Though the Citizenship Amendment Bill -2019 has lapsed on the last 3rd June, 2019 under the existing Parliamentary procedure , it makes an opportunity for us to revisit the history of the partition as well as the migration of the refugees from the then East Pakistan. The worst victims of religious persecution in East Pakistan ( now Bangladesh) are not only the Hindus, but also the Christians and the Buddhists. But many people unbelievably-unfortunately talk about only the Bengali Hindu refugees. It creates confusion among the masses. No other community other than the Bengali Hindus has been forced to take shelter in India from East Pakistan due to religious persecution? This misconception should be thrown out immediately. In this article I wish to refer some points on the Christian – Hindu Garo as well as the Bengali Hindu refugees which may helpful to get understand the pain of the partition-victims. Who opposed the Citizenship Bill, they should realise that the feeling-pain among the refugees of the different minority communities is not totally different. What reason had compelled the Christian refugees to leave Bangladesh, it is undoubtedly applicable also for the Bengali Hindu refugees. No one can deny this bitter truth.
On 11 February, 2019 PTI reported under the caption of ‘ Mass prayer in Mizoram churches against Citizen Bill ‘
Special mass prayer was held in churches across Mizoram for the defeat of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in the Rajya Sabha, Presbyterian church’s Mizoram Synod sources said on Sunday. Members of 16 major churches of different denominations held prayers on Saturday night.
The appeal made by the Mizoram Kohhran Hruaitute Committee (MKHC), a conglomeration of leaders of major churches, had asked the local churches of all the denominations to pray so that the bill gets stalled in the Rajya Sabha.
The MKHC had earlier appealed to members to hold mass prayer on the night of February 16, but issued another circular on Friday last to conduct the mass prayer on February 9 or February 10.
A press statement issued by the MKHC said that the bill is “harmful” for Mizoram and Christians. The bill, being vehemently opposed in the Northeast, was passed in Lok Sabha on January 8 and the Centre has said it will try to get the Rajya Sabha nod in this Budget session.
The bill seeks to provide Indian citizenship to Hindus, Jains, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan after six years of residence in India even if they do not possess any document.
“Passage of the amendment bill can result in suppression of the freedom of religion and is against the spirit of secularism,” the MKHC statement said. It appealed to the church members to pray for religious freedom in India so that the people can continue to worship God freely.
The news agency ANI published a sensitive news on 12 April, 2019 bearing the headline ‘ Shillong BJP candidate threatens to kill himself if Citizenship Bill is implemented’
Shillong BJP candidate Sanbor Shullai on Thursday said that he will “commit suicide” if his party tries to implement the Citizenship Amendment Bill. Shullai said, “As long as I’m alive, the Citizenship Amendment Bill will not be implemented.”He said that he will kill himself in front of Prime Minister Narendra Modi but not let the Bill get implemented in the state.
“I will kill myself in front of Narendra Modi but I will not let it get implemented,” Shullai said. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in its manifesto has vowed to implement the Bill if it comes back to power at the Centre.
The above two news items clearly show that the said painful history is not known to many. For this reason, I wish to revisit the past situation in this article. Like Sanbor Shullai, Assam BJP MLA Atul Bora has threatened to commit suicide if Citizenship Amendment Bill approved.
The news channel T8N based in Guwahati has broadcasted a news on October 5, 2018 under the caption of ‘Atul Bora should be sent to jail: Shiladitya Deb’
Hojai’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Shiladitya Deb on Friday attacked Dispur MLA Atul Bora for demanding withdrawal of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 in Assam.
Bora on Thursday said, “The government promised to secure Jati-Mati-Bheti (Race, land and foundation). If the Bill is passed, we will loss our own Jati-Mati-Bheti. The Bill will turn out to be suicidal for the indigenous people. If I cannot protest, it’s better to die.”
Dispur MLA Bora also said that the reports of the Hindus in Bangladesh facing atrocity is a false propaganda which has been created with an aim to accommodate the Bangladesh origin foreign nationals in India taking advantage of the Citizenship Bill.
“Atul Bora should be sent to jail as he wants to commits suicide and its a crime. He came to the BJP to become an MLA but he did not follow any rules and ethics of the party. The party should take immediate steps against him,” Deb added.
The Economic Times reported on May 09, 2018 under the heading ‘ Rift in Assam BJP over Citizenship Amendment Bill ‘
Rift surfaced in Assam BJP with MLA Atul Bora writing a letter to chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal requesting him to take a stand like Meghalaya did on the
contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016.
The Conard Sangma-led Meghalaya Democratic Alliance(MDA), which also has BJP in the coalition, has decided against the bill. The state cabinet has unanimously decided to say no to the amendment. Bora, a former minister, wrote to Sonowal, “You fought a legal battle against Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunal) Act, 1983
(IMDT)and earned the recognition as Jati Nayak (Hero of the Race). Like the Conrad Sangma government which decided against the bill in a historic cabinet meeting, you too take a stand and once again establish that you are indeed a Jati Nayak.”
“I am thankful to you for not including me in the recent expansion of your council of ministers, for I would have been the lone person in the ministry opposing the bill,” Bora said.
The Free Press Journal reported on 21st January 2019 under the title of ‘Citizenship Bill not applicable to Nagaland: CM Neiphiu Rio’
KOHIMA: Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio on Sunday said that the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016 is not applicable to Nagaland as the state stands protected under the provisions of Article 371(A) and the Inner Line Permit. He said the state cabinet which met on January 18 discussed the Bill and re-iterated the earlier decisions adopted by the Cabinet on June 5, 2018 and January 7, 2019, reports IANS.
The cabinet was of the unequivocal view that the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill is not applicable to Nagaland and we stand protected under the provisions of Article 371 (A) and the Inner Line Permit (ILP) as per Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, (BEFR) of 1873, affirmed under Clause 16 of the 16 Point Agreement,” Rio said in a statement.
The Morung Express published a news quoting CM Rio on 3rd April, 2019 on the same issue as follows
Attacks NPF on CAB
Allaying concerns projected by the opposition that the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 passed in the lower house of the parliament would be detrimental to Nagas, the Chief Minister reiterated that the state is protected under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation (BEFR) 1873.
The Inner Line Permit (ILP), which is derived from the Act as well as the Article 371-A signed under 16-Point Agreement, he argued, is ample to safeguard the Nagas.
The state cabinet has said that even if CAB is passed in Rajya Sabha, it would not affect Nagaland, he said, adding “We have a defense mechanism in Article 371-A.”
The Government’s commitment was shown by January 31 consultative meeting when the Nagaland State Government and civil society organizations resolved to “outrightly reject its implementation in Nagaland,” he noted. The Assembly had also passed a resolution regarding the same, he said.
