Date: 5/1/2003
Summary:
Nizamabad in Gujranwala District is famous for its cutlery industry. Thousands of parcels of knives from this place have been despatched by the Muslim grinders to different places in the Punjab and outside to replenish the armouries of Muslim League and Muslim National Guards.
In July stabbing attacks on Hindus and Sikhs occurred frequently. There were also some attacks on Hindu-Sikh areas and arson was attempted.
A secret order was issued by Mehar Ghulam Mohammed, Inspector of Police who went from Amritsar, to the Muslim policemen to kill all non-Muslim policemen. Muslim police constables shot dead at sight any Hindu or Sikh.
Sub-Inspector Hussain Shah, who at Lahore had burned down the vast and prosperous Hindu area inside Shahalmi Gate in collusion with Magistrate M. G. Cheema, now came to Kamoke, a prosperous Hindu-Sikh trading centre a few mites from Gujranwala. He carried on a general massacre of Hindus and Sikhs in Kamoke town and in the Ilaqa.
A large massacre of Hindus and Sikhs occurred at Dhariwal in the jurisdiction of Kila Didar Singh Police Station. Hindus and Sikhs were evacuating, and were attacked near Lalpur. 1000 were killed.
Towards the beginning of September, a Hindu-Sikh refugee train coming from West Punjab was attacked by a Muslim mob, abetted by the police and military, at Kamoke.
Wazirabad which was an important Hindu-Sikh trading centre, became like Raiwind, notorious for the large number of attacks on Hindu and Sikh refugee trains.
......................--------------------
Article:
.......Subject: MUSLIM LEAGUE ATTACKS ON HINDUS/SIKHS #30
...............Date: Tue, April 29, 2003
.........Courtesy: HinduOpenForum@yahoogroups.com
.........MUSLIM LEAGUE ATTACKS ON HINDUS/SIKHS #30
......................GUJRANWALA
The District of Gujranwala lies next to Sheikhupura west of Lahore. The Muslim population of this district was 70.45%, while the Hindu and Sikh population combined was 22.70%. As everywhere in the Punjab, Sikhs and Hindus were enlightened entrepreneurs, good businessmen and organisers, and the Sikhs were very good farmers and owners of rich, fertile land for which they contributed land-revenue many times their population strength.
Nizamabad in Gujranwala District is famous for its cutlery industry. Thousands of parcels of knives from this place have been despatched by the Muslim grinders to different places in the Punjab and outside to replenish the armouries of Muslim League and Muslim National Guards. Very many times the Police of Bombay, Central Provinces, the United Provinces and other provinces have intercepted these parcels in the railway yards, and thus prevented their reaching those who could have used them for murdering the followers of other religions. But while some of these parcels have been confiscated through police vigilance, many times the number so confiscated surely reached their destination. Wazirabad, a railway junction joining the Lahore-Rawalpindi-Peshawar main line and the Jammu-Sialkot line has earned great notoriety for the attacks made on Hindu-Sikh refugee trains and for the large massacres which took place both in the town and at the station.
Gujranwala itself continued to be disturbed in June and July; and in August, like all other West Punjab towns, it rose to massacre and hound out its Hindu and Sikh population. A peace meeting had to be called in Gujranwala on the 11th July at which Muslim League leaders including Mian Iftikharuddin and the Khan of Mamdot made very glib speeches about the virtue of neighbourliness and communal harmony. But the Muslim audiences knew very well that all Muslim League leaders peace appeals, from Mr. Jinnah downwards were meant only to do a formality, to fool the Western world and to lull Hindus and Sikhs into a false sense of security. Behind the scenes these very speech-makers were planning riots and organising and financing arson and murder.
In July stabbing attacks on Hindus and Sikhs occurred frequently. There were also some attacks on Hindu-Sikh areas and arson was attempted. But the Hindus and Sikhs of Gujranwala were a well organised and fearless people, and gave back to the Muslims better than they got. Especially was the Gurdwara attacked, from which Sikhs kept their assailants well at bay.
