nothing else. who can give the answer of the question , who made the refugees leave their home ? Was Dr Triguna Sen  wrong saying ‘ …the transfer of Sylhet to Pakistan and already been secretly decided upon and accepted by the Congress High Command and also by many in the Assam Congress to reduce Bengalee element in Assam’s population ? We should acknowledge the the role of Rohini Kumar Choudhury, Assamese Congress leader,  who tried his best to retain Sylhet in India.

Minister Sri Jogendra Nath Mandal wrote this resignation letter to the Prime Minister of Pakistan Liaquat Ali Khan. ( source : Wikilivres )

My dear Prime Minister,

It is with a heavy heart and a sense of utter frustration at the failure of my life long mission to uplift the backward Hindu masses of East Bengal that I feel compelled to tender resignation of my membership of your cabinet. It is proper that I should set forth in detail the reasons which have prompted me to take this decision at this important juncture of the Indo-Pakistani subcontinent. It is to share just a truth.

 

1. Before I narrate the remote and immediate causes of my resignation, it may be useful to give a short background of the important events that have taken place during the period of my co-operation with the League. Having been approached by a few prominent League leaders of Bengal in February 1943, I agreed to work with them in the Bengal Legislative Assembly. After the fall of the Fazlul Haq ministry in March 1943, with a party of 21 Scheduled Caste M.L.A.s, I agreed to cooperate with Khwaja Nazimuddin, the then leader of the Muslim League Parliamentary Party who formed the Cabinet in April 1943. Our co-operation was conditional on certain specific terms, such as the inclusion of three Scheduled Caste Ministers in the Cabinet, sanctioning of a sum of Rupees Five Lakhs as annual recurring grant for the education of the Scheduled Castes, and the unqualified application of the communal ratio rules in the matter of appointment to Government services.

 

2. Apart from these terms, the principal objectives that prompted me to work in co-operation with the Muslim League was, first that the economic interests of the Muslims in Bengal were generally identical with those of the Scheduled Castes. Muslims were mostly cultivators and labourers, and so were members of the Scheduled Castes. One section of Muslims were fishermen, so was a section of the Scheduled Castes as well, and secondly that the Scheduled Castes and the Muslims were both educationally backward. I was persuaded that my co-operation with the League and its Ministry would lead to the undertaking on a wide scale of legislative and administrative measures which, while promoting the mutual welfare of the vas bulk of Bengal’s population, and undermining the foundations of vested interest and privilege, would further the cause of communal peace and harmony. It may be mentioned here that Khwaja Nazimuddin took three Scheduled Caste Ministers in his cabinet and appointed three Parliamentary Secretaries from amongst the members of my community.

 

SUHRAWARDY MINISTRY:

3. After the general elections held in March 1946 Mr. H.S.Suhrawardy became the leader of the League Parliamentary Party in March 1946 and formed the League Ministry in April 1946. I was the only Scheduled Caste member returned on the federation ticket. I was included in Mr. Suhrawardy’s Cabinet. The 16th day of August of that year was observed in Calcutta as ‘The Direct Action Day’ by the Muslim League. It resulted, as you know, in a holocaust. Hindus demanded my resignation from the League Ministry. My life was in peril. I began to receive threatening letters almost every day. But I remained steadfast to my policy. Moreover, I issued an appeal through our journal ‘Jagaran’ to the Scheduled Caste people to keep themselves aloof from the bloody feud between the Congress and the Muslim League even at the risk of my life. I cannot but gratefully acknowledge the fact that I was saved from the wrath of infuriated Hindu mobs by my Caste Hindu neighbours. The Calcutta carnage was followed by the ‘Noakhali Riot’ in October 1946. There, Hindus including Scheduled Castes were killed and hundreds were converted to Islam. Hindu women were raped and abducted. Members of my community also suffered loss of life and property. Immediately after these happenings, I visited Tipperah and Feni and saw some riot-affected areas. The terrible sufferings of Hindus overwhelmed me with grief, but still I continued the policy of co-operation with the Muslim League. Immediately after the massive Calcutta Killing, a no-confidence motion was moved against the Suhrawardy Ministry. It was only due to my efforts that the support of four Anglo-Indian Members and of four Scheduled Caste members of the Assembly who had hitherto been with the Congress could be secured, but for which the Ministry would have been defeated.

4. In October 1946, most unexpectedly came to me through Mr. Suhrawardy the offer of a seat in the Interim Government of India. After a good deal of hesitation and being given only one hour’s time to take my final decision, I consented to accept the offer subject to the condition only that I should be permitted to resign if my leader Dr. B.R. Ambedkar disapproved of my action. Fortunately, however, I received his approval in a telegram sent from London. Before I left for Delhi to take over as Law Member, I persuaded Mr. Suhrawardy, the then Chief Minister of Bengal, to agree to take two Ministers in his Cabinet in my place and to appoint two Parliamentary Secretaries from the Scheduled Case Federation Group.

5. I joined the Interim Government on November 1, 1946. After about a month when I paid a visit to Calcutta, Mr.Suhrawardy apprised me of the communal tension in some parts of East Bengal, especially in Gopalganj Sub-division, where the Namahsudras were in majority, being very high. He requested me to visit those areas and address meetings of Muslims and Namahsudras. The fact was that Namahsudras in those areas had made preparations for retaliation. I addressed about a dozen of largely attended meetings. The result was that Namahsudras gave up the idea of retaliation. Thus an inevitable dangerous communal disturbance was averted.

6. After a few months, the British Government made their June 3 Statement (1947) embodying certain proposals for the partition of India. The whole country, especially the entire non-Muslim India, was startled. For the sake of truth I must admit that I had always considered the demand of Pakistan by the Muslim League as a bargaining counter. Although I honestly felt that in the context of India as a whole Muslims had legitimate cause for grievance against upper class Hindu chauvinism, I held the view very strongly indeed that the creation of Pakistan would never solve the communal problem. On the contrary, it would aggravate communal hatred and bitterness. Besides, I maintained that it would not ameliorate the condition of Muslims in Pakistan. The inevitable result of the partition of the country would be to prolong, if not perpetuate, the poverty, illiteracy and miserable condition of the toiling masses of both the States. I further apprehended that Pakistan might turn to be one of the most backward and undeveloped countries of the South East Asia.

 

LAHORE RESOLUTION

7. I must make it clear that I have thought that an attempt would be made, as is being done at present, to develop Pakistan as a purely ‘Islamic’ State based on the Shariat and the injunctions and formulae of Islam. I presumed that it would be set up in all essentials after the pattern contemplated in the Muslim League resolution adopted at Lahore on March 23, 1940. That resolution stated inter alia that (I) “geographically contiguous areas are demarcated into regions which should be constituted with such territorial readjustments as may be necessary, that the areas in which the Muslims are numerically in majority as in the north-western and eastern zones of India, should be grouped to constitute independent States in which the Constituent units shall be autonomous and sovereign” and (II) “adequate, effective and mandatory safeguards should be specifically provided in the Constitution for minorities in these units and in these regions for the protection of their religious, cultural, political, administrative and other rights and interests in consultation with them.” Implicitly in this formula were (a) that North western and eastern Muslim zones should be constituted into two independent States, (b) that the constituent units of these States should be autonomous and sovereign, (c) that minorities’ guarantee should be in respect of rights as well as of interest and extend to every sphere of their lives, and (d) that Constitutional provisions should be made in these regards in consultation with the minorities themselves. I was fortified in my faith in this resolution and the professions of the League Leadership by the statement Qaid-e-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah was pleased to make on the 11th August 1947 as the President of the Constituent Assembly giving solemn assurance of equal treatment for Hindus & Muslims alike and calling upon them to remember that they were all Pakistanis. There was then no question of dividing he people on the basis of religion into full-fledged Muslim citizens and zimmies [i][1] being under the perpetual custody of the Islamic State and its Muslims citizens. Every one of these pledges is being flagrantly violated apparently to your knowledge and with your approval in complete disregard of the Qaid-e-Azam’s wishes and sentiments and to the detriment and humiliation of the minorities.

 

 

PARTITION OF BENGAL

8. It may also be mentioned in this connection that I was opposed to the partition of Bengal. In launching a campaign in this regard I had to face not only tremendous resistance from all quarters but also unspeakable abuse, insult and dishonour. With great regret, I recollect those days when 32 crores of Hindus of this Indo-Pakistan Sub-continent turned their back against me and dubbed me as the enemy of Hindus and Hinduism, but I remained undaunted and unmoved in my loyalty to Pakistan. It is a matter of gratitude that my appeal to 7 million Scheduled Caste people of Pakistan evoked a ready and enthusiastic response from them. They lent me their unstinted support sympathy and encouragement.

 

9. After the establishment of Pakistan on August 14, 1947 you formed the Pakistan Cabinet, in which I was included and Khwaja Nazimuddin formed a provisional Cabinet for East Bengal. On August 10, I had spoken to Khwaja Nazimuddin at Karachi and requested him to take 2 Scheduled Caste Ministers in the East Bengal Cabinet. He promised to do the same sometime later. What happened subsequently in this regard was a record of unpleasant and disappointing negotiation with you, Khwaja Nazimuddin and Mr. Nurul Amin, the present Chief Minister of East Bengal. When I realised that Khwaja Nazimuddin was avoiding the issue on this or that excuse, I became almost impatient and exasperated. I further discussed the matter with the Presidents of the Pakistan Muslim League and its East Bengal Branch. Ultimately, I brought the matter to your notice. You were pleased to discuss the subject with Khwaja Nazimuddin in my presence at your residence. Khwaja Nazimuddin agreed to take one Scheduled Caste Minister on his return to Dacca. As I had already became sceptic about the assurance of Khwaja Nazimuddin, I wanted to be definite about the time-frame. I insisted that he must act in this regard with a month, failing which I should be at liberty to resign. Both you and Khwaja Nazimuddin agreed to the condition. But alas! you did not perhaps mean what you said. Khwaja Nazimuddin did not keep his promise. After Mr. Nurul Amin had became the Chief Minister of East Bengal, I again took up the matter with him. He also followed the same old familiar tactics of evasion. When I again called your attention to this matter prior to your visit to Dacca in 1949, you were pleased to assure me that Minority Ministers would be appointed in East Bengal, and you asked 2/3 names from me for consideration. In stat deference to your wish, I sent you a note stating the Federation Group in the East Bengal Assembly and suggesting three names. When I made enquiries as to what had happened on your return from Dacca, you appeared to be very cold and only remarked : “Let Nurul Amin return from Delhi”. After a few days I again pressed the matter. But you avoided the issue. I was then forced to come to the conclusion that neither you not Mr. Nurul Amin had any intention to take any Scheduled Caste Minister in the East Bengal Cabinet. Apart from this, I was noticing that Mr. Nurul Amin and some League leaders of East Bengal were trying to create disruption among the Members of the Scheduled Caste Federation. It appeared to me that my leadership and wide-spread popularity were considered ominous. My outspokenness, vigilance and sincere efforts to safeguard the interests of the minorities of Pakistan, in general, and of the Scheduled Caste, in particular, were considered a matter on annoyance to the East Bengal Govt. and few League leaders. Undaunted, I took my firm stand to safeguard the interests of the minorities of Pakistan.

 

ANTI-HINDU POLICY

10. When the question of partition of Bengal arose, the Scheduled Caste people were alarmed at the anticipated dangerous result of partition. Representation on their behalf were made to Mr. Suhrawardy, the then Chief Minister of Bengal who was pleased to issue a statement to the press declaring that none of the rights and privileges hitherto enjoyed by the Scheduled Caste People would be curtailed after partition and that they would not only continue to enjoy the existing rights and privileges but also receive additional advantages. This assurance was given by Mr. Suhrawardy not only in his personal capacity but also in his capacity as the Chief Minister of the League Ministry. To my utter regret it is to be stated that after partition, particularly after the death of Qaid-e-Azam, the Scheduled Castes have not received a fair deal in any matter. You will recollect that from time to time I brought the grievances of the Scheduled Castes to your notice. I explained to you on several occasions the nature of inefficient administration in East Bengal. I made serious charges against the police administration. I brought to your notice incidents of barbarous atrocities perpetrated by the police on frivolous grounds. I did not hesitate to bring to your notice the anti-Hindu policy pursued by the East Bengal Government especially the police administration and a section of Muslim League leaders.

 

SOME INCIDENTS

11. The first incident that shocked me took place at a village called Digharkul near Gopalganj where on the false complaint of a Muslim brutal atrocities were committed on the local Namahsudras. The fact was that a Muslim who was going in a boat attempted to throw his net to catch fish. A Namahsudra who was already there for the same purpose opposed the throwing of the net in his front. This was followed by some altercation and the Muslim got annoyed and went to the nearby Muslim village and made a false complaint that he and a woman in his boat had been assaulted by the Namahsudras. At that time, the S.D.O. of Gopalganj was passing in a boat through the canal, who without making any enquiry accepted the complaint as true and sent armed police to the spot to punish the Namahsudras. The armed police came and the local Muslims also joined them. They not only raided some houses of the Namahsudras but mercilessly beat both men and women, destroyed their properties and took away valuables. The merciless beating of a pregnant women resulted in abortion on the spot. This brutal action on the part of the local authority created panic over a large area.

 

12. The second incidence of police oppression took place in early part of 1949 under P.S. Gournadi in the district of Barisal. Here a quarrel took place between two groups of members of a Union Board. One group which was in the good books of the police conspired against the opponents on the plea of their being Communists. On the information of a threat of attack on the Police Station, the O.C., Gournadi requisitioned armed forces from the headquarters. The Police, helped by the armed forces, then raided a large number of houses in the area, took away valuable properties, even from the house of absentee-owners who were never in politics, far less in the Communist Party. A large number of persons over a wide area were arrested. Teachers and students of many High English Schools were Communist suspects and unnecessarily harassed. This area being very near to my native village, I was informed of the incident. I wrote to the District Magistrate and the S.P. for an enquiry. A section of the local people also prayed for an enquiry by the S.D.O. But no enquiry was held. Even my letters to the District authorities were not acknowledged. I then brought this matter to the notice of the highest Authority in Pakistan, including yourself but to no avail.

 

WOMEN FOR MILITARY

13. The atrocities perpetrated by the police and the military on the innocent Hindus, especially the Scheduled Castes of Habibgarh in the District of Sylhet deserve description. Innocent men and women were brutally tortured, some women ravished, their houses raided and properties looted by the police and the local Muslims. Military pickets were posted in the area. The military not only oppressed these people and took away stuff forcibly from Hindu houses, but also forced Hindus to send their women-folk at night to the camp to satisfy the carnal desires of the military. This fact also I brought to your notice. You assured me of a report on the matter, but unfortunately no report was forthcoming.