A Big Exodus of Christians ( source : Whither Pakistan by P C Azad, Swarajya Prakashan)
About one lac Christians were squeezed from E Pakistan and this was the organised policy and plan of the Govt of Pakistan. Pakistan did not take any step to prevent the exodus of Christians but on the other hand encouraged their exodus in collusion with some anti-social element of E. Pakistan and consequently almost all the Christians residing in the area of Garo Hills were fled away from there and entered into India. It is the policy of the Pakistan Govt to squeeze out non- Muslim minorities from East and West Pakistan. A correspondent of PTI who toured the entire border of Garo Hills has given his accounts of Christians exodus as below
First Ever Exodus of Christians From E Pakistan
Tura ( Garo Hills), Feb 22
The first ever mass movement of Christians population from Pakistan to India is taking place , at present, along the one hundred mile long border between the rice producing Mymensing district of East Pakistan and the Garo Hills of Assam, according to a PTI special correspondent after a tour of the border areas in the Garo Hills district.
This large scale exodus is a direct sequel to the systematic and sustained policy followed by Pakistan ever since it came into existence to squeeze out non-Muslims minorities culminating in the recent widespread and violent communal disturbances in East Pakistan.
Several thousand land-owning Christian families consisting of an estimated 35,000 men, women and children , who had to flee from their hearths and homes to escape from insecure conditions and the religious intolerance on the part of the majority community, crossed into the border areas in Garo Hills during the last one month.
Influx Continues
The influx is continuing and the non-Muslim population of the bordering villages in the Mymensing district , as a whole , are said to be on the move. All these Christian families belong to the Garo tribes.
In addition , over 30,000 tribals of the Hajong , Banai, Koche , Rajbhanshi and Dalu tribes have also escaped into the border areas of Garo Hills during this period in the first large scale exodus of refugees into Assam since the creation of Pakistan.
…. One of the Garo Baptist missionaries , who crossed the border into Garo Hills on January 24 along with all the people in his village, told a small group of Indian and foreign correspondents who were on a visit to the border that the large scale looting, arson, forceful occupation of land by frenzied mobs with the connivance of the police and the active help of the militant village defence corps called Ansars and kidnapping of women which had been going on for some time had compelled them to leave their homes and seek protection on the Indian side of the border.
Atrocities
Mr Girish Chisim was living in a refugee camp set up by the Garo district authorities when the journalists called on him. The missionary said that it was very clear from the very begining that the Pakistan authorities did not want any non- Muslim in their territory. Through gradual stages , the majority community started forcing the non Muslims out of their lands and taking away their crops. Although complaints were lodged against such atrocities , no notice was taken by the authorities.
Mr Chisim , who was running a mission of the Garo Baptist Union in the Nalitabari thana of the Mymensing district, added that even his own work as a missionary was made impossible by the majority community.
Conditions deteriorated in recent times and when the villagers neighbouring to his village , called Tarani was set on fire by mobs on January 19, 20 and 21, he had no other option but to flee to India along with the other villagers, Mr Chisim said.
Identical Reasons
Statements, identical to the one made by the Garo missionary, were given by refugees, who had come from other villages and thanas in reply to questions by correspondents on the reasons which compelled them to flee from their homes, leaving all their movable and immovable properties behind.
The figure of the total number of Christians , who have fled to India in the present exodus, was confirmed by three foreign missionaries of Garo Hills, who are helping the authorities in providing relief to the refugees.
Father Buccicri, an Indian missionary, told the journalists that according to the figures he had collected 20,000 of the Garos, who had fled to India and living in camps set up by the Garo district authorities were Roman Catholics.
He said he worked out this figure on the basis of identification cards filled up by the refugees themself on their arrival in the camps.
The Americans Baptist missionaries , the Rev Jullius Downs and the Rev James Wood said that 15,000 of the refugees were Baptist.—– Reuter ( N H 24-2-64)
All the prominent leaders of the Christians all over the world have shown their strongest resentment against the policy of the cold blooded murder of Christians and exodus in E. Pakistan. Some of them issued appeals in the name of humanity to the World nations to stop this exodus and cold blood murder of Christians. But Pakistan turned a deaf ear to their appeals but on the other hand Pakistani leaders blamed India and encouraged those anti social elements of Pakistan who were responsible for the murder and exodus of minorities in Pakistan. Mr Henry Samuel MP and President of All India Council of Christians issued the following statement on 28th February 1964.
Exodus A World Problem, Says Christian Leader
New Delhi, Feb 28 : Mr Henry Samuel, MP President of the All India Council of Christian Leadership , yesterday described the exodus of Christians from East Pakistan as a world problem and said not only world opinion but also the World Council of Churches and the United Nations should take cognizance of the matter and ensure that such ghastly phenomenon does not disgrace human conduct in future.
Cold blooded Murders
In a statement , Mr Samuel , who is also a member of the World Commission of Churches on International Affairs said that according to his information , nearly one lakh of Christians had to migrate to India to escape persecution and even ‘cold blooded’ murders. Their homes have been ravaged and their crops destroyed. They have been rendered literally destitute. The exodus continues. What number is left must be very infinitesimal. Even Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Mr Bhutto, has had to admit the exodus as due to high handedness.
( NB : Here Father Buccicri is mentioned as an Indian missionary but Minister Menon addressed him as an Italian missionary in the Parliament on 2 March 1964. )
French and German Television team in Garo Hills
Dr Smti Seeta Parmananda put a written question in the Rajya Sabha on 12 March , 1964 as follows
Will the Prime Minister be pleased to state :
(a) Whether Government’s attention has been drawn to a news item published in the ‘ Times of India’ of 4th March, 1964 which states as follows:
(i) ‘ A television team from France is arriving here tomorrow to proceed to the Garo Hills to record the woes of many Christian families who have fled from Pakistan in the last few days’, and
(ii) ‘ A German team stationed in New Delhi is also leaving for the Garo Hills on a similar assignment’, and
(b) if the above reports are correct , whether prior permission of Government was obtained by these teams to visit Garo Hills?
In reply the Deputy Minister of External Affairs Dinesh Singh said that a French and a German team had been to the Garo Hills. They had taken prior permission for this purpose.
The migration of the Christian refugees from East Pakistan shaked the whole Christian-World . It is easily understood from this fact.
The Minister of State in the Ministry of External Affairs Lakshmi N Menon on migration of Christian refugees from East Pakistan into Assam in the Parliament on 2 March , 1964
Sir, the House is aware that an unprecedented influx of Hindu and Christian refugees is taking place into the Garo hills district from the Mymensingh district of East Pakistan . It is known that this exodus from East Pakistan into Assam began on January 18, 1964, and that the total number of refugee men, women and children who have so far crossed over into Assam is about 52,238 . Of this number, an estimated 35,000 are Christian families who belong to the Garo tribe. The reason for this exodus is that these Hindu and Christian members of the Minority Community in East Pakistan have been compelled to leave their ancestral homes due to organised large scale looting, arson, kidnapping and forcible occupation of their lands by the members of the majority community with the connivance of the Pakistan Police and the Village Defence-Corps known as ‘Ansari.