With the approach of August 15, however the aspect of things began to change. By the end of July when a Muslim Deputy Commissioner arrived to take over charge of the District, the Muslim determination to hound the Hindus and Sikhs out of the own was evident. Officials, police and Muslim League were working in close co-operation to this end. Hindus and Sikhs naturally sensed the imminent danger and tried to leave before loss of life occurred. The Hindu-Sikh exodus became a general flight, for which even enough transport was not available. On the 27th July stabbing of Hindus and Sikhs was going on frequently. In the curfew if the Hindus and Sikhs came out, they were arrested, while Muslims went about armed, freely doing whatever mischief they liked. Stabbing of Hindus and Sikhs went on with the police looking on. Hindus and Sikhs houses were set on fire; even when the culprits who did this were arrested, the police did not take cognizance of the offence. A secret order was issu ed by Mehar Ghulam Mohammed, Inspector of Police who went from Amritsar, to the Muslim policemen to kill all non-Muslim policemen. Muslim police constables shot dead at sight any Hindu or Sikh. Between the 11th and 17th August all Hindu and Sikh localities, such as Guru Nanakpural Hakim Rai, Mandi Khajurwali, Brahm Akhara, Chauk Chashma, Sheikhupura Gate area, etc. had been burned. The murder of Hindus and Sikhs occurred on a large scale. One of the most brutal and shocking murders was that of Dr. Tej Bhans family. There were 14 members in their family. Dr. Tej Bhans house was attacked by Muslim police, but the attack was repulsed. Then Imdad Hussain Shah, Sub-Inspector came with more force. The house was set on fire at which the inmates came out. The men were first shot dead; and then the womenfolk with children in their arms. Only one minor boy and one girl escaped.
Sub-Inspector Hussain Shah, who at Lahore had burned down the vast and prosperous Hindu area inside Shahalmi Gate in collusion with Magistrate M. G. Cheema, now came to Kamoke, a prosperous Hindu-Sikh trading centre a few mites from Gujranwala. He carried on a general massacre of Hindus and Sikhs in Kamoke town and in the Ilaqa.
Asghar Ali Shah, Assistant Sub-Inspector of Naushehra Virkan got all Sikhs within his jurisdiction murdered. He would collect them under pretext of making some enquiry and get them all shot dead.
These were some of the ways in which minorities were being eliminated in Pakistan.
Village Dorhian in the area of Police Station Kila Didar Singh had a purely Sikh population. The inhabitants of this area were murdered wholesale by the police and Muslim National Guards. In Eminabad wholesale murder of Hindus and Sikhs occurred also.
At Sohadra, on the 13th August, 60 Hindus and Sikhs were killed. Burji Chanda Singh was attacked repeatedly from the 16th August to the 2nd September and 125 Sikhs got killed.
The town of Gakhar was attacked on the 17th August. Here looting and killing continued for 3 days. 200 Sikhs and Hindus were killed. Kot Des Raj was attacked on the 15th August. Here the number of Hindus and Sikhs killed was 300; 120 were forcibly converted. In Udhowali, attacked on the 27th, about 60 were killed. Almost the entire Hindu and Sikh population of Maju Chak, numbering 500 was slaughtered.
Village Ramke Chatha was attacked on the 5th September. Here Hindus and Sikhs took the life of their own womenfolk to save them being dishonoured by Muslims. Mandi Sukhoki was attacked on the 3rd September. Sikhs were ferreted out from Hindu homes and killed with brutality. Dharaunkal was attacked on 19th August. Out of its total Sikh population of 80 only about 20 survived the attack.
A large massacre of Hindus and Sikhs occurred at Dhariwal in the jurisdiction of Kila Didar Singh Police Station. Hindus and Sikhs were evacuating, and were attacked near Lalpur. 1000 were killed.
Great destruction of Hindu-Sikh lives also occurred in the villages falling within the jurisdiction of Wadhon Police Station, which was attacked by Mohd. Azam Magistrate, and the D. S. P.