 

14. Then occurred the incident at the Nachole in the District of Rajshahi where in the name of suppression of Communists not only the police but also the local Muslims in collaboration with the police oppressed the Hindus and looted their properties. The Santhals then crossed the border and came over to West Bengal. They narrated the stories of atrocities wantonly committed by the Muslims and the police.

 

15. An instance of callous and cold-blooded brutality is furnished by the incident that took place on December 20, 1949 in Kalshira under P.S. Mollarhat in the District of Khulna. What happened was that late at night four constables raided the house of one Joydev Brahma in village Kalshira in search of some alleged Communists. At the scent of the police, half a dozen of young men, some of whom might have been Communists, escaped from the house. The police constable entered into the house and assaulted the wife of Joydev Brahma whose cry attracted her husband and a few companions who escaped from the house. They became desperate, re-entered the house, found 4 constables with one gun only. That perhaps might have encouraged the young men who struck a blow on an armed constable who died on the spot. The young men then attacked another constable when the other two ran away and raised alarm which attracted some neighbouring people who came to their rescue. As the incident took place before sunrise when it was dark, the assailants fled with the dead body before the villagers could come. The S.P. of Khulna with a contingent of military and armed police appeared on the scene in the afternoon of the following day. In the meantime, the assailants fled and the intelligent neighbours also fled away. But the bulk of the villagers remained in their houses as they were absolutely innocent and failed to realise the consequence of the happening. Subsequently, the S.P., the military and armed police began to beat mercilessly the innocents of the entire village, encouraged the neighbouring Muslims to take away their properties. A number of persons were killed and men and women were forcibly converted. House-hold deities were broken and places of worship desecrated and destroyed. Several women were raped by the police, military and local Muslims. Thus a veritable hell was let loose not only in the village of Kalshira which is 1-1/2 miles in length with a large population, but also in a number of neighbouring Namahsudra villages. The village Kalshira was never suspected by the authority to be a place of Communist activities. Another village called Jhalardanga, which was at a distance of 3 miles from Kalshira, was known to be a centre of Communist activities. This village was raided by a large contingent of police on that day for hunt of the alleged Communists, a number of whom fled away and took shelter in the aforesaid house of village Kalshira which was considered to be a safe place for them.

 

16. I visited Kalshira and one or two neighbouring villages on the 28th February 1950. The S.P., Khulna and some of the prominent League leaders of the district were with me. When I came to the village Kalshira, I found the place desolate and in ruins. I was told in the presence of S.P. that there were 350 homesteads in this village, of these, only three had been spared and the rest had been demolished. Country boats and heads of cattle belonging to the Namasudras had been all taken away. I reported these facts to the Chief Minister, Chief Secretary and Inspector of General of Police of East Bengal and to you.

 

17. It may be mentioned in this connection that the news of this incident was published in West Bengal Press and this created some unrest among the Hindus there. A number of sufferers of Kalshira, both men and women, homeless and destitute had also come to Calcutta and narrated the stories of their sufferings which resulted in some communal disturbances in West Bengal in the last part of January.

 

CAUSES OF THE FEBRUARY DISTURBANCE

18. It must be noted that stories of a few incidents of communal disturbance that took place in West Bengal as a sort of repercussion of the incidents at Kalshira were published in exaggerated form in he East Bengal press. In the second week of February 1950 when the Budget Session of the East Bengal Assembly commenced, the Congress Members sought permission to move two adjournment motions to discuss the situation created at Kalshira and Nachole. But the motions were disallowed. The Congress members walked out of the Assembly in protest. This action of the Hindu members of the Assembly annoyed and enraged not only the Ministers but also the Muslim leaders and officials of the Province. This was perhaps one of the principal reasons for Dacca and East Bengal riots in February 1950.

 

19. It is significant that on February 10, 1950 at about 10 o’clock in the morning a woman was painted with red to show that her breast was cut off in Calcutta riot, and was taken round the East Bengal Secretariat at Dacca. Immediately the Government servants of the Secretariat stuck work and came out in procession raising slogans of revenge against the Hindus. The procession began to swell as it passed over a distance of more than a mile. It ended in a meeting at Victoria Park at about 12 o’clock in the noon where violent speeches against the Hindus were delivered by several speakers, including officials. The fun of the whole show was that while the employees of the Secretariat went out of procession, the Chief Secretary of the East Bengal Government was holding a conference with his West Bengal counterpart in the same building to find out ways and means to stop communal disturbances in the two Bengals.

 

OFFICIALS HELPED LOOTERS

20. The riot started at about 1 p.m. simultaneously all over the city. Arson, looting of Hindu shops and houses and killing of Hindus, wherever they were found, commenced in full swing in all parts of the city. I got evidence even from the Muslims that arson and looting were committed even in the presence of high police officials. Jewellery shops belonging to the Hindus were looted in the presence of police officers. They not only did not attempt to stop loot, but also helped the looters with advice and direction. Unfortunately for me, I reached Dacca at 5 o’clock in the afternoon on the same day, in February10, 1950. To my utter dismay, I had occasion to see and know things from close quarters. What I saw and learnt from firsthand information was simply staggering and heart-rending.

 

BACKGROUND OF THE RIOT

21. The reasons for the Dacca riot were mainly five:

 

(i) To punish the Hindus for the daring action of their representatives in the Assembly in their expression of protest by walking out of the Assembly when two adjournment motions on Kalshira and Nachole affairs were disallowed.

 

(ii) Dissension and differences between the Suhrawardy Group and the Nazimuddin Group in the Parliamentary Party were becoming acute.

 

(iii) Apprehension of launching of a movement for re-union of East and West Bengal by both Hindu and Muslim leaders made the East Bengal Ministry and the Muslim League nervous. They wanted to prevent such a move. They though that any large-scale communal riot in East Bengal was sure to produce reactions in West Bengal where Muslims might be killed. The result of such riots in both East and West Bengal, it was believed, would prevent any movement for re-union of Bengals.

 

(iv) Feeling of antagonism between the Bengali Muslims and non-Bengali Muslims in East Bengal was gaining ground. This could only be prevented by creating hatred between Hindus and Muslims of East Bengal. The language question was also connected with it and

 

(v) The consequences of non-devaluation and the Indo-Pakistan trade deadlock to the economy of East Bengal were being felt most acutely first in urban and rural areas and the Muslim League members and officials wanted to divert the attention of the Muslim masses from the impending economic breakdown by some sort of Jihad against Hindus.

 

STAGGERING DETAILS – NEARLY 10,000 KILLED

22. During my nine days’ stay at Dacca, I visited most of the riot-affected areas of the city and suburbs. I visited Mirpur also under P.S. Tejgaon. The news of the killing of hundreds of innocent Hindus in trains, on railway lines between Dacca and Narayanganj, and Dacca and Chittagong gave me the rudest shock. On the second day of Dacca riot, I met the Chief Minister of East Bengal and requested him to issue immediate instructions to the District authorities to take all precautionary measures to prevent spreading of the riot in district towns and rural areas. On the 20th February 1950, I reached Barisal town and was astounded to know of the happenings in Barisal. In the District town, a number of Hindu houses were burnt and a large number of Hindus killed. I visited almost all riot-affected areas in the District. I was simply puzzled to find the havoc wrought by the Muslim rioters even at places like Kasipur, Madhabpasha and Lakutia which were within a radius of six miles from the District town and were connected with motorable roads. At the Madhabpasha Zamindar’s house, about 200 people were killed and 40 injured. A place, called Muladi, witnessed a dreadful hell. At Muladi Bandar alone, the number killed would total more than three hundred, as was reported to me by the local Muslims including some officers. I visited Muladi village also, where I found skeletons of dead bodies at some places. I found dogs and vultures eating corpses on he river-side. I got the information there that after the whole-scale killing of all adult males, all the young girls were distributed among the ringleaders of the miscreants. At a place called Kaibartakhali under P.S. Rajapur, 63 persons were killed. Hindu houses within a stone’s throw distance from the said thana office were looted, burnt and inmates killed. All Hindu shops of Babuganj Bazar were looted and then burnt and a large number of Hindus were killed. From detailed information received, the conservative estimate of casualties was placed at 2,500 killed in the District of Barisal alone. Total casualties of Dacca and East Bengal riot were estimated to be in the neighbourhood of 10,000 killed. The lamentation of women and children who had lost their all including near and dear ones melted my heart. I only asked myself “What was coming to Pakistan in the name of Islam.”

 

NO EARNEST DESIRE TO IMPLEMENT DELHI PACT

23. The large scale exodus of Hindus from Bengal commenced in the latter part of March. It appeared that within a short time all the Hindus would migrate to India. A war cry was raised in India. The situation became extremely critical. A national calamity appeared to be inevitable. The apprehended disaster, however, was avoided by the Delhi Agreement of April 8. With a view to reviving the already lost morale of the panicky Hindus, I undertook an extensive tour of East Bengal. I visited a number of places of the districts of Dacca, Barisal, Faridpur, Khulna and Jessore. I addressed dozens of largely attended meetings and asked the Hindus to take courage and not to leave their ancestral hearths and homes. I had this expectation that the East Bengal Govt. and Muslim League leaders would implement the terms of the Delhi Agreement. But with the lapse of time, I began to realise that neither the East Bengal Govt. nor the Muslim League leaders were really earnest in the matter of implementation of the Delhi Agreement. The East Bengal Govt. was not only ready to set up a machinery as envisaged in the Delhi Agreement, but also was not willing to take effective steps for the purpose. A number of Hindus who returned to native village immediately after the Delhi Agreement were not given possession of their homes and lands which were occupied in the meantime by the Muslims.

 

MOULANA AKRAM KHAN’S INCITATIONS

24. My suspicion about the intention of League leaders was confirmed when I read editorial comments by Moulana Akram Khan, the President of the Provincial Muslim League in the “Baisak” issue of a monthly journal called ‘Mohammadi’. In commenting on the first radio-broadcast of Dr.A.M.Malik, Minister for Minority Affairs of Pakistan, from Dacca Radio Station, wherein he said, “Even Prophet Mohammed had given religious freedom to the Jews in Arabia”, Moulana Akram Khan said, “Dr.Malik would have done well had he not made any reference in his speech to the Jews of Arabia. It is true that the Jews in Arabia had been given religious freedom by Prophet Mohammed; but it was the first chapter of the history. The last chapter contains the definite direction of prophet Mohammed which runs as follows:- “Drive away all the Jews out of Arabia”. Even despite this editorial comment of a person who held a very high position in the political, social and spiritual life of the Muslim community, I entertained some expectation that the Nurul Amin Ministry might not be so insincere. But that expectation of mine was totally shattered when Mr.Nurul Amin selected D.N.Barari as a Minister to represent the minorities in terms of the Delhi Agreement which clearly states that to restore confidence in the minds of the minorities one of their representatives will be taken in the Ministry of East Bengal and West Bengal Govt.

 

NURUL AMIN GOVERNMENT’S INSINCERITY

25. In one of my public statement, I expressed the view that the appointment of D.N.Barari as a Minister representing the minorities not only did not help restore any confidence, but, on the contrary, destroyed all expectations illusions, if there was any in the minds of the minorities about the sincerity of Mr.Nurul Amin’s Govt. My own reaction was that Mr.Nurul Amin’s Govt. was not only insincere but also wanted to defeat the principal objectives of the Delhi Agreement. I again repeat that D.N.Barari does not represent anybody except himself. He was returned to the Bengal Legislature Assembly on the Congress ticket with the money and organisation of the Congress. He opposed the Scheduled Caste Federation candidates. Some time after his election, he betrayed the Congress and joined the Federation. When he was appointed a Minister he had ceased to be a member of the Federation too. I know that East Bengal Hindus agree with me that by antecedents, character and intellectual attainments Barari is not qualified to hold the position of a Minister as envisaged in the Delhi Agreement.

 

26. I recommended three names to Mr.Nurul Amin for this office. One of the persons I recommended was an MA.,LL.B., Advocate, Dacca High Court. He was Minister for more than 4 years in the first Fazlul Huq Ministry in Bengal. He was chairman of the Coal Mines Stowing Board, Calcutta, for about 6 years. He was the senior Vice-President of the Scheduled Caste Federation. My second nominee was a B.A., LL.B. He was a member of the Legislative Council for 7 years in the pre-reform regime. I would like to know what earthly reasons there might be for Mr.Nurul Amin in not selecting any of these two gentlemen and appointing instead a person whose appointment as Minister I strongly objected to for very rightly considerations. Without any fear of contradiction I can say that this action of Mr.Nurul Amin in selecting Barari as a Minister in terms of the Delhi Agreement is conclusive proof that the East Bengal Govt. was neither serious nor sincere in its professions about the terms of the Delhi Agreement whose main purpose is to create such conditions as would enable the Hindus to continue to live in East Bengal with a sense of security to their life, property, honour and religion.

 

GOVERNMENT PLAN TO SQUEEZE OUT HINDUS

27. I would like to reiterate in this connection my firm conviction that East Bengal Govt. is still following the well-planned policy of squeezing Hindus out of the Province. in my discussion with you on more than one occasion, I gave expression to this view of mine. I must say that this policy of driving out Hindus from Pakistan has succeeded completely in West Pakistan and is nearing completion in East Pakistan too. The appointment of D.N.Barari as a Minister and the East Bengal Government’s unceremonious objection to my recommendation in this regard strictly conform to name of what they call an Islamic State. Pakistan has not given the Hindus entire satisfaction and a full sense of security. They now want to get rid of the Hindu intelligentsia so that the political, economic and social life of Pakistan may not in any way be influenced by them.

 

EVASIVE TACTICS TO SHELVE JOINT ELECTORATE

28. I have failed to understand why the question of electorate has not yet been decided. It is now three years that the minority Sub-Committee has been appointed. It sat on three occasions. The question of having joint or separation electorate came up for consideration at a meting of the Committee held in December last when all the representatives of recognised minorities in Pakistan expressed their view in support of Joint Electorate with reservation of seats for backward minorities. We, on behalf of the Scheduled Castes, demanded joint electorate with reservation of seats for Scheduled Castes. This matter again came up for consideration at a meeting called in August last. But without any discussion whatsoever on this point, the meeting was adjourned sine die. It is not difficult to understand what the motive is behind this kind of evasive tactics in regard to such a vital matter on the part of Pakistan’s rulers.