The gravity of this mass movement of the minority population from East Pakistan has been brought out clearly by the recent visit by Indian and Foreign Correspondents to be Garo hills district in Assam where they met refugees and Foreign Missionaries who are looking after them. Father Buccieri, an Italian Missionary, is reported to have told the Correspondents that according to the figures he had collected on the basis of identification cards filled up by the refugee themselves, on their arrival in camps, twenty thousand of the Garos who had crossed into India were Roman Catholics. Two of the American Baptist Missionaries, Reverend Julius Downs and Reverend James Wood, stated that fifteen thousand of the refugees were Baptists. The Correspondents also learnt, at first hand, of East Pakistan Rifles opening fire on a batch of defenceless Garo refugees fleeing into Assam on February 6, 1964. Dr. N. Hussain. Subdivisional Health and Medical Officer of Tura, showed them the bullets taken from the heads of the two children who were killed. Dr. Hussain informed the Correspondents that seven men, four women and two children were brought to the hospital from the border outpost of Dalu on the night of February 7, 1964, and that six of them had bullet injuries and the others had received injuries inflcted by spears and lathi blows. The refugees stated that the total number of persons who were attempting to cross the border was about three thousand but only one thousand five hundred managed to cross the border near the Indian post of Dalu, thirty-three miles south – west of Tura.
The others who hie continuing to cross the border into Assam consist of the Hojong, Banai, Koche, Rajbansi and Dalu tribes. All the refugees who have crossed into the Garo hills district are from the five Thanas of Nalta Bari, Sribordi, Halvaghat, Durgapur and Kamlakanda in the Mymensingh district of East Pakistan.
The Government of India in their Note dated February 13, 1964, presented to the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi, protested to the Government of Pakistan at the shooting of the helpless refugees fleeing from persecution in East Pakistan. Though Pakistan has not acknowledged the occurrence of this barbarous act, the Pakistan Foreign Minister has had to contradict the reported statement of Khan A.
Sabur Khan, Pakistan Central Minister of Communications, that “there is no truth in the Indian Press reports that Christians living in East Pakistan had started fleeing”, by admitting in Dacca on February 26, “that some exodus” of Christians from Mymensingh district of East Pakistan into Assam had taken place and regretted on behalf of his Government that this “unfortunate exodus” is due to “acts of highhandedness” by Muslims. The President of Pakistan has also admitted the flight of large numbers of Christians from Mymensingh district to India.
The House will recall that the Government of India in their Note dated February 1, 1964, presented to the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi, the text of which was placed on the Table of the House on February 11. 1964, by the Union Home Minister, had pointed out clearly to Pakistan its responsibilities for the restoration of communal peace and harmony in East Pakistan. If the leader and the Government of Pakistan had taken heed of our advice, these minorities would not now be pouring across the Pakistan border into India and Pakistan would not have to speculate whether they would return to their ancestral homes from which they have been forcibly turned out. In a note dated February 29, 1964, delivered to the Pakistan High Commission ie New Delhi, the Government of India has reiterated that the Pakistan Government should take immediate steps to restore communal harmony in East Pakistan and rehabilitate the minorities.
Gopikrishna Vijaivargiya (Madhya Pradesh) : What is this organisation called “Ansars”? If it the old organisation?
Chairman : Before you put questions, I have something to say, Members should know that there-would be a general discusaion on the question of migration from East Pakistan the day after tomorrow. Therefore, not much useful purpose would be served by putting too many questions.
- D. Mani (Madhya Pradesh) : Sir, I should like to ask . . .
Chairman : Mr. Mani probably must have it.
- D. Mani : Sir, I had given notice of a Motion for Papers on this topic and that is why I am putting a question to the Minister.
Chairman : There will be a discussion the day after tomorrow.
- D. Mani : Actually, there is a specific point to which I would like to refer. I would like to know whether the attention of the Minister has been drawn to a Pakistan Radio Broadcast which quoted President Ayub as blaming the Indian propaganda for agitating the Christians of Garo tribal areas with imaginary stories of harassments ? Has the Government of India lodged any protest with the Pakistan High Commission against this flagrant distortion of facts and against the attempt of the Pakistan Government to saddle the responsibility for the migration of Christian refugees on the .Indian Government? The second question I should like to ask is, what is the policy of the Government in regard to these Christian refugees? . If they do not want to go back because they are subjected to harassment, is it the policy of the Government of India to welcome them here and to rehabilitate them within the resources available to the Indian Government?
Smti Lakshmi N. Menon : Referring to the first question, I have already mentioned in the statement that a letter has been handed over on the 29th of February which contained tlie suggestions of the hon. Member. Regarding the second point about rehabilitation of these migrants, Sir, it has been stated in the other House as well as in this House that the Government takes this as a national problem and efforts will be made to rehabilitate the persons who come here who are compelled to leave their homes.
Mudumala Henry Samuel (3 times Congress MP in Rajya Sabha , Andhra Pradesh) said in the Parliament on 4 March 1964
The great exodus from East Pakistan is not an isolated incident. It is an ever recurrent, perennial problem. As Mr. Pathak said in his speech, Pakistan wants to root out all minorities from Pakistan, from her territory. I read a certain news item the other day in one of the Pakistan newspapers with banner headlines that Christians in India are being persecuted. I feel sorry that Pakistan should resort to such a cheap retort, clumsy propaganda, mean trick to offset the tide of world opinion running against her. Usually Pakistan propaganda is quite effective, but I think in this case it has been very anaemic.
Tolerance, especially in this twentieth century, religious tolerance, is said to be the hallmark of civilized behavior. Hinduism, I believe, is very tolerant, perhaps a little too tolerant. It does not believe in the offensive. Nor do I believe that it believes in being defensive. If it does believe in the defensive, it is only anaemic defensive. I hope Mr. Vajpayee will forgive my saying so. As a result, this country has become too tolerant about what other people say to us and how other people treat us. From the national point of view, I wish sometimes that we were not so tolerant. What Pakistan understands is strength not reasonableness, not persuasion, not tolerance. I hope when we treat this as a political problem, we imbibe into our consideration this very cardinal fact that what Pakistan understands is strength.
Freedom of religion and religious tolerance is one of the Fundamental Rights enshrined in our Constitution. In a different way it has also been expressed in the Declaration of Human Rights of the United Nations. I know the United Nations is a governmental organisation. No individual can go to the United Nations and present a case before it about religious discrimination against Christians or Hindus in Pakistan. I do hope that some countries interested in this kind of problem would take the matter to the United Nations, get the United Nations Human Rights Commissioner to take cognizance of it and, if necessary, and if it thinks so, send out a body of members as an International Commission to come and find out for themselves the true facts of the situation. We should be prepared to give them all the facilities for that purpose.
Freedom of religion, everyone all over the world now recognizes, is a universal right. I have already communicated with the World Council of Churches on the subject. I am a Member of the Commission on International Affairs of the World Council of Churches. I have communicated to the World Council of Churches about the things that are happening by the discrimination being exercised over the Christian population and how they are fleeing from Pakistan. I would also urge the World Council of Churches to investigate the minorities problem in Pakistan by sending out a Commission of its own representatives belonging to different denominations, to find out the facts for themselves. I want to say, if apartheid can be condemned in South Africa by the United Nations in so many forms, is not religious intolerance and religious persecution an equally cruel crime, if not greater?
Thank you
I wish to draw the attention of the readers on the report of the Bengal Boundary Commission headed by Sir C. Radcliffe presented to the Viceroy and the Governor General of India, relating to Sylhet District and the adjoining districts of Assam. ( New Delhi, August 13, 1947). Here is the some extracts of the said report.