In Ladhowali Chima a big massacre occurred. 125 Hindus and Sikhs were killed and 50 wounded. 200 women were abducted.
The people of village Sagar put up a heroic resistance and most of them died fighting against the Muslim assailants.
In Mari Thakran 76 were killed. Patlemal, Mirzapur, Thapnala and Mirza Jan suffered great loss of Hindu and Sikh lives.
Muslim goondas were imported from Lahore to attack Lohianwala, a village three miles outside Gujranwala. Here 30 to 40 Sikhs were killed.
Looianwala, another village was attacked by the Muslim military which got down from a train which was stopped on purpose, and attacked this village, Sikhs were hounded down and in a brief space of time 100 were killed. In Wadd 42 Hindus and Sikhs were killed.
Kamoke is an important trading town, a few miles east of Gujranwala. Hindus and Sikhs had set up here flourishing Mills, factories and banks. Here, on the arrival of the Muslim military, on the 16th August, looting and murdering of Hindus and Sikhs started. On the 16th August 100 bags of rice were looted from shops of Hindus and Sikhs and on the next day a whole truck-ful of food looted by Muslims. One woman was shot dead. The general attack began on the 21st, when the police called 50 to 60 Hindus and Sikhs out of their houses and shot them dead. On the 23rd eight rice husking factories, all belonging to Hindus and Sikhs were burned and so were many houses of Hindus and Sikhs. When Hindus and Sikhs, on demand of the Muslim police officers, paid a sum of sixty thousand rupees, this arson and murder stopped temporarily. But soon after, these activities were resumed by Muslims and huge looting occurred which included the Central Bank and wheat in Mandi, which was worth four lak hs of rupees.
On the 24th the Gurdwara of Dam Dama Sahib was attacked. The Granthi and several Sikhs inside the Gurdwara were murdered by a Muslim mob of 1,000. Later, another 150 Hindus and Sikhs were killed while sheltering in private houses.
Towards the beginning of September, a Hindu-Sikh refugee train coming from West Punjab was attacked by a Muslim mob, abetted by the police and military, at Kamoke. The refugees in the train had been kept without water for two days. Whatever weapons of defence the refugees had, such as licensed guns, were taken away from them. The mob stabbed and speared the passengers, while the police shot down any one who tried to escape by running away. The Pakistan Military made a show of firing, but their shots were directed towards the sky and not the mob and after a short while they also joined the mob and the police in shooting down the passengers.
Most of the male refugees were butchered or shot dead. The women were sorted. The elderly ones were later butchered, while the younger ones were distributed. Children were murdered by being flung with force on the ground.
Wazirabad which was an important Hindu-Sikh trading centre, became like Raiwind, notorious for the large number of attacks on Hindu and Sikh refugee trains. On the 12th August a train left Amritsar. Its Hindu and Sikh passengers were first attacked at Moghulpura five miles east of Lahore, and almost all of them were murdered. Some few who escaped reached Wazirabad and beyond. On the 13th a general massacre of Hindus and Sikhs occurred at Wazirabad. The Mandi was burned and huge looting took place. The same day general looting of the bazar again occurred and all available Hindus and Sikhs in the bazar were murdered. Trains coming from Wazirabad carrying Hindus and Sikhs fleeing from Muslim terror, were stopped at Nizamabad, a few miles cast, and the Muslim military escort joined Muslim goondas of the mob in murdering Hindu and Sikh passengers. 5 or 6 women were abducted from this train. Altogether about 500 Hindu and Sikhs travelling by this train were killed. The railway trac k to Jammu, whither Hindu and Sikh refugees were going as the nearest way out, was removed. This train was also attacked, but its escort fortunately was Sikh and thus the Muslim mob were kept at a safe distance from Hindu and Sikh passengers.
.......http://www.hinduunity.org/muslimleague.htm#ch10
....................000000000
[_private/ftarc.htm]