 

DISMAL FUTURE FOR HINDUS

29. Coming now to the present condition and the future of Hindus in East Bengal as a result of the Delhi Agreement, I should say that the present condition is not only unsatisfactory but absolutely hopeless and that the future completely dark and dismal. Confidence of Hindus in East Bengal has not been restored in the least. The Agreement is treated as a mere scrap of paper alike by the East Bengal Government and the Muslim League. That a pretty large number of Hindus migrants, mostly Scheduled Caste cultivators are returning to East Bengal is no indication that confidence has been restored. It only indicates that their stay and rehabilitation in West Bengal, or elsewhere in the Indian Union have not been possible. The sufferings of refugee life are compelling them to go back to their homes. Besides, many of them are going back to bring movable articles and settle or dispose of immovable properties. That no serious communal disturbance has recently taken place in East Bengal is not to be attributed to the Delhi Agreement. It could not simply continue even if there were no Agreement or Pact.

 

30. It must be admitted that the Delhi Pact was not an end in itself. It was intended that such conditions would be created as might effectively help resolve so many disputes and conflict existing between India and Pakistan. But during this period of six months after the Agreement, no dispute or conflict has really been resolved. On the contrary, communal propaganda and anti-India propaganda by Pakistan both at home and abroad are continuing in full swing. The observance of Kashmir Day by the Muslim League all over Pakistan is an eloquent proof of communal anti-India propaganda by Pakistan. The recent speech of the Governor of Punjab (Pak) saying that Pakistan needed a strong Army for the security of Indian Muslims has betrayed the real attitude of Pakistan towards India. It will only increase the tension between the two countries.

 

WHAT IS HAPPENING IN EAST BENGAL TODAY

31. What is today the condition in East Bengal? About fifty lakhs of Hindus have left since the partition of the country. Apart from the East Bengal riot of last February, the reasons for such a large scale exodus of Hindus are many. The boycott by the Muslims of Hindu lawyers, medical practitioners, shop-keepers, traders and merchants has compelled Hindus to migrate to West Bengal in search of their means of livelihood. Wholesale requisition of Hindu houses even without following due process of law in many and non-payment of any rent whatsoever to the owners have compelled them to seek for Indian shelter. Payments of rent to Hindu landlords was stopped long before. Besides, the Ansars against whom I received complaints all over are a standing menace to the safety and security of Hindus. Inference in matters of education and methods adopted by the Education Authority for  Islamisation  frightened the teaching staff of Secondary Schools and Colleges out of their old familiar moorings. They have left East Bengal. As a result, most of the educational institutions have been closed. I have received information that sometime ago the Educational Authority issued circular in Secondary Schools enjoining compulsory participation of teachers and students of all communities in recitation from the Holy Koran before the school work commenced. Another circular requires Headmasters of schools to name the different blocks of the premises after 12 distinguished Muslims, such as, Jinnah, Iqbal, Liaquat Ali, Nazimuddin, etc. Only very recently in an educational conference held at Dacca, the President disclosed that out of 1,500 High English Schools in East Bengal, only 500 were working. Owing to the migration of Medical Practitioners there is hardly any means of proper treatment of patients. Almost all the priests who used to worship the household deities at Hindu houses have left. Important places of worship have been abandoned. The result is that the Hindus of East Bengal have got now hardly any means to follow religious pursuits and performance of social ceremonies like marriage where the services of a priest are essential. Artisans who made images of gods and goddesses have also left. Hindu Presidents of Union Boards have been replaced by Muslims by coercive measures with the active help and connivance of the police and Circle Officers. Hindu Headmasters and Secretaries of Schools have been replaced by Muslims. The Life of the few Hindu Govt. servants has been made extremely miserable as many of them have either been superseded by junior Muslims or dismissed without sufficient or any cause. Only very recently a Hindu Public Prosecutor of Chittagong was arbitrarily removed from service as has been made clear in a statement made by Srijukta Nellie Sengupta against whom at least no change of anti-Muslim bias prejudice or malice can be leveled.

 

HINDUS VIRTUALLY OUTLAWED

32. Commission of thefts and dacoities even with murder is going on as before. Thana offices seldom record half the complaints made by the Hindus. That the abduction and rape of Hindu girls have been reduced to a certain extent is due only to the fact that there is no Caste Hindu girl between the ages of 12 and 30 living in East Bengal at present. The few depressed class girls who live in rural areas with their parents are not even spared by Muslim goondas. I have received information about a number of incidents of rape of Scheduled Caste Girls by Muslims. Full payment is seldom made by Muslims buyers for the price of jute and other agricultural commodities sold by Hindus in market places. As a matter of fact, there is no operation of law, justice or fair-play in Pakistan, so far as Hindus are concerned.

 

FORCED CONVERSIONS IN WEST PAKISTAN

33. Leaving aside the question of East Pakistan, let me now refer to West Pakistan, especially Sind. The West Punjab had after partition about a lakh of Scheduled Castes people. It may be noted that a large number of them were converted to Islam. Only 4 out of a dozen Scheduled Castes girls abducted by Muslims have yet been recovered in spite of repeated petitions to the Authority. Names of those girls with names of their abductors were supplied to the government. The last reply recently given by the Officer-in-Charge of recovery of abducted girls said that “his function was to recover Hindu girls and ‘Achhuts’ (Scheduled Castes) were not Hindus”. The condition of the small number of Hindus that are still living in Sind and Karachi, the capital of Pakistan, is simply deplorable. I have got a list of 363 Hindu temples and gurdwaras of Karachi and Sind (which is by no means an exhaustive list) which are still in possession of Muslims. Some of the temples have been converted into cobbler’s shops, slaughter houses and hotels. None of the Hindus has got back. Possession of their landed properties were taken away from them without any notice and distributed amongst refugees and local Muslims. I personally know that 200 to 300 Hindus were declared non-evacuees by the Custodian a pretty long time ago. But up till now properties have no been restored to any one of them. Even the possession of Karachi Pinjirapole[ii][2] has not been restored to the trustees, although it was declared non-evacuee property sometime ago. In Karachi I had received petitions from many unfortunate fathers and husbands of abducted Hindu girls, mostly Scheduled Castes. I drew the attention of the 2nd Provisional Government to this fact. There was little or no effect. To my extreme regret I received information that a large number of Scheduled Castes who are still living in Sind have been forcibly converted to Islam.

 

PAKISTAN ‘ACCURSED’ FOR HINDUS

34. Now this being in brief the overall picture of Pakistan so far as the Hindus are concerned, I shall not be unjustified in stating that Hindus of Pakistan have to all intents and purposes been rendered “Stateless” in their own houses. They have no other fault than that they profess the Hindu religion. Declarations are being repeatedly made by Muslim League leaders that Pakistan is and shall be an Islamic State. Islam is being offered as the sovereign remedy for all earthly evils. In the matchless dialectics of capitalism and socialism you present the exhilarating democratic synthesis of Islamic equality and fraternity. In that grand setting of the Shariat Muslims alone are rulers while Hindus and other minorities are zimmies who are entitled to protection at price, and you know more than anybody else Mr.Prime Minister, what that price is. After anxious and prolonged struggle I have come to the conclusion that Pakistan is no place for Hindus to live in and that their future is darkened by the ominous shadow of conversion or liquidation. The bulk of the upper class Hindus and politically conscious scheduled castes have left East Bengal. Those Hindus who will continue to stay accursed in Pakistan will, I am afraid, by gradual stages and in a planned manner be either converted to Islam or completely exterminated. It is really amazing that a man of your education, culture and experience should be an exponent of a doctrine fraught with so great a danger to humanity and subversive of all principles of equality and good sense. I may tell you and your fellow workers that Hindus will allow themselves, whatever the treat or temptation, to be treated as Zimmies in the land of their birth. Today they may, as indeed many of them have already done, abandon their hearths and homes in sorrow but in panic. Tomorrow they strive for their rightful place in the economy of life. Who knows what is in the womb of the future ? When I am convinced that my continuance in office in the Pakistan Central Government is not of any help to Hindus I should not with a clear conscience, create the false impression in the minds of the Hindus of Pakistan and peoples abroad that Hindus can live there with honour and with a sense of security in respect of their life, property and religion. This is about Hindus.

 

NO CIVIL LIBERTY EVEN FOR MUSLIMS

35. And what about the Muslims who are outside the charmed circle of the League rulers and their corrupt and inefficient bureaucracy ? There is hardly anything called civil liberty in Pakistan . Witness for example, the fate of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan than whom a more devout Muslim had not walked this earth for many years and of his gallant patriotic brother Dr. Khan Sahib. A large number of erstwhile League leaders of the Northwest and also of the Eastern belt of Pakistan are in detention without trial. Mr. Suhrawardy to whom is due in a large measure the League’s triumph in Bengal is for practical purpose a Pakistani prisoner who has to move under permit and open his lips under orders. Mr. Fazlul Haq, that dearly loved grand old man of Bengal, who was the author of that now famous Lahore resolution, is ploughing his lonely furrow in the precincts of the Dacca High Court of Judicature, and the so called Islamic planning is as ruthless as it is complete. About the East Bengal Muslims general, the less said the better. They were promised of autonomous and sovereign units of the independent State. What have they got instead ? East Bengal has been transformed into a colony of the western belt of Pakistan, although it contained a population which is larger than that of all the units of Pakistan put together. It is a pale ineffective adjunct of Karachi doing the latter’s bidding and carrying out its orders. East Bengal Muslims in their enthusiasm wanted bread and they have by the mysterious working of the Islamic State and the Shariat got stone instead from the arid deserts of Sind and the Punjab.

 

MY OWN SAD AND BITTER EXPERIENCE

36. Leaving aside the overall picture of Pakistan and the callous and cruel injustice done to others, my own personal experience is no less sad, bitter and revealing. You used your position as the Prime Minister and leader of the Parliamentary Party to ask me to issue a statement, which I did on the 8th September last. You know that I was not willing to make a statement containing untruths and half truths, which were worse that untruths. It was not possible for me to reject your request so long as I was there working as a Minister with you and under your leadership. But I can no longer afford to carry this load of false pretensions and untruth on my conscience and I have decided to offer my resignation as your Minister, which I am hereby placing in your hands and which, I hope, you will accept without delay. You are of course at liberty to dispense with that office or dispose of it in such a manner as may suit adequately and effectively the objectives of your Islamic State.

 

Yours sincerely,

Sd./- J.N. Mandal

8th October 1950

 

Rastrapati (Congress President) Acharya Kripalani’s Statement ( source – 1946 : The Great Calcutta Killings and  Noakhali Genocide)

After visiting the disturbed areas of Noakhali, Rastrapati Acharya Kripalani made arrangements for a Press Conference on 26 October to make statement about prevailing condition of those areas. Witnessing the plight with own eyes and personally collecting information from different sources, he arrived at certain conclusions like who were the schemers (plotters) of the attack, their motive and the course of action to be followed, and the amount of loss and destruction. He said that his conclusions were exact and true, if security were assured to witnesses, the veracity of his conclusions could be eassily proved before independent tribunal. Acharya Kripalani arrived at the following conclusions :–

(1) The attack on the Hindus of the district of Noakhali and Tripura was perpetrated according to premeditated plan. Although Muslim League did not openly organise the riot but it was possible because of thier publicity. From the evidences of the local people it transpired that prominent League Leaders of different villages were behind this riot.

(2) Apprehending dangers, the authorities were warned. The respectable Hindus of adjacent areas, at first verbally, later by writing alerted the authorities about impending dangers.

(3) In the brewing conspiracy some muslim Govt Officials were involved, many of them fomented it.There was a belief current among the Muslims, if any horror was done on the Hindus, Govt would not take my action.

(4) The modus operandi of the attackers was to split up into groups, each group consisting of a few hundred persons attacked Hindu villages or Hindu houses of Hindu-Muslim mixed villages. In each group there was a leader and a spokesman. They used to raise subscriptions first in the name of Muslim League and in some places in the name of riot victims of Calcutta. In this way they collected huge money by force and in some places the amount exceeded ten thousand rupees. In spite of giving subscription, the Hindus were not spared. After collecting subscriptions that very group or another group looted those Hindu houses. They set fire to majority of the plundered houses. The ruffians plundered not only money, ornaments and other valuable goods but also household necessaries like eatables, utensils,clothes. Among the plundered booty they themselves drove away domestic cattle. Before plundering any house in some places, they told the inmates of the house to accept Islam. But in spite of conversion their operation of plunder and arson did not stop.

(5) The attackers began to raise slogans—Muslim League Jindabad, Larke Lenge Pakistan, Marke Lenge Pakistan (Pakistan will be snatched away by fighting, letting loose oppression). The Hindus were reminded that this murder, plunder, arson had been undertaken in retaliation for the dead Muslims in Calcutta riot. Those who resisted were butchered en masse. As the ruffians were armed with guns, in some places they shot the persons who resisted them. These guns either belonged to Muslim Zamindar or had been stolen from the Hindus or snatched away. In some places Hindus were killed although resistance was not offered to them. As I had very little time in hand, it was not possible for me to count the number of the dead. I believe the Govt. had made no statistics. Certain Govt.employee said that number for the dead was only one hundred. Another higher officials and a Govt. employee said the death toll might reach five hundred.

(6) The residents of neighborhood Muslim villages continued plunder, arson,murder, en masse conversion. In the villages where Hindu-Muslim lived together, Muslims of those villages joined in the dirty game against the Hindus .The oppressed victims could easily identify the accomplices. They had given me a list of those names ; even if someone came from outside; their number was negligible.

(7) In spite of looting, arson, and murder the Hindus were not spared till they were converted to Muslim. For fear of life they en masse courted Islam. As a mark of newly convert, they were given to put on used white caps of the Muslim villagers. Many of those caps were new and the map of Pakistan, the slogans like “Pakistan Jindabnd” “Lorke Lenge Pakistan” were stamped on them.The Hindus were taken to Friday prayer gathering and were compelled to pray and embrace Islam religion. Breaking Sankha (bangle made from ConchShell) and wiping vermilion, women were initiated to Islam. As a mark of conversion they were ordered to touch cloth sanctified by Mohammedan clerics. They were also to read codes of Koran. All the idols of the Hindus and temples of the disturbed areas were plundered and set on fire.

(8) By force many marriages had been solemnised. At present it was impossible to give statistics of marriages. On getting detailed report from Mrs.Kripalani, the European Magistrate of Noakhali rescued one girl. In a rescue camp at Dattapara, a certain woman told Mr. Kriplani about the incident. Many women were kidnapped. But as I had little time in hand, it was not possible for me to determine the exact number.

(9) It was not possible for me to know the number of rape victims. Many women narrated their story of oppression to Mrs. kripalani that their marriage symbol Sankha (bangle made from conch shell) had been broken and vermilion removed from their foreheads. In one place the ruffians felling women on the ground wiped vermilion from their foreheads with toe.

(10) In this places the Hindus could by no means live without fear whether they courted Islam or not.