I have the honour to present the report of the Bengal Boundary Commission relating to Sylhet District and the adjoining districts of Assam. By virtue of Section 3 of the Indian Independence Act, 1947, the decisions contained in this report become the decision and award of the Commission.
The Bengal Boundary Commission was constituted as stated in my report dated the 12th of August 1947 with regard to the division of the Province of Bengal into East and West Bengal. Our terms of reference were as follows :
‘ The Boundary Commission is instructed to demarcate the boundaries of the two parts of Bengal on the basis of ascertaining the contiguous majority areas of Muslims and non-Muslims.
In doing so, it will also take into account other factors. In the event of the referendum in the District of Sylhet resulting in favour of amalgamation with Eastern Bengal, the Boundary Commission will also demarcate the Muslim majority areas of Sylhet District and the contiguous Muslim majority areas of the adjoining districts of Assam. ‘
The Bengal Boundary Commission was constituted by the announcement of the Governor-General dated the 30th of June, 1947, Reference No. D 50/7/47R. The members of the Commission were : Justice Bijan Kumar Mukherjee Justice C.C. Biswas , Justice Abu Saleh Mohamed Akram, and Justice S. A. Rahman.
Our Constitution has vehemently rejected the two nation theory. But the partition was purely based on Hindu-Muslim Division theory. It is evidently clear from the Radcliffe – report. The nation can not escape from its responsibility in accepting the refugees.
On June I, 1964 the Minister of Rehabilitation Mahavir Tyagi said in the Parliament :
The total number of members of minority communities in East Pakistan who have crossed over to India during the period from the 1st January, 1964 to the 25th May, 1964 is about 4,06,620 persons. The religion wise break-up of this figures is roughly as follows:-
Christians 47,900 persons
Budhists 20,000 persons
Hindus 3,38,720 persons
Here I quote the book ‘ Bangladeshi Immigrants in Meghalaya’ ( publisher Anshah Publishing House, Delhi-110092) , written by Sengjranj N Sangma. At page 48-52 we found which are as follows;
After Independence social and political unrest broke out and huge loss was incurred by the inhabitants of the border area. There occurred great loss for inhabitants of Garo community on the Indo- East Pakistan border area. When partition between India and Pakistan took place ; many Garo villages came under East Pakistan. People of those villages wanted to amalgamate their villages with Indian Union. For that purpose they formed one organization known as A-Chikna Chilchakani Kotok ( The Garo Welfare Organisation ) in 1951, of which Dewanshing S Rongmuthu was the President, who undertook all the correspondence with the government. For the same purpose another organisation was also formed known as ADIVASI SANGRAM PARISHAD by the Garo people with other minorities of those areas.
Their main demand was the amalgamation of six thanas (police station) which were under Shusung and Sherpur Pargana of Mymensing district, under those six thanas were the lands of the Garos , namely (1) Kalumakanda (2) Dulgapur (3) Haluaghat (4) Noltabari (Taraganj) (5) Sribbardi and (6) Serpur fell. Their demand was based on the Government of India Act, 1935 (Section 91) where it was stated, ‘ Into this area, then under jungle the Garos came some 150 years ago. They were the first to open the country.’ Mr Dewanshing S Rongmuthu wrote a memorandam to the Honourable Prime Minister of the Indian Union Republic, Shri Jawaharlal Nehru, on 17th January 1951 on behalf of the organisation for amalgamation of those six thanas with the Indian Union where 2001 Garos, who were staying on the aforesaid areas put their signatures.
They also conveyed their earnest desire, through the Rev V J White of the Australian Baptist Mission, Birisiri , place before the Partition Committee in Delhi for the amalgamation of the strip of land in the Mymensing District, known as the Shunsung and Sherpur Parganas and comprising six thanas ( police stations) of (1) Kalumakanda (2) Dulgapur (3) Haluaghat (4) Noltabari (Taraganj) (5) Sribbardi and (6) Serpur into the Indian Union. Rev V J White assured Garos that he would himself do everything needful. They also trusted him but he went on furlough just before the sitting of the aforesaid Partition committee and the task was entrusted to his Assistant Rev Binoy Bhusan Sangma of the same place. Rev Binoy Bhusan Sangma was through Pro-Pakistan influence and by unforeseen difficulties in his way, been thwarted from carrying out the mission entrusted to him successfully, so he could not present before the Partition Committee the case of the Garos of the ancestral Garo country which the Mussalmans now occupy under Mussalman servitude, and thus he miserably failed to strike while the iron was hot.
It seemed that due to the above reasons the Garos of aforementioned areas were regarded as anti-Pakistani by the Muslim authorities. Probably due to this reason they wanted to drive out Garo and other communities from the strip of land of North Mymensing district in 1960s which were on the Lido-Pakistan border belt. During the 1964 communal riots, those areas were worst affected and many East Pakistanis came to Garo Hills.
When Rev Binoy Bhusan Sangma failed to present the case of the Garos before the Partition Committee the ancient land of the Garos, which was the integral and inseparable part of the main Garo land of the then Assam ( now in Meghalaya) came to be included in the East Pakistan. Since there was no one could present the case in a cogent manner to the Partition Committee about the needs , rights and claims of the Garos, the Indo-Pakistan Boundary Tribunal did not do justice. Thus some portions of the main Garo Land were merged with the theocratic and communal state of East Pakistan.
During 1950s people of aforementioned areas , through their organisations reiterated their demand for amalgamation of the Shusung and Sherpur Parganas of Mymensing district and memorandum was given to the Prime Minister Shri Jawaharlal Nehru on the 17th January , 1951 and the reminder was sent on the 9th August 1952. It seemed that their demand was never negotiated. When their demand was not fulfilled they became permanently part of East Pakistan. There they became victims of the atrocities by the Muslims in East Pakistan. There was no social, economic and political justice , no liberty of thought , expression , belief , faith and worship , no equality of status and of opportunities , no fraternity assuring the dignity of the individual and no instrument of social good and national progress for the Garos and other minority communities in East Pakistan. Shira also mentions that ‘ countless inhuman tortures of the Garo villagers at the East Pakistan Armed Police camps and outposts for trifling offences, continued abductions, seduction and kidnappings and forcible conversions to Islam of the Garo women and girls.
Regarding Human Rights, the memorandum to the Kurt Waldheim, the secretary General of United Nations Organisation, on the 16th December, 1980 stated ‘ In 1964 some Muslim goondas or anti-social elements, with the help of the East Pakistan Police, deliberately set fire to 128 ( one hundred twenty eight ) houses at village Jayramkura, Police station Haluaghat, District Mymensing, Bangladesh, resulting in the loss of human lives, countless heads of cattle, several thousand tons of paddy in the granaries. The houses belonged to Hajongs and Koches, the minority tribal people in Bangladesh. The above stated circumstances are the causes of the exodus which took place in 1964. It is mainly because of the atrocities on them that the minority people of East Pakistan fled across the border during 1964. ( In this portion Author Sangma has quoted the book LD Dewansing S Rongmuthu, D VS Publishers, Guwahati, 1999)
Sangma have also mentioned the following lines at the page no 65 in his book :
It was stated by Grohonshing A Marak that towards the end of 1964 more than ten thousand non-tribal refugees returned to East Pakistan, but more than 75,000 Garo refugees still remained in Garo Hills. The second stage of this problem was the task of rehabilitation for those who stayed back. On the request of the Government of India the Garo Hills District Council agreed to give settlement in the plain Mouzas of Garo Hills, provided unoccupied land was available. Grohonsing A Marak was himself one of those involved in search of the unoccupied land.
