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Reference: Recurrent Exodus of Minorities from East Pakistan and Disturbances in India: a Report to the Indian Commission of Jurists by its Committee of Enquiry, 1965. Published by: Purushottam Trikamdas, General Secretary, Indian Commission of Jurists, New Delhi, 1965, Appendices IV, p.354-372
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 nondevaluation 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 anda 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, honor, 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. The 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,
shopkeepers, 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 some time ago the Educational Authority
issued a 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 levelled.
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 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 24 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 nonevacuee 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
9th October 1950
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