(11) The League watchmen were guarding the entry point of the disturbed villages. In some cases the newly converts were allowed to go out of the village with issued permit. I had seen such permits

.(12) Those who were outside the disturbed villages during riot, could not enter into their own villages.

(13) Men, women, boys and girls of many families were untraced. There were no means of getting information of their whereabouts. Village Post offices were not working.

(14) At the time of riot the Police was inactive. They were on patrol. They said they had no order to open fire except in self-defence and that order had not been violated. They did not think it necessary to defend themselves since they did not interfere in the activities of the rioters.

I can give proof of arson which continued till 20th instant. On 19th and 20th instant I could see burning fire in Chandpur and Noakhali areas from the aeroplane. The Prime Minister too witnessed those fires. Only I could see houses reduced to ashes and helpless Hindus. The totally ruined Hindus had no food, nor clothes to put on. From Govt. Officials I could gather that only 50 persons had been arrested from Noakhali till 25th instant.

In reply to one question Acharya Kripalani opined (that) whatever happened in East Bengal, was not because of economic reason, since not a single rich Muslim’s house had been plundered. To him it appeared it was totally communal and one-sided.

In conclusion he appealed to each Bengalee Hindu to remain calm and restrained as also advised not to think of retaliation for indescribable tragic incidents of riot-torn East Bengal.

Memorandum submitted before the Hon’ble Prime Minister of Pakistan by Members of the Opposition Party (Assembly), East Bengal in 1950

To

The Hon’ble Mr Liaquat Ali Khan,

Prime Minister, Pakistan.

Dear Sir,

Your visit to this land at the present moment of supreme crisis in our life is heartily welcome. You have come at a fateful time when the ill-fated minority community here is inexorably faced with a grim prospect of virtual extinction. We are meeting you today under lingering shadow of an unprecedented and sweeping orgy of communal disturbances and carnage of recent occurrence, the dreadful enormity and experience of which far surpass those of the hectic days of the holocausts of 1946. Here in this province took place only one-sided diabolical killing and persecution of Hindus by Muslims. Terrible things of unparalleled magnitude have happened.

The way in which the occurrences took shape with unmistakable political manipulation and bearings and the manner in which the administrative authorities generally handled the situation have naturally given rise to an almost irremovable apprehension in the minds of the most miserably plighted minorities in general that something equally or more terrible may happen every moment. Their sense of security thus stands completely shattered. In the midst of this all-encompassing gloom and sufferings, they see no ray of hope as to the protection of their life, honour, religion, and property. Tragedy is alround and seems almost complete. Today the minority community stands here broken in pride and honour, shamed and bleeding. Their lives and properties seem virtually forfeited here. We feel that this tragic state of things is but a culmination and cumulative effect of gradually but steadily generating forces of lawlessness and communalism in this province which in our opinion finds every nourishment from the existing non-secular political set-up and preaching. These forces of reaction and regress were rearing their heads in a sporadic manner throughout the province since the partition, to the dark forebodings whereof we draw the attention of the provincial Government through written and verbal representations on various occasions with fervent requests for taking effective steps for arresting the growth thereof. For a long time a process of squeezing out all the Hindus from East Bengal was being followed in the shape of indiscriminate house-requisition, forcible dispossession, non-payment of compensation, illegal exactions, arrests and detention without trial etc. We had also opportunities of drawing your personal attention to those developments with all their ominous possibilities in course of our joint interviews with you on two past occasions.

During our first interview with you we had submitted a written memorandum embodying therein a fairly long list of typical isolated communal incidents and acts of oppression against the minorities. During our second interview with you too, we submitted before you a written representation, wherein we requested your intervention to check the worsening trends of the situation. We pointed out that on the one hand communal fanaticism was gathering force much to the detriment of the minority community and on the other the tone of the General administration was slackening and deteriorating and the machinery of law and order was not asserting itself against the growth of lawless elements. In December last, when the Assembly was in session our Assembly party as a whole met the Hon’ble Premier of East Bengal and submitted to him a written representation about all these facts. But unfortunately the situation continued unrelieved. Fed and nurtured by persistent and reckless anti-H indu propaganda of the local Press and rabid communal  preaching by various elements of the majority community including some Muslim League stalwarts, undeterred by any authoritative interference though sought for by us, the force of lawlessness had been gathering strength quite demonstrably for the last few months. So, what were so long some scattered paches of cloud with some little breeze blowing about have steadily developed and broken into a furious storm at last tending to sweep off the very existence of the minority community  here. The perverse spirits that actuated the isolated incidents so far and that lie behind the slow process of devitalising and demoralising the minority community in various ways now seem congealed into an organised plan for giving a final and fatal blow to the minority community as will be clearly evident particularly from the nature of the latest happenings with their flaming trails of sufferings for them yet. An irrecoverable atmosphere of prejudice and hatred against the minorities prevails here which is very likely to heighten more and more.

Since your last visit, a few major incidents had taken place in more or less quick succession in the Province, in which Muslim mob violence with the direct connivance of and in collusion with the police and Ansars, with the knowledge of the District authorities even, broke out against the minorities on fairly large scales, letting aside the many minor ones.

Let us briefly mention them.

In August 1949, some villages under Bianibazar and Barlekha P S. of Sylhet district were raided by a large band of Muslim villagers in company with the police and  Ansars. Houses were looted, broken and burnt. Hindu villagers were murdered and assaulted in large number. Women were assaulted and raped even by policemen. The whole atrocity was committed in a visibly organised manner. We took up the matter with the Provincial Government. We discussed the same on the floor of the Assembly and earnestly demanded remedy, but to no avail. Nothing has been done to relieve the distress of the people nor to punish the wrongdoers. Then followed the incidents in Bhandaria in the District of Barisal, where similar persecution of the minorities was enacted in the whole village and the neighbouring localities apparently under the instruction of the district authorities. We approached the Provincial Government for redress but failed to impress upon them the need for taking any just action against the offenders. That seemingly studied indifference of the Government in tackling the growing lawlessness was bound to encourage the outbreak of lawlessness in the country. That happened actually. On the 10th December Muslim mob attacked the Putia Rajbari in Rajshahi town and took forcible possession of the house and their treasures. The terrible atrocities of Bagerhat (Khulna) followed, involving mass looting, breaking and burning of houses, killing and assaulting persons, conversion, desecration of images and rape of women on a large scale affecting about a score of villages. Some troubles happened in Bagerhat town also. Similar troubles took place in Santal villages in P. S. Nachole and Gomastipur in Rajshahi district. A part from other accounts, the local Roman Catholic Missionary Father Thomas Cattaneo in his report on the district of Rajshahi described that entire Santal villages were looted and burnt by the police and the military, the Santa] villagers were assaulted, their women in large number were raped and mass arrests were made. Generally everywhere police, Ansars and Muslim mob directly and indirectly combined to wreak vengeance. Here also, our attempts at getting remedy failed significantly enough. On January 4, the Police raided and arrested about a hundred Hindus in villages Kalaskatti in Barisal district. Mass arrests of and assaults on Hindus in Habibganj town Sylhet District were made following an accidental fire in the criminal court buildings on January 22.

An exciting meeting a  procession were held, whereafter Sri Sures Chandra Biswas, M.L. A. was severely beaten and rendered unconscious. Later on he was admitted into hospital. A few days after he was arrested and Is still in Jail. In Comilla town, Muslims raided the town hall on January 25 and Hindu shops on January 26 and pulled down pictures of the Hindu deities and leaders. Then followed, a few weeks after, incidents on 2nd February in Feni (Noakhali) involving stabbing and murder, looting of the shops Of H indu shopkeepers and merchants. Thus the chain of portentious events followed without let or hindrance. We sought to discuss the situation by means of adjournment motions in the Assembly on the 6th February over the incidents of Nachole and Bagerhat. The motions were disallowed. Thanks to the adverse attitude of the majority party and the Government, that legitimate attempt of ours was thwarted. In reply to our rightful demand of discussion, the Hon’ble Premier made a statement thereby clearly making us feel that we are reduced to the intolerable position of hostages so far as our protection and security is concerned and making our fate clearly contingent upon the conditions of the minorities in West Bengal. This statement was supplemented by highly provocative and offensive observations of some members of the majority party. We were thus prevented from exercising our just right and privileges as representatives of the people in the matter of giving voice to the grievances and sufferings of the minorities which were admitted to be true at least to some extent. Our voice was practically throttled. We cannot accept the position of hostages directly or indirectly. We have always demanded and still demand, as a matter of fundamentals, same rights and protections as are due to any loyal law-abiding and peaceful citizen of the state irrespective of what may happen elsewhere. We made our position in this respect clear in a statement made on the floor of the Assembly on 7-2-50 wherein inter alia we demanded an enquiry by a committee of the House headed by the Hon’ble Premier into the incidents at Nachole and Bagerhat. That statement was greeted by angry outbursts inside and outside the Assembly. A vitriolic press campaign was started against us. A distorted version as to our stand was catered to the people with a view to prejudice them against us, taking advantage of our forced silence. Generally speaking too, press campaign, through comments and presentation of news prejudicial to the minorities assumed a furious character which contributed most towards worsening the situation and inviting crisis and chaos. The local newspapers which have all along been exciting communal hatred by publishing highly inflammable news and articles came out on the following day with headlines characterising the opposition members in the Assembly as “ Fifth Columnist” .

On the 7th February we walked out of the Assembly in protest and absented ourselves for some long period having no other means o f ventilating our grievances. The Muslim Press and Muslim leaders and even the Radio started a violent campaign to rouse communal passion to the highest pitch. And even one member of the Cabinet broadcast on the Radio condemning the action of the opposition and distorting their stand. Some incidents alleged to have taken place in West Bengal were exploited by them to the full, inflammatory leaflets calling for blood were distributed in the city of Dacca and in other places in muffusil areas. Posters of similar nature were also pasted in different places in different districts. Radio Pakistan on the night of the 6th and the afternoon of the 7th February announced the following in between scheduled items of programme: “ Brother, you have heard about the inhuman atrocities being perpetrated on our brother Muslims in India and West Bengal. Will you not prepare yourselves ? Will you not gather strength ?” Thus a stage was being set for some grave developments. At last the presaged crisis came and overawed us on the 18th February.

On the morning of that day four women were shown round the Secretariat offices at Dacca with conch shell bangles on their wrists, vermillion on their forehead and blood-stain on their clothes. They alleged that they were forcibly converted into Hinduism in Calcutta and were victims of oppression by Hindus. The Secretariat staff then left their office at about 11 a.m. during office hours and took out a procession from the gate of the Secretariat building shouting exciting slogans. They held a public meeting at Victoria Park at about 12 noon. As soon as the meeting dispersed, there was a simultaneous flare up in all parts of the city resulting in arson and loot of Hindu houses and shops and killings. Hindu passengers, who arrived at Dacca by steamer and trains, were killed at the Stations. Hindus travelling by train and buses were stabbed, murdered and thrown out. Out of hundreds of Hindu shops in the city of Dacca, about 90% were looted and many burnt. By the evening of the 10th February about fifty thousand Hindus in the city of Dacca were displaced from their houses and had to take shelter in refugee centres which sprang up in different parts of the city. Some H indu officials and M L.A. also had to do so. For more than seven hours loot, arson and murders continued unchecked. The military were then called out and placed in certain parts of the city and curfew was imposed. On the 11th and the 12th also the disturbances continued. On the 1 2th afternoon about sixty air-passengers who had assembled at Kurmitola Air-port near the military headquarters at Dacca were attacked by a mob with deadly weapons resulting in a large number of death and injuries. So the city of Dacca witnessed one of the worst  tragedy that History knows. A reign of terror prevailed, The whole reign was under the sway of the communal brigands. It seemed that the administration abdicated in favour of Goonda-Raj All manner of crimes were being committed in the metropolis under the nose of the Provincial Government, before the eyes of the police, who were in Some places found abetting the same. For all practical purposes, administration seemed co have collapsed. Murder, loot, arson, assaults and attacks on men and women were committed on an extensive scale in broad daylight. The Government must have had sufficient warning as to the coming events. From all indications the aforesaid procession and meeting were seemingly the signal for the disturbances to follow. The Government was still sleeping over the growing crisis. Thus a hell was let loose over the city and surrounding localities. During the following days the flare spread to the other districts and the killings and stabbings of passengers in trains and steamers almost throughout the Province continued for a week or so. The worst riot affected areas in the province were the Dacca city and its suburbs, parts of the the Sadar and Narayanganj sub-divisions, the Jamalpur and the Kishoreganj sub-divisions of the Mymensingb district, the town of Chittagong and its suburbs, parts of police stations Hathazari, Fatikchari and Sitakunda in the district of Chittagong, the town of Feni and its suburbs, the town of Sylhet and some rural areas of the Sadar and Sunamganj sub-divisions of the Sylhet district, the town of Barisal and police stations Muladi Babuganj, Nalchiti, Jhakati and Rajapur of the Sadar sub-division of the Bakeiganj district, and Taishar area of the Brahmanbaria sub-division of the Tippera district. Almost everywhere heinous offences against women were committed.

In some places this most barbaric sort of crimes, took place on a large scale. Mass conversions also took place in some places, apart from isolated cases here and there. All outward indications and the manner in which the atrocities have been committed (having regard to almost uniformly timed and followed methods of execution) lead to the irresistible conclusion that the whole troubles took place and were allowed to take place according to a preconceived plan. It is not possible for us to fully deal with the details of all the incidents here. However, we are giving below brief accounts of the incidents and casualties so far as we have been able to gather amidst so many difficulties of free movements and contact. Th;se are by no means exhaustive. These may bear an eloquent testimony to the state of things here and to how miserably the Government have failed to protect the minorities. Confidence of the minorities in the ability and willingness of the Government to protect them is completely shaken.

In such a surcharged atmosphere exodus has started. Incidents and persecution of the minorities in isolated manner are still taking place here and there. Particularly the passengers going out of East Bengal are being harassed in various ways. Illegal exactions and extortions of money, unnecessary and obstructive detentions on the way followed by other kinds of molestation of passengers both male and female, are still rampant. Difficulties of journey by railway or steamer are manifold. Fresh and artificial  obstructions are being created in different points of transit. All these are adding to the confusion and panic. In the wake of this helpless chaotic state of things in rural areas, crimes of theft, assault, intimidations and offences against women are still occurring in large number.

The manner in which the minority problem and their grievances have been so long tackled by the East Bengal Government does not encourage us to believe that we can have any protection and justice from them. They have all along shown a tendency of minimising things, always taking a complacent view of the situation. Even in the midst of troubles we made frantic appeals to them for help and relief, but little or no response came forth. We stand on our fundamental rights as free and law-abiding citizens of the State. We refuse to be treated as political shuttlecocks or mere objects of mercy or generosity of this quarter or that quarter. We feel that this Government of East Bengal have not shown any indication of having such an enlightened democratic outlook as to look upon us from proper perspective. We do very keenly feel that we have entered a critical juncture of our life. Any activity on political or economic spheres on our part on truly democratic line has become practically impossible. The whole situation constitutes a challenge to our manhood in the context of our democratic freedom. The problem should not be tinkered with.