Author Sangma has mentioned in the introduction of his book which is as follows:
The official records of Garo Hills show that in 1964 there were no Muslim refugees at all. Greater percentages of refugees were Garos and Hajongs.
In this context we should not forget the himalayan blunder , done by the a section of Christian politicians during partition . we should learn lessons from the past -wrong -doing. I must point out here an article of Pakistan Weekly Paper ‘ The Friday Times’ dated 01-07 June 2018. Salman Tarik Kureshi wrote in his article ‘ How four Christian votes made Pakistan possible ‘
There is a context that we who live in this country today urgently need to grasp. At a time when many of the so-called Ulema were categorically opposed to the Pakistan concept, to the Muslim League, and especially to Mr. Jinnah, the leaders of the Christian community were consistently strong supporters of the Quaid-e-Azam’s vision.
In 1942, the All India Christian Association assured unconditional full cooperation to the founder of Pakistan. The leaders of the Church in the Punjab strongly endorsed the Pakistan concept and advised their brethren to move to Pakistan when it would come into existence. ……A meeting of the Punjab Legislative Assembly was held on the 23rd of June, 1947, to consider whether the Province, still undivided at the time, should be part of Pakistan or of India. The three Christian members of the Assembly had met the night before at Singha’s Davis Road home and had decided to vote for the inclusion of the whole of Punjab in Pakistan. On the morning of the meeting, Master Tara Singh, leader of the militant Sikh Akali Dal Party, stood on the broad flight of steps in front of the Assembly with a bared kirpan, threatening to use it on any member who would vote in favour of union with Pakistan. Coming up the steps, Dewan Bahadur Singha confronted the armed Sikh leader, announcing that he indeed intended to vote for Pakistan, and challenged him to do his worst. A scuffle broke out, but violence was prevented by other members.The vote itself was 88 for remaining with India and 91 for joining Pakistan. The three votes (actually four) which created the majority were the three votes of Christian members Dewan Bahadur Singha, Mr. Cecil Gibbon and Mr Fazal Elahi, plus Singha’s additional vote as Assembly Speaker.
And thus it was decided that Punjab would be part of Pakistan.
But the division of Punjab itself – the Great Tragedy of the Partition – now came to the fore. When the proceedings of the Boundary Commission took place, the Christian leaders, led by Singha, recorded their statement that for the demarcation of the Boundaries, the Christian populations should be included with, and in fact termed as, Muslim populations.
Chaudhary Chandu Lal served as a lawyer for the Christian community, inter alia visiting Pathankot and Gurdaspur districts to obtain a resolution from the Christian populations there that they wished to be included in Pakistan. Mr. Cecil Gibbon appeared before the Commission to demand that the city of Lahore must be considered as part of Western Punjab. (Some of the readers of this piece may be surprised to learn that the fate of that historic city was ever at issue, but it had been!) Gibbon additionally desired that all the Anglo-Indian Christians in Punjab should be transported to Pakistan.
When the horror that was the Radcliffe Award was announced shortly after Independence, one of the first voices raised in concern was that of Dewan Bahadur Singha, who asserted that the Plan was tailored so as to wreck Pakistan’s economy while facilitating Indian occupation of Kashmir.
Clearly, the Christians had supported the cause of Pakistan in the belief that a Muslim society by its nature would be more secular and fairer to them than the caste-ridden Hindu society that would inevitably emerge in India. Pakistan, they believed, would be more concerned for the rights of minorities. Observing the deadly antics of the Hindutva mobs presently prevailing in India, that assessment, it seems, was at least partly correct.
But, for the other part? Well, in August 1947, Dewan Bahadur S.P. Singha became the first Speaker of the new West Punjab Assembly, an office he endeavoured to fulfill with dignity. However, after the passage of the Objectives Resolution in 1949, he was obliged to step down as it was now felt that a non-Muslim should not preside over a Muslim House.
And today? The oppressed condition of the great mass of Christians has improved not a bit and they suffer the same caste-based strictures and prohibitions at the hands of Muslims as of Hindus. The better educated Goans and Anglo-Indians, fearing or experiencing discrimination in their jobs and businesses, have been trickling out of the country and a special cultural strand is being lost to us.
What has been happening now in Pakistan ? There is no need to discuss further in the context of the trust, expressed by the then a section of Christian leadership ?
Extract from the Statement of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in the Lok Sabha on the border problem with Pakistan while replying to the debate on Foreign Policy . (New Delhi, December 9, 1958.)
In regard to our neighbour country, Pakistan, I have tried to be fair. In this attempt to be fair, I have acknowledged often enough what I thought was wrong on our part. But it is a matter of grief to me that in spite of all this effort not too much change is visible on the other side.
Hon. Members sometimes ask me why we do not act with strength, especially in regard to these border troubles. Mr. Jaipal Singh referred to the Chittagong Hill Tracts. I must confess that when I first went through the Radcliffe Award, in which the Chittagong hill tracts have been awarded to Pakistan, I was considerably surprised, because, according to any approach or principle, I saw no reason for doing that. But it was a clear decision and not a question of interpretation. What were we to do? Soon after partition we had accepted him as arbitrator. However much his award went against my thinking, against our interests and against India’s interests, we could not break our word.
Where the mistake had been done and who were responsible for it ? It can be gauged by this comment.
Now, I refer a few lines from the book Christian Missions in East Bengal : The Life and Times of Archbishop by S M Tanveer Ahmed to realise the pain of the Christian refugees which are as follows:
A time of tension for the Catholic Church in East Pakistan surfaced in the early 1960s, during a riot situation in the Northern districts of the East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) between Bangali localities and ethnic Garos (Mandis) and Hajongs. Due to land grabs and other forms of persecution , backed by provincial and local administrations, thousands of these minorites , mostly Christians, left their homesteads and became refugees in the Meghalaya state of India.
Many Mandies left Madhupur, under the district of Tangail, for India in February 1964, when war broke out between Pakistan and India. Mandi villages and homes were looted , houses burnt. Many died en route or were shot by the EPR (East Pakistan Rifles) . Father Rev Eugene E Homrich , CSC wrote, ‘ We defended the village with bows and arrows’.
On September 8, 1965 , the Pakistan Army took over the Jalchatra Mission and Fr Homrich, CSC lived with them (Pakistan Army) as communal conflict continued at that time. During the conflict between Muslims and Hindus, many Hindus left Pakistan and went to India. The Garos were neither Muslims nor Hindus, but they were attacked and some of them residing near the border, left for India for a very temporary period after which they returned to their homes. But as they left for India even for a short time, their lands had been recorded capriciously under the Vested Property Act. Over 25 villages had disappeared or moved to new areas in the deep forest. The Pakistan Government refused to recognize registration of the lands and collect taxes, saying that the Zemindars’ lands were Enemy Property.
