1950 East Pakistan riots

The 1950 East Pakistan riots (Bengali: পঞ্চাশের পূর্ব পাকিস্তান দাঙ্গা) took place between Hindus and Muslims in East Pakistan, which resulted in hundreds of thousands of Hindus being killed in pogroms.

Quotes

• Utter lawlessnes prevailed in the city. Policemen went round in trucks asking Hindu shop-keepers to close Hindu shops and homes were looted and burnt, while their temples and ashrams were plundered. Armed Ansars and some policemen were in evidence everywhere. Property worth four to five crores of rupees was destroyed or looted, Hindu homes, shops, temples and ashrams were looted in other areas of Dacca city especially in Lalbagh, Nawaganj, Islampur and Armenittolla.
  The East Bengal Government gave the figure of Hindus murdered during three days of holocaust of the Hindus in Dacca as 200, while even the figure of 600 to 1000 given by Pandit Nehru was low.
  Narayanganj: A large number of Hindu passengers — exact figure unascertainable — waiting to catch a steamer were done to death and thrown into the river...
  Women in the house raised an alarm against police high-handedness (it was established that the police had tried to rape the women). Nine men responded to their alarm and clashed with the police. One policeman died.... Two days later, a party of policemen... arrived on the spot and assisted by Ansars and Muslim mobs started large scale looting of the houses in the village: Most of the villagers of Kalshira were Scheduled Caste Hindus.
  The trouble soon spread to several other neighbouring villages... the whole of Bageerhat sub-division went through a reign of terror... others were unable to escape because of a steel ring thrown around the villages by the local police and the Ansars.
  • Wilfred Lazarus, PTI, March 14, 1950. quoted in Kamra A. J. (2000). The prolonged partition and its pogroms : testimonies on violence against Hindus in East Bengal 1946-64. pp. 59-60

• The second phase of the riot started from the 13th afternoon (the first disturbances occurred on February 2) and Natunbazar was attacked. The following mahallas... were attacked and looted, houses were burnt. Among persons killed were influential men such Gurudas Kar and others. The destruction of Hindu houses in those mahallas has been complete. ... villages predominantly inhabited by Hindus... were attacked. ...Harendra Kar's daughter Mila Kar aged 19 was forcibly married to Sultan Mian, civil supply contractor, after her father grandfather and brother were slaughtered. There are other reports of abductions. This state of things continued from Feb.13 to Feb. 23 with a relapse of one day on February 22.
  • Amrita Bazar Patrika, Feb 1950, quoted in Kamra A. J. (2000). The prolonged partition and its pogroms : testimonies on violence against Hindus in East Bengal 1946-64. pp. 71-2

• With great difficulty I have crossed the border. Several attempts were made to murder me and other newspaper correspondents. My younger Brother, Dr. Dhirendra Kumar Dutta was stabbed to death, We have left behind everything.
  • Jadugopal Dutta, Press Trust of India correspondent at Feni. quoted in Kamra A. J. (2000). The prolonged partition and its pogroms : testimonies on violence against Hindus in East Bengal 1946-64. pp. 72

• In the month of January 1950 a Police Officer along with a few constables and Santal (Tribals) peasants were killed in a clash in Nachole in Rajshahi district in connection with Tebbaga Andolan (three-parts movement, for allotting two-thirds of land produce to the tenant, one third to the owner]. Immediately after that, Armed Police and army operation was stated there. Village after village was indiscriminately burnt down, peasants were beaten and tortured mercilessly. They created a reign of terror by free looting, and raping of the Santal women went at will. 24 Santal peasants succumbed to death due to police torture inside Nachole Police Station, Innumerable peasants were killed in Nawabganj and Rajshahi Jails. One of the notable leaders of the movement, Ila Mitra, was brutally tortured in various ways including rape. The pervasive and multi-directional torturing compelled several Santal peasants to emigrate to West Bengal.
  • Biśvāsa Sukumāra & Satō Hiroshi. (1993). Religion and politics in bangladesh and west bengal : a study of communal relations. Institute of Developing Economies. quoted in Kamra A. J. (2000). The prolonged partition and its pogroms : testimonies on violence against Hindus in East Bengal 1946-64. pp. 73

• From afternoon one up to six o'clock p.m. moving about through Nawabpur, Sadarghat, Patuatuli,Islampur, Digbazar English Road Bangshal, Chowk etc., I observed the destruction and loss inflicted by Muslims on Hindus. ... Refugees, especially Biharis (Muslims), are responsible for this trouble. Local people, though not against it, but were indifferent. Til nightfall, looting, arson and killing went on undeterred, Police did nothing to stop this. Non-Bengali police encouraged it. Total administrative system played the role of a spectator.
  • Tazuddin Ahmed, Diary, quoted in Kamra A. J. (2000). The prolonged partition and its pogroms : testimonies on violence against Hindus in East Bengal 1946-64. pp. 74

• When the train entered into Mymensingh district crossing the river, it was surrounded on the bridge, The driver of the engine stopped it purposely. The murderers attacked the passengers from both sides of the bridge. Those who dived into the river for safety and tried to swim ashore were drowned, being hit on the head by brick batting. According to Pierre about 2000 Hindus were killed this way.”
  • Taya Zinkin, the representative of the London Economist and Manchester Guardian who wrote about the killings of India-bound Hindu passengers on Bhairab bridge on the basis of an interview with Pierre Dillani. also in Biśvāsa Sukumāra & Satō Hiroshi. (1993). Religion and politics in bangladesh and west bengal : a study of communal relations. quoted in Kamra A. J. (2000). The prolonged partition and its pogroms : testimonies on violence against Hindus in East Bengal 1946-64. pp. 78