Merely any fresh promise of protection of minorities cannot inspire any confidence in their minds. An abiding solution of this problem on inter-state basis is very urgently called for. We beseech you earnestly to direct your attention to this.

Sylhet

The burden of the speeches of different speakers at a public meeting on the eleventh February was, “ Blood will flow down the rivers of Sylhet.” A local paper “ Ansar” clearly reported some misdeeds and attempts in rural areas on the part of a section of Muslims led and supported by some maulavis at converting Hindus under coercion. The troubles started in Sylhet town on the 13th February and continued till the 16th. According to official version in Sylhet town itself there were 50 to 60 cases of stabbing of which six proved fatal. In this town some ten or twelve houses are reported to have been looted and burnt. Almost simultaneously the troubles starated in the rural areas within P.S. Sadar,Biswanath, Chatak, Fenchuganj, Balaganj and Gopalganj. In all these places a large number of Hindu Villages were attacked and have been completely destroyed and some Hindu girls were abducted and raped. Reports of mass conversion of Hindus of several villages have also been received. The modus operendi in these places was as  follows :—

A few Mullahs first visited the village and asked the Hindus to save themselves by embracing Islam. Brahmins were made to tear their sacred threads and recite Kalma. Wherever there was resistance the Muslim mob attacked the village and the entire village was looted and burnt and persons killed and women abducted. In the first part of February 1950 several Muslim leaders of Sylhet town were openly preaching that communal acts of violence and lawlessness were prevailing in West Bengal and Karimganj sub-division of the Cashar district and as a result of that the Muslims of Sylhet must take revenge upon the Hindus. On the 10th February, which was a bazar Day and a Friday, a big placard was hung up in a prominent light-post on the Bander^Bazar Road of the Sylhet town under the caption “ Julums in Hindusthan on Muslims” , and depicting on it a hand-drawn picture showing the Muslims being dragged by ropes by the Hindus with weapons in their hands and pool of blood, coloured prominently in red, flowing. This placard attracted the attention of the passerby and soon an angry mob gathered round it. On the 11th February there was a public meeting in which some Muslim leaders delivered highly inflammatory speeches. On the 12th February there was a rumour in the town that M aulvi A.K. Fazlul Huque had been killed in Calcutta. The whole atmosphere was thus surcharged and trouble broke out from the 13 th February and spread into rural areas.

At Manikpur some 25 houses of Naths (weavers) have been looted. In Jala pur area all the Hindu houses in village Senagram, Ajmatpur and Daspara were looted. Deities and idols were destroyed. At Lalbazar all Hindu shops have been looted and all the Hindu houses in neighbouring village have been burnt. All the Hindu shops at Rakhalganj Bazar were looted. Most of the Hindu houses in villages Jhapa and Samalsasan were looted. All the Hindu houses of the Steamer Workshop at Fenchuganj have been burnt. At Maijgaon and Machnabahar within the same P.S. several Hindu houses were looted and burnt. In Bagalganj P.S. several Hindu houses in villages Sukanpur, Madhurai and Kathalkair were looted. At Kathalkair and in its neighbouring villages there were mass conversions of the Hindus. In Golapganj P.S. large number of Hindu houses were looted. In villages Fulsain, Dakshinbhag, Purkayesthapara and Sribahar a large number of Hindu houses were looted and two girls of Bharat Choudhury were abducted from the village Dakshinbhag in Golapganj P.S. These girls weie returned on the following day in a precarious condition and admitted into hospital. All Hindu houses in Dandapanipur under Biswanath Thana (within half a mile from the thana) were looted. Most of the Hindu houses under Biswanath Thana villages, Krishnapur, Kurma, Rajaganj-Akhra, Singerkatch-Akhra, Bulchandergaon, Satpara, Mahabatpur, and Tukerkandi were looted. A large number of murders were also committed in all these places and people were forcibly converted on pain of death.

Mymensingh District

In Mymensingh district the worst affected parts are within the Jamalpur and Kishoreganj sub-divisions. Several incidents of arson and stabbing took place in Mymensingh town too. One teacher was stabbed to death. Trouble started in Jamalpur sub-division from the 13th February and continued till the I8th. The worst affected parts are within P. S. Jamalpur, Dewanganj, and Islampur. Quite a large number of stabbings, arson and loot took place within the Jam alpur town. Stray cases of arson, loot and stabbing also occurred in other thanas of this sub-division. At least 25 villages in Jamalpur and Sherpur P.Ss. and almost an equal number o f villages of Diwanganj and Islampur P. Ss. were seriously affected. At those places 4 Hindu villages were completely burnt down. At Kursha within a mile of Jamalpur town all the 24 Hindu houses were completely looted and at Kochgar 20 Hindu houses were looted and 6 persons including 2 women were killed. Almost all the Hindu shops of Jamalpur town were looted. In and around Jamalpur town itself as many as 18 deaths took place and some 305 houses in 15 villages and all the Hindu houses in 10 other villages have been completely looted. In Kishoreganj subdivision P. S. Kishoreganj, Kotihadi and Astagram were the worst affected. More than 20 villages in these thanas besides a few other villages in other thanas were raided and Hindu houses looted and burnt. There were also a number of stabbings in these places. The most dastardly murder was committed at the house of Babu Prafulla D utta Roy, President, Kastul Union Board. Prafulla Babu was murdered in his own house by some Muslim friends whom he had called to tea to form a Peace Committee. His daughter aged about 18 years, who came to her father’s help was carried away by the miscreants and her dead body was found in the field on the following morning. It is suspected that she was raped before she was done to death.

During this holocaust even Hindu officers of the East Bengal Government were not spared at some places. Out of a number of such cases to mention only one, Babu Nagendra Nath Chatterjee, an Inspector of Civil Supplies of East Bengal Government with his son aged 7 years, a daughter aged 4 years and a nephew aged 27 years were all killed in the train at Bhairab Bazar while he was proceeding to his station in Bakerganj district. His wife and another daughter aged 1.1/2 years were also stabbed and thrown into the river below Bhairab Bridge.

Thereafter they were rescued under very thrilling circumstances wounds on their persons. The whole story has been obtained with from the wife. Some more murders under such circumstances took place. The house of Sri Rohini Choudhury of Rahoulpur in Sadar sub-division was raided. Altogether five members of the family including Rohini Babu’s daughter who was to be married next day were killed. The girl was taken away first and raped before killing.

Bakarganj District

At Barisal town the disturbances started on the 13th February following a rumour that Mr. A. K. Fazlul Haque of Barisal and his nephew were killed in Calcutta. 25 Hindus were stabbed on the 13th and 14th of whom six died. About a dozen houses were burnt and looted including a Government Civil Supply Godown and the rest belonging to the Hindus. The flare spread to the rural areas in Sadar sub-division and continued till the 22nd. Total number of villages affected are about 50. Some of the worst affected villages are Lakulia, Sarshi, M adhabpasa, N orth Kashipur, Kalasgram, Rahamatganj, Kaunia, Khanpur and K hapura. Most of the Hindu houses in these villages were looted and some burnt. More than a thousand Muslims on the morning of the 16th February attacked the Lakuta Rajbari and set fire to the heaps of straw and branches placed around the house. Compelled by the smoke and fire the Hindus who took shelter there came out and ran toward their homes. A large number of them were then killed, whose number is estimated at about 100. Fifty females after abduction were recovered from one village another 50 taken away. At Sarshi 50 dead bodies were found in a pit in the village, and a dead body of a woman was hanging near her house even on the 4th March. Vultures were seen eating the dead bodies. In this village the total number killed were estimated to be 80. The worst happenings tpok place at Muladi which is a thana Headquarters in the Sadar-sub-division. When loot and arson broke out in this village hundreds of Hindus ran for shelter to the thana premises where they stayed on the 18th and the 19th February. On the 20th they were driven out from there and they took shelter at M uladi Bunder, half a mile from the thana where they were robbed and killed. The total number killed at the Bunder is estimated at five hundred and about 200 more dead bodies were lying scattered in the village. A considerable number of abduction of women and forcible conversion are reported to have taken place in these areas. Even as late as 3rd March Hindu shops in Bhandaria in the Ferozepur sub-division of the same district were looted.

Under Rajapur thana in village Kaibartakhali about 37 were killed, and in village Rajapur 17. The total number of persons killed in areas under this thana will be about 150. At Ilshaghat in one family eleven were killed. Unwarranted arrests of respected leaders like Sj.Satindra Nath Sen, M L.A. and some other leaders of the minorities during the riot period have added to the existing great panic in the minds of the people.

Chittagong District

In the Chittagong town the disturbances broke out on the 13th February, which continued till the 16th with a few cases of stabbing. On the 14th and the 15th the disturbances spread out to the rural areas, Patenga, Kumira, Fatikchari, Rouzan, Hatazari, Anyara, Boalkhali Patiya and Sitakunda. Amongst these places the loss of life and property was considerable in Patenga, Kum ira, Fatikchari and Sitakunda. Hindu pilgrims numbering about 130 who had gathered at Sitakunda fair during the Shivaratri festival are also reported to have been killed.

In Patenga 27 Hindu families and in Kumira 47 Hindu families lost their all. At Patenga women were abducted, 3 of whom were recovered later on by the police, one being recovered on payment of ransom money. During these disturbances Mrs. Nellie Sen Gupta, M.L.A. who was at Chittagong at the time and wanted to visit the disturbed areas was not allowed by the District Magistrate to go out for 4 days. Definite names have been recieved of the killed numbering 143.

Noakhali District

At Feni on the 2nd February 7 Hindus were murdered and their shops looted. On the 13th February disturbances broke out throughout the sub-division. At Feni town itself 15 Hindu houses were burnt. In a single village Banspara, P. S. Chagalnaiya, the houses belonging to 42 families were burnt down. The number killed in the sub-division is reported to be 15 and one is missing. At Noakhali town 3 persons were killed on the night of the 10th February.

Tippera District

On the night of the 11th February and the following day 7 Hindus were stabbed to death and 11 others injured in the  town of Brahamanbaria. On the 12th February ail the Hindu houses except one and all the Hindu shops at Talshahar Bazar were looted. This was one of the richest Hindu localities in the Brahamanbaria sub-division. Loss of property here is estimated to be very high.

 

Dacca District

 

The disturbances in the city of Dacca have already been dealt with above. Looting and arson on a large scale also took place in P.S. Joydevpur, Tejgaon, Kaliganj, Kapasia, Sripur, Rupganj, Sibpur, M onohardi, Narsindi, Fatulla and Narayanganj of the Sadar and Narayanganj sub-divisions, Harirampur and Shivalaya P.S. in Manikganj sub-division covering about 150 villages including Hats and Bazars. At Kotbari a village adjoining M irpur all the Hindu houses were looted and completely razed to the ground Most of the Hindu houses of villages Mirpui and Ghosepura were similarly looted and Hindu temples desecrated. In this area seven Hindus including a woman were killed. At these places even the corrugated iron sheets, door and window leavers and posts were uprooted and taken away.

At Tongi and Pubali Bazars all the Hindu shops were com pletely looted on the I2th February. Other worst affected villages in the Sadar sub-division were D attapara, Baradewara, Jazhar, D akshinpara, Sataish, Gatcha, Harbaid, Udhur, Joynagar, Patertek and Gusain. At Harbaid alone as many as 40 Hindu houses were burnt on the 12th and the 13th February.

On the 13th February local Muslim M atbars spread the rumour that the Biharis were coming to attack the village and unless the Hindus embraced Islam their lives could not be saved. On the following day a meeting was called in the compound of the local Zamindar where about a hundred Hindus were forced to recite Kalma and say the Namaj.

In Rupganj PS of the Narayanganj sub-division nearly all the Hindu houses of 10 villages including Majhina, Baruna, Nowrah, Nagari, Pashi and Icchapura, were looted and many of them burnt on the 13th night. Several thousands of Hindu refugees flocked to the thana premises for shelter but the police did not take any action to stop the loot and arson which continued till the 14th. The dead bodies in the Nowrah village lay in the houses for two days and two nights but the police took no action to take charge o f the bodies and they visited the spot after the bodies had been disposed of by the Muslims. At Jatrapur on the outskirts of the city of Dacca large number of Hindus were killed. In one house alone a woman with her 4 children were killed and their dead bodies were thrown into a well and were left there for a few days. For more than 10 days no police officer visited this area, which is a suburb of the Dacca city and was one of the worst affected areas. In Dacca city several Hindu temples were desecrated and idols were broken. The 70-year old priest of the Anandamoyee Ashram at Dacca, which is within a stone’s throw from the Prime Minister’s residence was stabbed to death in broad day light and the Ashram was looted.

 

Killings in Railways and Steamers

Besides these killings iii town and villages of different districts a very large number of Hindu passengers travelling by train, steamer and buses during this period were killed. Most of such killings took place at Talshahar and Bhairab Bazar stations where trains were stopped and armed goondas got into the compartments and butchered the Hindu passengers. At Bhairab Bazar the trains were stopped on the bridge to allow the murderers to throw the dead and injured into the river below. At other places the dead and the injured were just thrown out into the fields alongside the railway line. There is a large number of eye witnesses to these cold-blooded murders.

To cite only two, we may mention the names of widows of  professor Jyotish Chandra Das of the Kishoreganj College and Babu Nagendra Nath Chatterjee, an Inspector of Civil Supplies of the East Bengal Government posted at the time of his death in Bakerganj district. Similarly a large number of Hindu passengers on board the steamers as well as those waiting at different steamer stations were killed.

Apart from the above killings on trains steamers and buses three passenger trains were attacked by armed mobs, one at Surjanagar near Rajbari station on the 25th February and two at Santahar on the 28th February. The attack on the last two trains were made within an hour of each other .and in all cases in the presence of armed guards travelling in these trains. The casualties caused in the first train are reported to be seven dead and 25 injured and those on the other two trains near 200 dead and injured.

 

Incidents and Harassments Stilt Continuing

Before the situation could settle down to normalcy reports of fresh outbreak of lawlessness in isolated way and in trains are pouring in ……………………….unauthorised and humiliating searches and harassments of persons and belongings of the travellers in railway and steamer stations and on the way persist everywhere. Gold ornaments and other valuables are seized and taken away. The ladies are subjected to personal searches by males, customs, police, Ansars and other non-official elements in almost all places in an objectionable manner.