Archbishop Lawrence Leo Graner , CSC , who was an American , had personally visited the affected areas at the initial stage and requested the government to take immediate action, before the situation got worse. However the government failed to take appropriate action. The Archbishop was forced to take recourse and publicize the sad plight of these ethnic groups in his Easter letter in the Pratibeshi, the diocesan Catholic newspaper published from Dhaka. He wrote in his ‘Easter Message’ that almost 30,000 Christians were fled from Garo area into India. Consequently , the local leader in Mymensing district, who was the secretary of the Muslim League, sent resentment to the press at the objectionable Easter Message.
On the other hand, the Easter letter drew the attention of the world, a number of news stories were published from India about the Archbishop’s Easter Message. The issue was even discussed in the United Nations in New York. For that reason the Pakistan government was unhappy with Archbishop Graner, CSC. As a result , he was denied renewal of his visa. The government told him that he could leave the country , but he could not return. Archbishop Leo Garner , CSC made clear his position to the government as well as the people through a pastoral letter in the Pratibeshi on 27 July 1964 which is as follows:
….. Recently I spent a month in several of parishes in Mymensing District. I had occasion to encourage our Garo Catholics who have been returned to their homes. , and I myself was pleased to see them settle down again. A great deal has been done by the authorities , and more will be done , to make this possible. There is much that we also can do , as I mentioned in my Easter Message.
My Easter letter was written to comfort those who had suffered and reassure all of you , by recalling the suffering of Christ and the joy that followed on Easter Sunday. Unfortunately, my words of encouragement were overlooked by some who quoted out of context only that part of my message which referred to suffering, in order to prove their claim, not mine, that Pakistan persecutes Christians. In the bitter controversy that followed , the Government of Pakistan and I myself were both blamed.
Now the controversy has subsided, let me remove from your minds any doubts you may have had. Contrary to reports, I did not go abroad, foreign press. My only message was directed to you, as this one is. I did not speak of persecution. And you yourselves know, dearly beloved , that Christians in Pakistan enjoy religious freedom. No one can deny that.
This very freedom means that you, as loyal citizens, must play your part in the tremendous progress that is taking place. Along with the rights and privileges , you must also share in the responsibilities that are common to all citizens. Opportunities are plentiful, provided you are prepared , by study and hard work, to make use them.
Let this thought be the subject of the usual essay contests held in our schools for Independence Day , and I ask headmasters and teachers to emphasize the need for education and the opportunities that await those who are well trained for their life’s work.
In such a suffocating situation , on July 6, 1965, Bishop Ganguly was appointed by Pope Paul VI as the Coadjutor Archbishop with the right to succeed the Archbishop of Dhaka. The Government was unhappy and soon made it clear that the Archbishop was persona-non-grata. In private talks with him, officials admitted that the Easter Message contained nothing new or untrue, but they were unhappy about it and were determined that he had to go. The Archbishop was planning to go Rome for the Council. The Government gave him permission to leave, but no visa to return. They would not force him out, since this would be more bad publicity. But if he left on his own, he would not be allowed back. So Archbishop Garner chose to skip the Council.
The Government continued the campaign of silence against Archbishop Garner. Then in August 1965, he was informed that he had violated the laws of the foreigners’ registration in the country. Finally , in the month of October, he was told to come Rome for the Council. Thus, Rome had settled the matter. On November 3 ,1965 Archbishop Garner left the country. He had worked in the Bengal delta for 37 years. He played a significant role in the socio-economic development for the poor, development of education, such as establishment of Notre Dame College, Dhaka, Holy Cross College. Both institutions have been playing a wonderful role in the social developments of East Bengal since their establishment and they are on the front line of educational institutions here. He had to leave the country due to his protest against the discrimination of Garos in form of his Easter Message, which I described earlier in this chapter.
Archbishop Garner CSC remained as the Archbishop of Dhaka until on November 23 1967; when Bishop Ganguly , CSC became the Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Dhaka as the first Bengalee Archbishop in the history of Catholic Church for the last four hundred years in East Bengal and South Asia.
It is to be noted that on 6 April , 1964 in the Indian Parliament Minister Mehr Chand Khanna read out the Easter Message dated the 29th March, 1964, given by Rev. Lawrence, Archbishop of Dacca. In Khanna’s words it is at below :
The Archbishop says:
“Perhaps never has there been so much real physical and mental suffering in this Archdiocese as during the past month or two ….They have been the victims of harassment, of mental affliction, of physical mistreatment. …
–he was referring to the minorities there, namely the Christians. Then, he says:
- “Their homes have been violated, ; their security of body and peace of mind lost, conditions were so bad that the Christians, almost 30,000 of them, fled from their homes into India, leaving behind all their earthly possessions. Some lost their lives; others were wounded; some are still under treatment in hospitals and camps.”.
Now comes the real portion of the message which I want to place before the House.
The Archbishop says:
”It has been a sad experience for these refugees, a time of real sorrow …. But I was aware of the danger long ago ….
He says:
”Not all of you are aware of these happenings. But I was aware of the danger long ago, and I warned the Government .. “
-that reference is to the Government of Pakistan-
” … 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 ….
The New York Times wrote on 23 February 1964 under the title of ‘Hindus and Christians Fleeing East Pakistan; Throngs of Refugees Accuse Moslems of Persecution—Seek Refuge in Hills’
TURIA, India, Feb. 22 (AP) —Thousand of barefoot and ragged Christians, Hindus and Garo tribesmen have fled into the Garo Hills of India, complaining that they have been persecuted by Moslems in East Pakistan. Thirteen from one refugee group were hospitalized here with bullet wounds allegedly inflicted by the Pakistan border Police.
The reason for the alleged Moslem animosity was not clear here. Refugees charged Moslems had set fire to their homes and stripped them of all their possessions.About 60.000 refugees have crossed from the Nasirabad area of East Pakistan, according to official Indian estimates accepted by foreign missionaries in Tura. They include about 20,000 Roman Catholics and 15,000 Protestants. The others are Hindus and Garo tribesmen.
The Garo Hills district to which the refugees are fleeing is an autonomis region under the 1950 Constitution. It is situated near this Indian city in the northeast state of Assam. Nasirabad is about 60 miles south of Tura. Indian officials said the influx was continuing and might add 30,000 more refugees in the Garo Hills in next few weeks.Catholic and Baptist missionaries have been helping officials organize food supplies and shelter. The Church World Service, the National Christian Council of India and the Catholic Relief Organization have been raising money and supplies.
This is the first time since the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947 that Christian refugees have fled from East Pakistan, officials said.The worst stories were told by members of a group of 3,000 Garo tribesmen that was fired on by Pakistanis near the Indian border.The Garos intended to join others of the same tribe living in the Garo Hills.
The same newspaper reported on 5 April 1964 under the heading of ‘ Moslem‐Hindu Violence Flares Again; Mass Killings and Large‐Scale Migrations Increase Tensions Between India and Pakistan’
…..on the northern frontier of East Pakistan, the Moslems had begun to harass peoples living in the border Tribal Belt. These tribal peoples, Garos and Hajongs, are Christians and Hindus. By March 28, 78,000 tribal refugees had migrated into southern Assam.
The eviction of the Christian tribesmen has created a stir outside of India and Pakistan, and the Pakistan Government has made decided efforts to halt the process. Administrators in the Mymensingh district of East Pakistan, whence the tribal refugees came, have appealed to the migrants to return, promising that all will be well. After a meeting with President Ayub Khan, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dacca wrote a pastoral letter urging refugees to come home.The Indian authorities, who are spending $20,000 a day to feed and house the refugees, announced the Pakistan appeal in the camps and offered transportation back to the border. Priests read the Archbishop’s letter in the camp. But thus far, according to the administrators and clergymen, the refugees have solidly rejected the Pakistan invitation.
Minorities in Pakistan ( source : The Paradox of India- Pakistan Relations , Publications Division Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India )
West Pakistan too might be said to have no problem of minorities, but for entirely different reasons ! By 1949, most of the Hindus and Sikhs had either fled for their lives to India or had fallen victim to the mass murders that had taken place in West Pakistan. In East Pakistan, however, large numbers of Hindus still remain. The fate of this minority hung in the balance in 1950, when some leaders of Pakistan openly declared that those who did not profess Islam could not be given equality with members of the majority community of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. ……. In 1964 alone, refugees migrating from East Pakistan to India numbered nearly a million. While in the earlier years the refugees had been mainly Hindus, the long lines of persecuted people in 1964 included tens of thousands of Christians and Buddhists. The magnitude of the exodus of Christians and Buddhists from Pakistan can be gauged from the reports in American and British newspapers. The New York Times of February 22, 1964 carried a report under the heading :”Christian Persecution—Thousands flee East Pakistan into Garo Hills of India”. The British newspaper Scotsman (February 29, 1964) published a report under a banner headline which read : “Terrors Must Stop—Persecution of Christians in East Pakistan”. The London Observer on February 23, 1964 carried a heading : “Christians Flee East Pakistan to Escape Persecution : More than 50,000 Enter India”. French and German newspapers also prominently featured the persecution of Christians in East Pakistan.
On the same burning issue Dharanidhor Basumatari, Congress MP ( Kokrajhar) said in the Parliament on 6 April 1964
At the outset, I must thank the hon. Minister in charge of relief and rehabilitation, who visited our State also the other day and gave all facilities and also promised all facilities to the State Government to do relief work in the State. I had also the privilege or accompanying the Christian missionaries from America and other countries who had come to visit Garo Hills along with one missionary from our own Slate. The purpose of the visit was to arrange for relief and rehabilitation in the Garo Hills. It is quite well known outside India that the Pakistanis were not committing atrocities only against the Hindus but they were committing atrocities against the Christians, Buddhists and people of other religious denominations as well. In view of this propaganda, some of them had come from America, others from England, just to see things for themselves.
I am glad that they collected together- all the Christians belonging to different denominations and came to the conclusion that they should help these unfortunate refugees in various ways. At the same time, they were also conscious of the fact that they should not take any advantage of their misery and try to convert them. Therefore, they came to the conclusion in their conference that any help given from any quarter should go through the National Christian Council to the Government. After visiting these refugees camp about nine or twelve in number, we had talk with the refugees as to how they were treated in Pakistan. The refugees are all tribal people. About 42,000 of them are Christians while the rest of them are followers of primitive religion and also other religions . These tribals comprise of the Dalus. the Garos, the Bonais and the Koches. They are very simple people. They told us of the miseries that they were subjected to in Pakistan. They told us that not only were their properties looted, but even their children were treated very shabbily. Not only were the properties looted and they were treated very badly at this time, but that was the nature of the treatment meted out to them ever since Pakistan’s inception. So, it was very difficult for them to stay on in Pakistan.
They told us that unless the Constitution of Pakistan was amended, people belonging to other religions could not remain there. They openly say that unless a person converts himself to Islam. he cannot get all these facilities such as service under the Government and so on. They also told us what a miserable time they had when the harvest time used to ·come. It was very difficult for them to retain the fruits of the harvest, because the Muslims would enter their house, take the paddy, take the cattle and take away all their belongings. This was how their property was looted for a long time since Pakistan’s inception. I would suggest that this question must be taken up in the UNO or in other quarters, that Pakistan should change its Constitution. Unless their Constitution is changed, there Is no use of talking of secularism here. There is no use of talking of secularism in our country unless it is followed in other countries. We should not allow this state of affairs where these minorities are treated in this fashion.
They narrated to us the stories of how in their presence, mothers were molested, women were molested, and sisters were molested. Not only did these things happen at the time of the riots in Pakistan, but while they were fleeing Pakistan and they were on the road, all their belongings were taken away from them. I have seen some of them with my own eyes. They had no clothes and they had no belongings. They were surprised at the shelter that they got from India. They told us that they did not expect that such nice help could be obtained from the Government here, but when they found here the kind help and the kind treatment from the Government of Assam or from other officers, they were very glad. This problem of the refugees is not merely a refugee problem but it is a humanitarian problem, and therefore. we must tackle this problem as a humanitarian spirit. I am very glad that Parliament has taken it up as a national problem and not a problem which is confined only to West Bengal and Assam. If, apart from the other States, West Bengal and Assam are also tackling this problem, it is because they think it their duty to help them, because most of the tribals and most at the Bengalis have the same culture and manners as the people residing in their own States. But actually, it is not merely a question of the same culture and manners, but it is a question concerning the whole of India. I am very glad that this House has treated it as a national problem and our Government are also trying to solve the problem in that light.