Extortion of money from the passengers by threats or other coercive methods takes place. Snatching away of articles is often reported. Unnecessary oppression by prolonging searches is being indulged in so that the travellers may fail to pursue the normal journey, while their belongings are thrown pell-mell No remedy from any quarters Station staff was found generally callous and indifferent. There is also the unchecked high-handedness of the coolies, cooly hire charges varying from Rs. 5 to Rs. 10/- for each load. Accomodation in and guarding of railway compartments reserved for minorities is insufficient. Similar is the case with ferry steamer—at different points.

Economic boycott has also started. Hindus are not allowed to sell their movables or other articles or properties. Houses vacant or otherwise, are being forcibly occupied in rural areas also. Generally persons leaving the province are not finding any safe passage yet. 13.3.50, Daughter-in-law of Sri Umes Dev of Mymensingh town was robbed o f her trunk and sewing machine at Pradyotnagar station on her way to Mymensingh.

Gopal Chandra De was attacked just near the N arudi railway station and robbed of his suit-case and wrist-watch. 14.3.50 Jatindra Karm akar of Mymensingh town went to railway station with a platform ticket to see off his daughter. He was subjected to search by customs official unnecessarily and Rs. 43/-in Pakistan currency was taken away. On other’s intervention money was later on returned but in Indian currency.

15.3.50. 30 to 40 persons of Halija village in Jamalpur sub-division of Mymensingh district were searched by a ‘Daroga’ at Dharm akura railway station while coming to Mymensingh. From him Rs. 300/- were extorted by the Daroga. The wife of Lalit K arm akar of village Paratala under Sibpur P.S. in Dacca district was taken away and returned next morning after ravishing her. Six Hindu houses in village Shampur under P.S. Melandah in Jam alpur sub-division were raided and looted twice on 14-3-50 and 15-3-50. Robbery took place in the house of Jamini K. Paul of Manki under P.S. M elandah in Jam alpur sub-division in Mymensingh district and two unmarried daughters of Jamini Babu carried away. A girl from N oapara under P.S. Kendua (Mymensingh) was forcibly taken away in the evening and returned in the morning after rape.

16-3-50. Some incidents were reported from Kaorai locality (Dacca district) involving looting and murder. ‘

17-3-50. Members of the family o f Sri Jitendra Chakravarti. teacher of Jubilee School, Dacca, were robbed of all belongings by Muslims on the way while coming to Dagca from Outshahi between Betka and Outshahi, A telegram from Bar Library, Jamalpur (Mymensingh district) reads : Lawlessness rampant in villages, spreading daily. Evacuees passing raided on way. No stern action.

18-3-50 Three or four days back the house of a Hindu widow in village Kumargata under P.S. M uktagacha (Mymensingh) was raided and looted. The widow was stabbed to death.

The above account of complete lawlessness throughout a large part of the province for a period of nearly 15 days is merely illustrative and not exhaustive, The magnitude of the loss of life and property can be correctly estimated only by a thorough enquiry by an independent tribunal. The aftermath of this widespread disturbances is more terrific. Vast masses of people have been rendered destitute and homeless within a few hours and they are now either moving about from door to door to eke out a miserable existence or are so panic-stricken that they are trying to leave this country for places of safety. The problem of restoring confidence and sense of security among these millions and rehabilitating them in their original homes needs the immediate attention of the government. Up till now nothing tangible appears to have been done in this direction. A rehabilitation grant of Rs. 10/- to Rs. 20/- per family which was doled out to some of the inmates of the refugee camps in the city of Dacca was insufficient even for the purpose of their daily existence for a week.

Circumstances surrounding us are so bewildering that we naturally feel a bit hesitant to offer any suggestions as to the way out of the crisis. Still we feel that we should put forward some points for your dispassionate consideration in regard to the fundamental approach to the problems and the background thereof. Politically judged, all the present maladies in our opinion, are traceable to the theocratic (Islamic) concept of the State, in which an idea of discriminating between different elements of the state on religious basis is inherent. Such an outlook has already been engendered in the minds of the general people (whether administrative personnel or not) much to the detriment, of the interests of the minorities resulting in treating the minorities as mere ‘Jimmies’ with all its obnoxious implications and humiliations. Unless this outlook is fundamentally got rid of, there seems to be no possibility of any change for the better being effected in the lot of the minorities. Constant and unremitting emphasis on the character of the state as an Islamic  one, evokes the proselytising and general communal zeal of the dogmatically minded members of the majority community. From our bitter yet long experience we can make bold to say that this outlook has inevitably created prejudices against the minorities and has its extensive and intensive and baneful reaction in all spheres of our public life, political, economic and administrative. Particular mention in passing may here be made of the evil effects of this outlook as reflected in the actual application of the policies of education, gun-seizure, house-requisitioning, detention and arrests. This outlook requires a radical change to prevent any recurrence of troubles, major or minor.

So, we humbly suggest that the state should be declared to be “  secular democratic” and further that the minorities should be treated as equal citizens with equal rights and obligations as the members of the majority community.

As we have stated earlier, we are sorely interested in a permanent solution of the problem. Nothing short of that can meet the situation as it has developed, which essentially calls for a thoroughly radical approach. Mere platitudinous statement from high or low quarters cannot instill the desired confidence and sense o f security, unless these are backed up by concrete, straight and drastic actions and implementations. Still to meet some immediate demands of the stern realities

We are in, we venture to suggest the following —

(1) Drastic punishments to the wrong-doers in different affected parts of the province. For that purpose immediate intensive and im partial investigation should be made and to find out and arrest the wrong-doers. There should be vigorous and extensive searches for looted articles also. Having regard to the colossal nature of the havoc caused by the happenings and to the fact that the causes and facts thereof are so patent, self-evident and telling that there is hardly any necessity for merely any fact-finding committee.

(2) The investigation should be conducted in such a way as would demonstrably help rem oval of insecurity and panic from the minds of the actual sufferers and of other members of the minority community in general.

(3) Imposition of punitive tax in the affected areas on the section of the people who are responsible for the happenings.

(4) District authorities are to be warned not to be lackadaisical about complaints of the minority members regarding complaints of oppression on them of any nature  whatsoever.

(5) For fostering confidence in the minds of the minority community and to bring back their sense of security, intensive propaganda throughout the province should be organised with the help of responsible leaders and persons of goodwill and sympathy. Vigilance committee composed o f persons of influence and integrity in different areas should be set up. Strict control of the press and the radio should be ensured so that writings tending to foster communal hatred and setting class against class may be altogether stopped.

(6) Steps should be taken to find out persons missing while travelling by trains, steamers and other means of transport or otherwise untraced in the wake of troubles and also to find out the wayfarers on foot still missing

(7) Immediate and effective steps for recovering the abducted women should be taken.

(8) Trains and steamers should be provided with armed guard more adequately.

(9) Enquiries should be undertaken to find out the railway officials on the tram and at different stations, who are alleged to have taken parts in murder and stabbing of passengers and looting of properties from trains.

III. Particular enquiries into the conduct of the G.R.P should be undertaken for neglect of duty in regard to prevention of crimes and non-arrest of persons commuting crimes in trains and at various stations openly in broad daylight even.

(10) Independent enquiry should be held as to the conduct of those government officials, police or Ansars who are alleged to have helped or connived at the commission of atrocities.

(11) Release of all persons o f the minority community arrested during the period of disturbances. Particular mention may here be made of a fairly large number of arrests in Khulna in a sweeping manner.

(12) Full compensation for life should be paid to the families of those persons who were done to death in different places during the disturbances including persons murdered during the course of journey by train and steamer etc.

(13) Full compensation should be paid for the loss of properties. Immediate relief in the shape of free rations and rehabilitation grant and house constructions should be given.

(14) Full compensation for temples desecrated and looted should be paid.

(15) Generally the precautionary and protective arrangements throughout the province (in urban and rural areas) should be more tightened.

(16) Those who want to go away should be ensured uninterrupted and safe passage. Due facility and protection should be given to them. No customs searches should be held on the way inside the province. Customs formalities at the transit point at the borders also should be fairly relaxed, if not withdrawn temporarily.

(17) Measures should be taken so that no restriction or obstruction may be put in the way of selling the movable or immovable properties of the minorities.

(18) A Board should be set up consisting of the members of both the communities to examine writings in newspapers and report to Government from time to time against any newspaper that may be found offending against maintenance of good relations between two communities by encouraging communal and class hatred.

(19) Indiscriminate arrests on mere vague allegations of anti-state-activities without sufficiently tangible grounds should be stopped.

(20) Indiscriminate requisition and forcible occupation of houses of the minority community members should be stopped.

(21) Payment of rent of the requisitioned houses should be speeded up with definite objective of clearing of all arrears within a period of two months.

(22) Requisitioned guns of the members of the minority community (even if sold out) should be immediately returned to them. Fresh licenses should be granted to these members of the minority community who may apply for the same for protection of their life and property.

                                                                                              Yours sincerely,

                                                                                        Sd/- Basanta Kumar Dass

                                                                                        Sd/-Ganendra Nath Bhattacharjee

                                                                                       Sd/- Munindra Nath Bhattacharjee

                                                                                   Sd/- Haran Chandra Ghosh Choudhury

                                                                                 Sd/- Monoranjan Dhar

                                                                  Dated 20th March, 1950.

 

Atal Bihari Vajpayee said in the Rajya Sabha on 4 March, 1964  ( source : Four Decades in Parliament , volume 3, Foreign Affairs by Atal Bihari Vajpayee)

Inhuman Treatment Meted Out to Minorities in East Pakistan

Madam, whatever has happened and whatever is happening in East Pakistan has once again made it clear that there is no place for non-Muslims there. Along with Hindus, Buddhists are also being expelled from East Pakistan and atrocities are being committed against Christians too. The question is not only of Hindus and Muslims, but that of forcing Pakistan to treat its minorities with humaneness. It is essential to give full freedom to those who want to migrate to India. But the aim of our policy should be to create such conditions in East Pakistan that those who want to live there may live with security and dignity.

At the time of partition the leaders of India and Pakistan had given assurances to the minorities. The leaders of Pakistan are not prepared to abide by their assurances. But what are our leaders doing ? What policy does our Government have to ensure justice for the minorities in Pakistan ? There are no two opinions that peace should prevail in the country, that the safety and dignity of the life of every citizen in the country should be ensured. But is that all that is necessary to secure the safety of minorities in Pakistan ? We have tried to tread on the path of secularism in our country during the past 16 years, but we have not been able to force Pakistan to change its policy of communalim. It is evident that we will have to take further steps in this direction and, as I have submitted, the aim of these steps should be to ensure justice for the minorities of East Bengal in their homes. India should be prepared to go to any length to achieve this objective. The future of our country is linked with the minorities of East Bengal.

If we look at the riots in East Pakistan against the background of the obnoxious alliance between Pakistan and China, we would come to the conclusion that these riots were started in a pre-planned manner. The riots may subside or calm down today, but Pakistan would incite these riots again whenever it so desires. It is feared that Pakistan is intending to create tension on the cease-fire line in Kashmir.

Imagine how dangerous for our country’s security it would be if, on the one side some disturbance is created on the cease-fire line and, on the other, there is squeezing out of the minorities in East Pakistan resulting in lakhs of displaced persons coming over, to take refuge. Our attention will be divided. Questions of maintaining peace and law and order inside the country would arise. The refugees from East Bengal will put pressure on our economic structure also. Can we find out a way to ensure the security of the minorities in their own homes in East Pakistan ? I do not want to overlook the danger involved in it. But there is danger in closing our eyes to the problem also.

In 1950, the Nehru-Liaquat Ali Pact was signed, but the riots did not stop after that. Today riots are taking place again. It is being suggested that the Home Ministers of both countries should meet, the Presidents of both the countries should issue appeals. Is this the way to bring back Pakistan on the right path ? Those who suggest such means and ways perhaps refuse to understand the psychology behind these riots, to understand why people were incited to indulge in riots and why they would be incited to do it again. The political situation in Pakistan is not good. Shri Ayub Khan is becoming more and more unpopular. The people of Pakistan are fighting for their democratic rights and the military dictatorship is gradually losing its hold. This unrest is greater in East Bengal because East Bengal has just become a colony of West Pakistan. There is widespread unrest in East Bengal against the domination of West Pakistan. The rulers of Pakistan want to divert the attention of the people from the internal problems by creating these riots.

Secondly, they want to pressurise us on the question of Kashmir. As the leaders of the Congress had capitulated before the demand of Pakistan after the Calcutta massacre the rulers of Pakistan today think that if a massacre of minorities is committed in East Pakistan the deities in New Delhi will come under pressure and surrender Kashmir. But Pakistan should not remain under such an illusion. The people of India would rather prefer death than giving in to force and atrocities. We can make an agreement with Pakistan on any issue on friendly terms. An Agreement could be made on a give-and-take basis, but if the rulers of Pakistan think that they could make us agree on the question of Kashmir by use of force and other barbaric methods they are living in a fool’s paradise. But their intention is to pressurise us by squeezing out the minorities from East Bengal.

Pak Intention to Drive out non-Muslims from East Bengal

They also want to bring about “parity” between West Pakistan and East Bengal. If all non-Muslims are driven out of East Bengal the population of West Pakistan and East Pakistan would equalise. There would then be no obstacle in crushing East Pakistan. It would help in suppressing the protests of the people in East Pakistan. When this is the aim of the policy of Pakistan can peace be established in East Bengal by a meeting of Home Minister’s or appeals of the two Presidents ? Such peace would only be the peace of the graveyard. Today the fire may be extinguished, but tomorrow or at any other time it might be rekindled. Those who did not migrate in 1950 under the belief that they might be able to live in East Pakistan were forced to migrate in 1964. I do not want to repeat the story of their woes in this House. It is easy for Shri Bhupesh Gupta to sermonise that we should maintain peace in our own country and that peace should be maintained at all cost. But if the neighbouring house catches fire, while it is necessary to make arrangements to secure your own house from the fire, it is necessary to put out the fire in the neighbour’s house also. If the neighbour’s house is on fire and we make arrangements to safeguard our house by closing our door we cannot stop the fire from reaching our house. Therefore, the problem is not confined to maintaining peace in our country. The problem is how to create conditions so that the minorities could live in East Pakistan with honour and dignity.

Madam, I said that it was not a Hindu-Muslim question. After all, why are Buddhists being expelled, why are Christians being expelled ? The exodus of Christians in such large numbers from East Pakistan had never taken place. We should not forget that certain aspects of the riots this time are very clear. The first aspect is that in stead of killing people more attention was paid to driving them out. This second aspect is that Pakistan wants to get the area adjoining the border vacated by all non-Muslims. Why is this being done should be seriously taken note of by defence experts. Was Pakistan preparing for some military adventure on the border of East Pakistan ? Does Pakistan want to create disturbance on the Kashmir front as well as on the border of East Pakistan at the same time ? After all, what was the reason behind removing non-Muslims from the border areas ? All Christians and Buddhists who have been driven out were settled on the Indo-Pakistan border.

Third Aspect of the Riots

There is a third aspect of the riots too, which is that women have been molested on a mass scale. Those people, who have migrated to India after leaving their sisters and daughters behind, cannot put out the smouldering fire of anguish and anger in their hearts by applying the balm of secularism. Some of our workers had interviewed a Christian missionary. The report received from them is an eye-opener. On February 5, an American missionary, ‘Father of Borodokuni’ was stabbed and wounded because he wanted to save the fleeing Hindus and their women folk from the Ansars. Women were abducted by Pakistanis, but this American missionary had a 13-year-old girl with him. The Ansars tried to molest her as well. The missionary was crying and wailing, but those people did not listen to him. They wounded him and in front of him 27 persons gang-raped that 13-year-old girl. One Christian gentleman, Mohendra Master, who had brought a letter from the Sisters of Bori Mari Mission, narrated what he saw there. I want to read out the letter of Sister M. Emanuel written by her to Indian missionaries : “Dear Fathers, Please take care of our driver Robert Ritchie, and all the family and all our Catholics. Mohendra Master will tell you about it. I do not know what will be for us next.”

Italian and American missionaries were killed in the riots. What have we done to invite the attention of the world to these atrocities ? When questions were raised in this House as well as in the other House and the Ministers were asked to make a statement  was made about how Christians were being driven out of Pakistan. But what have we done to put the true version of the communal riots that have taken place in East Pakistan before the countries of the world, especially before the governments and the people of those countries who claim to be friends and allies of Pakistan ?

Take the Issue of East Pakistan to U.N.O.

Madam, I suggest that we should raise the issue of treatment of minorities in East Pakistan in the United Nations Organisation before Pakistan again raises the issue of Kashmir in the Security Council. Pakistan’s diplomacy demands that it should draw the attention of the world towards Kashmir, India’s diplomacy demands that we should draw the attention of the world towards East Pakistan. But the Government has failed to do so. It is still not too late. We should knock at the door of the World Court and should take our complaint to the U.N.O. against the violation of human rights and the Charter of Human Rights. Can we not draw the attention of the entire world to the inhuman atrocities being perpetrated in East Pakistan ? Apart from this it is also essential to collect the statements and the painful stories of those Buddhists and Christians who have been forced to migrate to India from East Pakistan. These should be translated into all languages of the world and distributed in the form of a booklet. It is also necessary to prepare a documentary film on the refugees coming from East Pakistan, a small documentary which could be exhibited by our embassies in foreign countries. This film need not be shown within the country, as the results of doing so could be disastrous and we want to avoid them. But we should show to the world and the friends of Pakistan how mistaken they are in putting India and Pakistan in the same category and show them what is happening to non-Muslims in East Pakistan. I am again and again using the word non-Muslims, but this does not mean that all Muslims in East Pakistan have abetted the rioters. There have been cases where Muslims have saved them from death and prevented the murderers from killing them. Muslims saved Hindus in the same manner as Hindus had saved Muslims in Calcutta. But how long would these lamps of goodwill and humaneness survive the poisonous guns of communalism and guide our future ? We should multiply such instances. If we could not take any step at the Governmental level to ensure justice to the minorities in East Pakistan the wave of unrest that is rising fast inside the country cannot be suppressed.

China-Pakistan Collusion

Madam, I have referred to the alliance between China and Pakistan. China and Pakistan have colluded to defeat us in the diplomatic field. It would not cause any surprise if the two collude at some time to take joint action against India. This possibility cannot be ruled out. I am surprised at the Western friends of Pakistan who have been giving arms to it in the hope that it would fight communism. Today the same Pakistan was making friendly gestures to Communist China. Chou En-Lai is playing a very dangerous game and he wants us to fight with Pakistan. China’s game is that if differences of opinion between India and Pakistan increase the conflict, then it would not be possible for Western countries to provide us military aid in substantial quantity, as a result of which India would remain weak, and that is what China wants. Western countries are pressurising us to come to an agreement with Pakistan on the Kashmir issue, but why are they not prepared to use strong language against the Sino-Pakistan alliance ? Are we to take it that they have no words to use against what is happening there ? Since when do they believe in the adage silence is golden ? They speak even where they need not do so; but in this case their silence is not beyond suspicion.

American Ambassador and General Ayub Khan

Madam, I want to give an example. Late Dr. Raghuvir, when he was a member of the Congress Party — he joined Jan Sangh later — paid a visit to Pakistan. He met President Ayub and had also seen the American Ambassador in Pakistan. He has written a travelogue about his visit. If I make a revelation now I shall not be doing injustice to him. Dr. Raghuvir has written that before meeting General Ayub he had met the American Ambassador. Whatever the American Ambassador said about India-Pak relations was repeated in full the next day by General Ayub, right up to the comma and full stop. I am not prepared to admit that Washington cannot put Pakistan on the right path if it so desires; but perhaps they are committed to back Pakistan on Kashmir. But they should understand the adverse consequences arising out of it. Only India can act as a bulwark against the expansion of communism in this part of the world on the basis of democracy. But the issue of Kashmir is such that if the Western countries extended their cooperation to Pakistan, as they are doing now, then in spite of existing cordial relations between us on the basis of democracy, in spite of the help given by them so promptly at the time of the Chinese aggression, the relations between India and Western countries would weaken. This would neither be good for them nor for us. But the responsibility to stop it lies with them, not with us. We want to have friendship with Pakistan, but it cannot be one-sided. So far friendship has been understood to be weakness. We cannot have friendship with any country by bowing down before it.

Plight of Hapless Refugees

I was sorry to see that no Minister went to meet the refugees belonging to the minority community who have migrated from East Pakistan and enquire about their welfare. Perhaps their misfortune is that they belong to the Hindu community. There is none in this country to look after the Hindus. This is a secular Government and the Ministers of this Government claim to be secular in outlook. Only Prof. Humayun Kabir and Shri Shahnawaz Khan went to see what happened in Calcutta. They visited the Muslim localities but did not visit the Hindu localities. Could any one of these Ministers not go to listen to the woes and painful stories of Hindu, Christian and Buddhist refugees ? Could not Shri Nanda go there ? Shri Nanda also believes in secularism. Is this the love that we have for the refugees ? Is this the sympathy we have for them ? Our workers who visited the refugee camps have seen their plight. There are no doctors there. An epidemic is likely to spread. There is no space to live, no clothes; cereals are given for two meals a day, but there are no utensils to cook. Can nobody go there from here to apply balm to their wounds ? Shastriji went to Calcutta to perform the opening ceremony of the Rifle Club, but could not go to Garo hills. He could not visit the border area. Shri Mehar Chand Khanna, who has been entrusted with the responsibility of looking after the minorities also did not go.

Madam, I too believe in the ideal of a secular state. But I am not prepared to forget that Hindus have no other place to live except India. Josh Malihabadi can migrate to Pakistan, Phizo can migrate to London, but I have no other place to live and die that way. You should not draw from this the conclusion — I want to repeat it again — that we want to establish a theocratic state in India. It is wrong to allege that we want to set up an administration based on religion. We have never discriminated against anybody on the basis of religion. We have never linked nationality with religion. The rights of citizenship should be uniform. But how can we keep mum when atrocities are being committed in East Pakistan ? The Hon’ble Minister should indicate what other steps the Government propose to take apart from raising the slogan of secularism and keeping the door open to receive them.

 Organise World Public Opinion

One more point and I have done. We must make diplomatic moves. It is necessary to organise world public opinion in our favour. At the same time we have to take vigilant action on the East Pakistan border keeping in view the defence aspect of the situation. Could Shri Bhupesh Gupta deny the fact that slogans of ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ were raised during the riots in Calcutta ? Could anybody deny the fact that Pakistani flags were hoisted and slogans of ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ were raised at several places in Assam ? The Hon’ble Minister has admitted these facts in his statements. There can be no place for those in India who raise the slogan of Pakistan Zindabad’ and hoist the flag of Pakistan. They should go to Pakistan. Those who have infiltrated into Assam, Tripura and West Bengal should be expelled. They could endanger our security at any time. They would serve as an instrument in the integration of Assam with East Pakistan. We cannot rely on the Government of Assam in this matter. The Government of Assam is weak and powerless. It was formed on political considerations. The Centre should itself take the responsibility to safeguard the border of Assam, Tripura and West Bengal. Shri Chettiar was just now reading out a statement in which it was said that Pakistanis infiltrate into Tripura, change the direction of the stream of the river and abduct people because there are no proper arrangements on our border. The governments of Tripura, Assam and West Bengal are unable to make suitable arrangements. The Centre must take over the security arrangements of this area. If we cannot send the Army let the Centre entrust the security arrangements of the border to the Central Reserve Police. There are people settled along the border whose loyalty is doubtful, about whom it is suspected that they are in collusion with Pakistan. We will have to consider removing such people from the border areas. Nobody can say what the intention of the leaders of Pakistan is. I fear they may try to create disturbances inside Kashmir or incite riots in East Pakistan again as soon as the debate in the Security Council is resumed. We should be ready to face that situation and the only way to get ready is for the Central Government to make up its mind to do something in the matter. But the Central Government does not appear to be in a mood to take any decision. This situation must change. Our nation is passing through a critical time which is perhaps unprecedented. It is our foremost duty today to safeguard the borders and the freedom of our country against the joint conspiracy of China and Pakistan. We should understand the seriousness of this situation and prepare ourselves to give a strong and far-sighted leadership to the people.

Calcutta Riots

Madam, the days’s debate would end. The refugees would continue to pour into India from East Pakistan. If we cannot do anything for them let us at least admit that we are not in a position to do anything for them. But I do not think the Government would not be in a position to do anything. If our objective is clear we can take proper steps. Today we must clarify our objective. It is not the work of a single party, although Shri Bhupesh Gupta has deemed it necessary to condemn certain reactionary and communal elements for the riots that took place in Calcutta. The resolution adopted by the Communist Party of West Bengal has come in handy for Pakistani propaganda. No effort has been made to throw light on the real position in Calcutta. To say that what happened in Calcutta was not a reaction to the happenings in East Pakistan, but was engineered by certain communal and reactionary elements would be too naive. What are those reactionary and communal elements ? If a riot takes place in Madhya Pradesh or in Uttar Pradesh and even if Jan Sangh is not remotely connected with it the Communist Party blames our party. But in West Bengal our party has only a negligible presence. Does Shri Bhupesh Gupta see our ghost even there ? I want to let him name those parties and elements who started riots in Calcutta. If he would name my party I would challenge him to prove the allegations made by him against the people of my party.

ShrI Bhupesh Gupta : I said what I had to say. Those who indulged in rioting did so because of communal reaction. Otherwise they would not have done it. I have not ventured to give any name or party, because I am not concerned with that, I am concerned with the description. Madam, Mr. Vajpayee need not take upon himself

SHRI VAJPAYEE : Here is a copy of the resolution adopted by the West Bengal Communist Party which says specifically that the disturbances in Calcutta were not a reaction to what happened in East Pakistan but certain communal and reactionary elements fomented the trouble. Who are those elements ?

 SHRI BHUPESH GUPTA : If the Communist Party wanted to mention your name it could have done it.

 The Deputy ChaIrman : Mr. Vajpayee, please continue.

SHRI VAJPAYEE : Madam, it has become clear from the discussion that has taken place just now that Communist leaders have no names. But if they have no names why did the Communist Party of West Bengal adopt a resolution which was printed by the Dawn on its front page and which put us in an embarrassing position in the world ? Perhaps neither the Communist Party nor the Congress Party have a detached outlook, free from internal politics of the country, on the question of minorities of East Bengal. This is not a question of politics. This is a question concerning the defence of India and safeguarding the honour and dignity of minorities. We cannot make the mistake of considering this question on partisan lines and with a narrow outlook. We should concentrate our attention on the clouds of danger that are hovering over us. We should jointly consider how to ward off the danger successfully. The Government should create confidence among the people that it really wants to do something in the matter.

Strict Reciprocity with Pakistan is needed

Madam, I will finish in one minute. So far as diplomacy is concerned we should adopt a policy of strict reciprocity towards Pakistan. There is no need to have any long debate on this matter. If they have closed our Consulate in Rajshahi we can close their Consulate in Shillong. If they do not allow our Deputy High Commissioner to go out in Dhaka we cannot allow their Deputy High Commissioner to go out in Calcutta. But during the Calcutta riots the Pakistani Deputy High Commissioner had visited the Lai Bazar Police Station. What was the need for a Pakistani Deputy High Commissioner to visit a Police Station in Calcutta ? He took a round of bastis (settlements). Several other allegations have been made against him. It is not a matter on which we may create a crisis, but we should be ready to adopt a tit-for-tat policy against Pakistan. However, our behaviour is different. So much rioting took place in East Pakistan yet the Indian High Commissioner at Karachi did not visit Dhaka. If he did visit Dhaka, on what date ? Is he not responsible for looking after East Pakistan ? Why did he stay put in Karachi ? Should he not have gone to Dhaka ? Similarly, when Shri Chagla had gone to the United Nations Organisation to speak on the Kashmir issue, neither our Ambassador there nor his number two was present in the Embassy. The news about the riots in East Pakistan was not published at all in the newspapers of U.S.A. Such news should be published so that the American people could know about the situation in East Pakistan. What did our Embassy do in this connection ? If the newspapers there are not ready to publish such news we must get it published on advertisement rates. We can get time on television there on payment. What did we do to educate the American public opinion about it ? The Home Ministry could not do anything for the minorities of East Bengal. And the Ministry of External Affairs cannot even give publicity to their plight. This Government lacks leadership, it lacks direction, that is the misfortune of the country. But we have to change this misfortune and safeguard the fortune of India. Today this work appears difficult, but whatever Government is there, we can only make an appeal to it. I hope and trust that the reply to be given to this debate by the Home Minister would be clearer than his earlier replies. Thank you.