I have listened to the speech made by my hon. friend Shrimati Renu Chakravartty, and she had criticized certain things. I would submit that this is not the time for criticising the Ministry of finding fault with the Ministry’ in regard to this matter. It is a very difficult problem which they are facing, and it is a humanitarian problem which they are tackling. It is not possible for them straightway to provide all the relief to these refugees as soon as they come, Yet they are doing all that is possible. I must thank our Government of Assam that they have constituted many relief committees, and women’s committees and other committees to help these refugees with clothes, food and other things. If these refugees have been shifted from one camp to another, it is because of this reason, In the Garo Hills, about 85,000 persons have come from Pakistan and they are all flocked together in different camps, The roads leading to these camps are very bad. Government thought that it might not be possible to do relief work there during the monsoon. So, these refugees have been shifted to Matia, which is about 135 miles from the Garo Hills, the Dalu and other camps. I had been to this camp also, I find that the land available there is very small Although these people are very hefty and are having a fine health, yet, they cannot take to cultivation, At the same time, I find that they have brought thatches and they have’ (“lit the bamboos themselves and constructed their own houses within a few days and they are feeling as if they are in their homes, I am very glad to see them quite homely there . But enough land is not available there to be given to them for cultivation. So, the problem is to see that lands are made available to them outside, Shrimati Renu Chakravarty was suggesting that these tribals should not be taken outside Assam. I had also suggested to my Chief Minister that they should not be taken out of Assam, The Chief Minister discussed the matter with the members of the District Council of the Garo Hills, and they are also willing to accommodate those people there. So, I would request the hon, Minister concerned to find out lands in the Garo Hills and also outside the Garo Hills, that is the plains area of Assam; by ‘plains’ area, I mean the tribal ‘plains’ area, I have been telling all the time that there is no land outside, except the plains area which is attracting the immigrants so far from Pakistan. Here, I must point out that Assam is not merely facing this refugee problem, but is facing from time to time the problem of land invasion by infiltrants . If the problem of land invasion by the Muslim infiltrants from Pakistan is added on to this refugee problem now with the exodus of those unfortunate people who have migrated, you can well imagine what an amount of trouble Assam would be facing. Assam is a very poor and small State, and it is not at all possible for that State to look after these refugees, unless the Centre also come forward to help them. Therefore, I would request that the Centre should come forward to provide whatever assistance is needed to rehabilitate them. I am very glad that my Chief Minister told me that while our Minister concerned at the Centre visited that area, he was also very sympathetic towards the tribals, in regard to this matter. Now, the very big question is that there is an apprehension about the result of the discussions between the Home Ministers of Pakistan and India. Only this morning, I had put a question to our Prime Minister about the statement made by the Parliamentary
Secretary to the Minister of External Affairs of Pakistan in answer to a question put in the National Assembly of Pakistan; where Parliamentary Secretary had categorically stated that ‘Our first and foremost question is to stop the eviction of the Muslims from Assam, Bengal and Tripura.’ What does he mean by saying that there is eviction of Muslims from India? We are not evicting even a single Indian Muslim; we are evicting only the foreigners, The whole trouble arises because they mix up foreign Muslims with Indian Muslims, So, I put a question to the Prime Minister, Of course, he did not reply fully. He only said: We shall see to it. Only by seeing to it the problem will not be solved. After all this molestation of women and driving out of the minorities, in spite of our civilised behaviour, after all these atrocities it is not enough to say we will consider about it. ,We must consider , how to solve the problems that are·there, We should not be misled by them.
Not only this time, but every time we talk of the eviction of the infiltrators Bhutto says that India is acting brutally, driving out the Indian Muslims.While partition took place, you were also in the Constituent Assembly we opposed the grouping because we knew the attitude of our Muslim brethren. Now it has become worse than. grouping. I have given the House details of the Muslim population in Assam many a time. In 1911 it was only 5,21,471, but in 1961 it was 27,56520 You can well imagine how this could have happened. I would not have said this, but I cannot help speaking from my heart. We know how they behaved during the time of Chinese attack, and during the incident of the holi relic theft in Kashmir, It is a very sad thing. I have been telling the House about it all the time, whenever I have had occasion, and I do not want to repeat it now, After all this brutal behaviour on the part of Pakistan. we are told that they are helpless, I request the House not to minimise the matter in such a way, because nobody can cite an example of brutal behaviour on the part of the Indian people towards the minorities. The other day, in the Consultative Committee meeting, Shri Badrudduja was saying: why are you talking of the killings in Pakistan ; look at the thousands and thousands of Muslims killed in Calcutta. I do not know where thousands and thousands were killed in India, while in Pakistan we do not know the actual number of people killed, If this is the attitude that is taken, we do not understand for whom the word “secularism”. Sometimes atrocities do take place in our country as a reaction to the atrocities committed in Pakistan. And so, the other day the Prime Minister spoke on the All India Radio appealing to the nation to see that the interests of the minorities arc protected. We must join hands with the Prime Minister in this regard but then the Muslims are not the only minority in India, There are tribals, for instance, numbering about three crores, who are ignorant and illiterate, and whose region is undeveloped. What about them? When we talk of minorities, we should not talk of only one community, In the days of the British, the lands of the tribals were snatched away from them, In those days they could not go to dine into the house of a Brhmin, but now there is no restriction, Though there is a little improvement in such matters, we must see that their condition is improved, and when we talk of minorities we must think of the minorities other than the Muslims also.
Now I place here the extract from the Speech of the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru relevant to the ‘East Bengal Migrants’ in the Lok Sabha replying to the debate on Foreign Affairs on June 23, 1962.
……..a new development has taken place and that is what occurred in Rajshahi district. I do not know what happened there, but one night a large number, five hundred or six hundred Santhals at 3 a.m. tried to come across the river into the Malda district. That is the Pakistan version and they say of this crowd going at night. The police were naturally concerned and alarmed. They came up, they challenged them, where upon these people shot arrows from their bows and used spears. And the police fired at them, with the result – the accounts vary that one or two persons or seven persons were killed about a number came across, may be 100 or 150 and the others went back.
Now, the present position is – I heard it today that about five thousand of these Santhals have come to Malda district from Rajshahi. Apparently, they are coming without any obstruction from the Pakistani authorities.
They have come this time with their animals too. They have come with their animals, bulls, cows, etc., and the Pakistanis have allowed them. Five thousand have come. We do not know how many more may come. It has affected specially the Santhals and there are round about 20,000 Santhals on the other side. More may come. Now, this raises difficult questions for us. For the moment, naturally, we have to give relief to those who come over, but permanent settlement is a difficult question. It was suggested that we should send them to Dandkarnya. Well, we can send some to Dandakaranya. We cannot send any unlimited number. For the moment, it has been decided by the Chief Minister of West Bengal – he has informed us of this – in consultation with our Government here to send a special train carrying about 1,000 of these Santhal refugees to Dandakaranya. And to choose agriculturists from them to go there, because there are many fishermen. Fishermen have no particular place there. There is no fish to be had in Dandakaranya.
An Hon. Member: Have you made any enquiries as to why the Santhals are coming in such numbers? Does it mean that everything is not quite peaceful in East Pakistan?
The Prime Minister: I have said that originally the difficulties arose because of some conflict between Santhals and Muslims. The very first thing was that a Santhal woman was selling some fruit and they had an argument about the price. The woman was slapped on the face. This was in Malda district. This resulted in the Santhals there too later attacking the Muslims, burning some of their huts and killing two or three persons. Then on the ‘Holi’ day, which came soon after, there was another attack by Santhals on Muslims. The Santhals were roused by this incident. On the other side in the major incidents that happened in Rajshahi district Santhals were also sufferers. But I cannot make out one thing, because nothing has been reported to us for the last month or more or six weeks. We thought that was over and we saw this traffic becoming normal.
An Hon. Member: How is it that it has not been reported, because in the Bengal papers also some Pakistan papers come to West Bengal – we did see reports appearing? How is it that Government has not received reports from its Mission in Dacca?
The Prime Minister: We have received full reports. I am saying that in the last month or six weeks nothing has happened not only to our knowledge but apparently to Pakistan Government’s knowledge or Bengal Government’s knowledge. I do not understand why this time particularly Snathals had come out. They had reason to come six weeks ago. May be they were thinking about it and they came to a decision, because they function in more or less in a tribal fashion, in a group fashion.
(to be continued)