Letter from President Dr. Rajendra Prasad to Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru giving suggestions for securing the life and honour of the minorities in India and Pakistan. ( New Delhi, March 18, 1950)

In any negotiation that we may have with Pakistan we must try to avoid a repetition of what has happened on our western border. There has been an exchange of population there and we have more or less the same number of Hindus and Sikhs coming to us as Musalamans emigrating from our side to Pakistan. Both India and Pakistan had to deal with more or less the same number of displaced persons, but with this difference. Whereas we had to deal with a population which was well to do, had a great deal of land of good quality with irrigation facilities and possessed a large quantity of house and other property all of which it had to leave behind. Pakistan had to deal with a comparatively less well to do population which had much less property to leave behind. The result has been that, apart from the initial difficulty which lasted for a short time of having to deal with a large population which was unsettled for the time being, Pakistan had practically no problems of rehabilitation and settlement to tackle, and it has been able to declare as it has done that all immigrants have been rehabilitated and settled. It could do so because it settled them on the lands and houses left behind by the Hindus and Sikhs, and apart from what was grabbed out of it by the local Muslim inhabitants, the rest has all been taken up by the displaced persons. On the other hand, we have spent 70 crores or more on relief and have not been able to rehabilitate vast numbers of our immigrants and even those that have somehow been settled have had to content themselves with whatever we have been able to provide them with. That has not been anything like what they possessed. The result is great discontent and bitterness among the displaced persons, and we may have to face a serious situation on that account at any time in the future.

We have, therefore, to avoid a repetition of this at all costs. I suggest that we should not agree to any unplanned exodus of population from either side. It should be the duty of Governments on both sides to give protection to their minorities and it should be made not only the duty but also the interest of both Governments to give them fullest security so that failure on their part to do so shuld expose the Governments concerned and not the minorities to penalties. It is true that it is not possible for us to throw those back those Hindu who come to us or to prevent their coming to us. Nor should it be left to Pakistan to allow its Muslim population or officers to misbehave with them and at the same time to prevent their exodus. Pakistan should be made to agree to conditions which will make it difficult, if not impossible to allow a situation to be created, in which Hindus will be squeezed out from there as has happened with the Hindus in Sind. Apart from the large and initial exodus that took place in 1947 which all happened before our Governments or perhaps even the Pakistan Government could realize the immensity of the exodus from both sides, Pakistan has followed a deliberate policy of squeezing Hindus out of Sind, as against our deliberate policy of not only conciliating our Muslim nationals but also for creating conditions for the return of those who had migrated. The result has been that while nearly one or two lakhs of Muslims, including the Meos, who had migrated to Pakistan, have returned to India, an equal number of Hindus have after the big exodus of 1947 has been found to migrate to India from Sind, and not a single Hindu or Sikh who had migrated to India during the great exodus or after has found it possible to return to Pakistan. My fear is that Pakistan is trying the same policy in Eastern Bengal and just as in Sind it forced the Hindus to come away in several batches at intervals of months, it has tried more than once already to force lakhs of Hindus to come to us. On this occasion it has sent to us some two lakhs and if what has been reported to the Prime Minister comes to pass, probably the present exodus may cease after another couple of lakhs have migrated. But we may expect another exodus after some time unless something effective is done. We must therefore try to secure conditions by agreement with Pakistan to prevent a repetition of this which is practically the same thing that happened in Sind. I have said this can be secured only if the Pakistan Government finds it to its interest not to allow this.

It will not be to the interest of Pakistan to allow exodus of Hindus if it has also to deal with the problem of rehabilitation in the same way and to the same extent as we have to do in case of exodus. We cannot contemplate forcing our Muslim nationals to move to Pakistan nor can we contemplate leaving Hindu nationals of Pakistan to their fate and disavow all concern with them. The agreement should therefore insist on the following terms:

(1) India and Pakistan should give protection to the minorities. It should be the right of the minorities to judge whether they are getting the protection that they should have. The criterion for judging this should be the willingness of the minorities to remain where they are and not to think of migrating to the other side of the border. It is reasonable to fix this criterion as no one will leave his hearth and home unless he finds his life and honour unsafe.

(2) Any one who wishes to migrate should be allowed to do so. But the country to which the emigrant belongs should agree to compensate him for the property that he has to leave behind. This is reasonable because Pakistan or India will get the property that is left behind by the emigrant. It will thus become the interest of India and Pakistan to prevent conditions from arising which will force its Muslim or Hindu population to emigrate. In other words, migration of population must be linked with compensation for the property left behind.

(3) This compensation should be fixed on Governmental level between the two Governments and should be paid by Government to Government.

(4) If any exchange of population is agreed upon — and it is possible to contemplate small scale exchange of populations – it must be on the basis of man for man and property for property.  Without some such arrangement of linking population with property for purposes of migration we shall have to face the same problems of rehabilitation as we have had to do from Western Pakistan without the latter having to do it. It must be borne in mind that in Eastern Bengal also it is the Hindus who are better off than the Muslims who are likely to migrate from our side, and Pakistan will not have any difficulty in rehabilitating them with the property left behind by the Hindus. It will be impossible for us to rehabilitate any large population coming from East Bengal, not to speak of rehabilitating the 12 millions or more, if they all emigrate to us. At present large scale exodus it going on form both sides. But the character of the population that is emigrating is worth considering. Apart from the fact that large number of those who are emigrating from West Bengal and even perhaps from Assam are those who have their roots, if not their houses and property in East Bengal, they are very largely labourers employed in the factories in and around Calcutta or otherwise earning their living here and recent immigrants into Assam in search of land and have practically no landed or house property which they leave behind. On the other hand the Hindus who are emigrating from East Bengal are all residents of East Bengal and have at least their houses and many of them other landed property there. We must therefore link population and property for purposes of migration, whether it is one a voluntary basis or by exchange or forced by conditions arising or created in either territory.

(5) There should be sanctions created for enforcing the agreement. One sanction by agreement may be that in case of any considerable exodus it should be open to India or Pakistan as the case may be, to occupy part of territory of the other which may be demarcated beforehand in proportion to the migrating population without exposing itself to the charges of aggression. Such territory will be restored if the migrating population can be induced to return and gets back its previous property and positions in tact.

(6) It should be agreed that in any case of large scale migration third party should be invited by agreement of India and Pakistan to investigate and judge if conditions had arisen for the application of the sanction contemplated in (5) above, and if it finds that the application of the sanction has been without justification then the territory occupied should be restored otherwise it should be allowed to become the territory of the occupying Governments.

If such an agreement is reached, it will become necessary for both Governments to keep the minorities well secured against oppression. We on our part have been trying to do that and it is evidenced by the fact that there has been no sign or indication of any desire on the part of our nationals to migrate. Even the migration that is taking place now is mostly of Pakistan nationals to Pakistan and not of our nationals. I do not anticipate that if we continue to pursue our present policy there will be any emigration from our side. On the other hand it will act as an effective check on Pakistan to play the game it has been doing. I have my grave doubts if Pakistan will agree to any such thing. But anything short of this will not give security to the Hindus of East Bengal and will not prevent Pakistan — whether the Government of Pakistan wishes it or not – from following the policy of squeezing out Hindus.

We must do our best to avoid armed intervention. Even if it is forced on us its objective cannot be anything more than securing such an agreement. In our own interest we cannot afford to have large territories with sullen and hostile majority ever anxious to revolt and ever plotting against our Government. Conquest is thus out of the question, whether we look at it from the point of view of international repercussions or our own interest involved in effecting it which will not be any easy affair on the whole, and then even if we succeed, in maintaining our position and getting anything out of it. Our experience of Hyderabad should rule out any idea of conquest. There we had the bulk of the population that felt oppressed either directly by the Government or on account of its inefficiency and inability to control its unruly elements. Yet we had to keep our military Government functioning for about a year and a half and even when we have a civil Government things cannot be said to have settled down and become normal even now. We have so far failed in our effort to tackle the communist problem there. We shall have our difficulties hundredfold in conquered Pakistan, assuming we have succeeded in conquering it, and we shall find it impossible to tackle the problems that will arise. Our resources in men and material will be unable to bear the strain and chaos and confusion with consequent misery and suffering to both our people and Pakistanis will be the only result of any such enterprise aiming at conquest. It will also be opposed to all our professions and protestations that we have no territorial ambitions and that we have accepted the partition as a settled fact.

Our objective should therefore be clearly understood to secure conditions of security and honourable life for the Hindus in Pakistan assuring on our side the same conditions for our Muslim nationals. We should avoid armed intervention as far as it is humanly possible consistently with the objective of security of life and honour of Hindus in Pakistan. In case armed intervention is forced on us by Pakistan refusing to be a party to any agreement on the lines suggested above or on any other line which is equally effective and continuing in its game of squeezing out Hindus, our objective of armed intervention as stated above should be clearly understood, defined and made public and when it is once achieved we should withdraw to own territory.

Our policy should be directed towards achieving the objective of security and honourable life of Hindus in Pakistan and Muslims in India. Our own people should be instructed on this line, Pakistan should be approached for an agreement and foreign opinions should be cultivated in its favour. A mere agreement that minorities will be protected couched in precise language and expressed in the most effusive form possible will not solve the problem unless sanctions are provided for enforcing it. We have had so many agreements in the past without being able to get the benefit hoped for or at any rate benefit to the extent hoped for. Another agreement as contemplated or derivable from the proposed joint declaration to tide over the present difficulty will share the same fate. It may be that as a result of this agreement, if achieved, previous agreements also may become more effective. As our proposals are reasonable and will be equally applicable to both sides, it is possible we may in course of time win international opinion also on our side. In any case our own conscience will be clear in case any action is forced on us by Pakistan’s recalcitrance and intransigence. In considering the problem which has arisen and which may arise in future I have tried to be as detached and as objective and realistic as possible. I would not like the chances of an agreement to be jeopardized either by insisting on an investigation of the past and allocation of blame for it or by encumbering it with anything else which does not immediately and intimately concern the present. I should proceed on the basis of what is happening without exaggerating or minimizing it on either side and insist on guarantees for the future and an automatic arrangement for their enforcement, that is, an arrangement which will not depend upon the will of the defaulting party to enforce it but will be enforceable at the will of the other party. The mere fact that the objective in enforcing the agreement will be limited and that neither India nor Pakistan will lightly undertake an enterprise involving armed intervention with all its uncertainties and risks will by itself be a sufficient and effective check on the enterprise degenerating into an aggression, for conquest of territory. If we fail in our effort to achieve the agreement which is quite reasonable, we can with confidence depend upon all fair-minded persons and countries to take a just view of whatever actions we may be forced to take. In any case even if we find others judging us wrongly we shall have the satisfaction that we did everything that was humanly possible to avoid it and as I have said our own conscience will be clear. That by itself will give us strength to face the future with courage and if there are any spiritual laws operating in nature, will lead us to success.

                                                                                                             Sd/Rajendra Prasad

 

Letter from Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to President Rajendra Prasad. ( New Delhi, March 20, 1950)

My dear Mr. President,

As you know, I have been greatly troubled in my mind during recent weeks. Even before the Bengal occurrences, various events and developments made me wonder if my continuing as Prime Minister was serving any worthwhile purpose. I mentioned this to you and confided to you that it was my desire not to continue as Prime Minister. This feeling has grown upon me even more since the tragedy in Bengal.

Very soon after the disturbances in East and West Bengal last month, the idea struck me forcibly that I could serve the cause better by going in a personal capacity to East Bengal, if I was permitted to do so, and, in any event, for me to devote myself largely in some way or other to the Bengal problem. In the first statement I made in Parliament regarding Bengal, I said that I wished to devote myself particularly to the Bengal and Kashmir problems. I had in mind then my retirement from the Prime Ministership.

It seemed to me that while necessary governmental action of course had to be taken to meet this situation, what was even more necessary was a psychological and personal approach to this problem. I am not vain enough to think that any such approach on my part would make a very great difference. Nevertheless, I felt it was worth trying, as every other course seemed to lead to a further complication of an already intricate and difficult problem.

I had long felt disturbed and distressed at the trend of events in India and the way people’s minds were turning to thoughts and courses of action which were entirely opposed to all the ideals many of us had held dear. For thirty years or more we had worked for these ideals and objectives and now one by one they faded away under stress of uncontrollable events. We became passive agents of an evil destiny and the light that had thus far illumined our hearts became dimmer and dimmer.

I felt also that I was not truly representing the wishes of a large number of members of Parliament and perhaps of the people outside. Some kind of a hiatus existed between them and me. Our objectives even seemed to be different. They liked me well enough and honoured me with their affection. But they thought and felt differently from me. I seemed to come in their way and they, to some extent, came in my way. This was not a happy state of affairs and it produced a measure of frustration on both sides.

Ever since the Republic came into being, and even before, I have been thinking of the formation of new Council of Ministers as required by the Constitution. At first I hoped that this would take place very soon after your assumption of office. Then came the Budget session of Parliament and it seemed to me that any change just then would be rather upsetting. So we carried on in the old way and I decided that the time to make the change would be soon after the Budget was passed. That time is coming now and in any event a new Council of Ministers has to be formed. That new Council may of course contain the old Ministers, or many of them.

This impending change has given me an opportunity, without any fuss or trouble, to give effect to the powerful urge which has been moving me for some time. I feel that I have practically exhausted my utility in my present high office and that I can serve my country and my people better in other ways. My heart is elsewhere and I long to go to the people and to tell them how I feel. If they accept what I say, well and good. If not, then also I shall have done what I felt like doing. In particular, I would like to devote myself for some time at least to the Bengal problem in its many aspects.

I have discussed with you some of these aspects and some of the far-reaching consequences that must inevitably flow from the course of events. Our whole future is at stake and each one of us has to think, as earnestly and deeply as he can, about his present duty. I have given much thought to this matter and the conclusion I have arrived at is that I should function in some other capacity for some time at least.

At this evening’s Cabinet meeting, I gave expression to some of these ideas. While I had discussed them with one or two members previously, most of my other colleagues had not been taken into my confidence. I thought it only fair to them and to myself that I should let them have a glimpse into my mind.

It is my intention, soon after the Budget is passed, to offer you my resignation and together with it, the resignation of the present Cabinet. Thereupon a new Council of Ministers will have to be formed. I would beg of you then not to charge me with this responsibility.

                                                                                     Yours sincerely

                                                                                Jawaharlal Nehru

 

 

A few points mentioned  above clearly show the boldness of a section of the then Congress leadership. They had the courage to speak the truth. Can we expect such boldness from the present Congress leadership? A galaxy of leaders within Congress were vocal on the atrocities committed on the minority communities in East and West Pakistan at that time. Why should citizenship be given to them ? What plight had they faced in their native place? Many Congress MPs had been raising the issue regularly in the Parliament at their respective period despite this fact, Congress was at power. Even when Congress is at opposition bench now, the concerned party MPs are not serious about the plight of the partition victims. What a tragedy it is for the whole of the country !  In conclusion borrowing an expression from Henry Samuel,   I may say, what problem was world – problem then , it can not be now internal-tiny problem of the concerned community.   I quote many points from the book India- Pakistan Relations by Avtar Singh Bhasin . For this I wish to express my sincere gratitude to him. 

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