• News of widespread disturbances, loot, murder and arson in some villages of Rajshahi district have been received in Maldah.... After a month since the atrocities had been committed on the Santals, disturbances again started on February 28 last. Since then, hundreds of Hindus of all classes began to cross the border into Maldah district in the Indian Union. During their journey, these people have been subjected to all sorts of harassment ; their womenfolk especially suffered great indignities at the hands of Muslims . The Ansars are snatching away whatever these unfortunate people have with them.
  A month back, nearly 800 Santals fled away from Nachole Police Station.But since February 28 , the exodus has been continuous . This exodus is due to the forcible occupation of Hindu houses, constant intimidation , molestation of Hindu women . In some cases Bihari Muslims forcibly ejected the Hindus from their houses and occupied them...
  • Amrita Bazar Patrika, March 6 1950. quoted in Kamra A. J. (2000). The prolonged partition and its pogroms : testimonies on violence against Hindus in East Bengal 1946-64.

• The tale of suffering and anguish that comes from East Bengal beggars description . More galling to a self - respecting and spirited people is the treatment meted out to women.
  • J. B. Kripalani, Feb 28 1950. quoted in Kamra A. J. (2000). The prolonged partition and its pogroms : testimonies on violence against Hindus in East Bengal 1946-64. pp. 82

• There was not an inch of space to spare in West Bengal for the refugees from East Bengal.
  • Prafulla Chandra Ghosh, in 1950 . quoted in Kamra A. J. (2000). The prolonged partition and its pogroms : testimonies on violence against Hindus in East Bengal 1946-64. pp. 84

• Pakistan armed and police forces recently burnt, destroyed and looted several Hindu villages in Khulna , Barisal and Rajshahi rendering 50,000 unarmed men , women and children destitute and homeless . Many were killed and pregnant women raped in presence of husbands . Young girls ravished in presence of parents .There has been large scale abduction of women and forcible conversion . Month - old babies snatched away from panic stricken feeding mothers and thrown in the river .
  • J.P. Mitter , telegram sent on 2 February 1950 to President Truman on the reported atrocities committed by armed and police forces on the defenceless villagers of Khulna and neighbouring places . quoted in Kamra A. J. (2000). The prolonged partition and its pogroms : testimonies on violence against Hindus in East Bengal 1946-64. pp. 88, and in Pangs of Partition: The human dimension - ·S. Settar, ‎Indira B. Gupta · 2002 · ‎

• An eyewitness account of the gruesome murders of the gruesome murders of the Hindu passengers in trains is provided by a passenger who escaped by jumping from a window. When the train arrived at Bhaira Bazar at 10 p.m. all the Hindu passengers were forced to detrain by uniformed Ansars, Later in the night they were put into separate compartments marked for them. After the train had started about half a dozen men who had apparently been hanging on the doorhandles got into the compartments occupied by the Hindus. The killers then locked the doors. The windows were mostly shut down They demanded the passengers to hand over to them all they had. Then they started to attack the passengers with knives. A baby was snatched away from a woman passenger and killed and ultimately the woman was also killed. The wails in the compartment soon died down. When the train stopped over the Bhairab bridge, the bodies were thrown into the river,
  • quoted in Kamra A. J. (2000). The prolonged partition and its pogroms : testimonies on violence against Hindus in East Bengal 1946-64. pp. 89

• In his book , Genocide Of Hindus Of Hindus & Buddhists in East Pakistan Bangladesh , Mr. Roy writes : “ Fanatic Mullahs spread a belief that any one who can convert or kill a Hindu boy or who can rape a Hindu woman , will go to Heaven .
  • Roy A. C. (198AD). Genocide of hindus & buddhists in east pakistan (bangladesh). quoted in Kamra A. J. (2000). The prolonged partition and its pogroms : testimonies on violence against Hindus in East Bengal 1946-64. pp. 59-60

• Over 2,500,000 refugees have so far entered West Bengal by air river and land routes since the disturbances started in East Pakistan on December 19 , 1949 ....
  • ABP, 22 March 1950, quoted in Kamra A. J. (2000). The prolonged partition and its pogroms : testimonies on violence against Hindus in East Bengal 1946-64. pp. 102

• The Muslim League, which destroyed the unity of India, is now determined to destroy the very existence of India and of Hinduism. It should be now clear to the meanest political intellect what the game is. Pakistan wants to rid its territories of the Hindu minority anyhow. For this it utilises all opportunities and every sort of machinery, Governmental and non-Governmental. I have no doubt that the periodical riots in Pakistan are carefully staged by the ruling coterie there. The atmosphere is created by propaganda of hate, Having engineered the riot, the same coterie in the Government refuses to take action or takes only nominal action against the perpetrators of barbaric atrocities on the defenseless minority.
  • Acharaya Kripalani, quoted in Kamra A. J. (2000). The prolonged partition and its pogroms : testimonies on violence against Hindus in East Bengal 1946-64. pp. 112

• Behind Pakistan's ' Iron Curtain ' in East Bengal ! I wouldn't like to think of it , for it is a tale of horror , hatred and hysteria , a tale of human degradation . Horror is written large on the face of every non - Muslim in East Bengal. . It is not the type of horror associated with war-time conditions among civilised people , but horror of the jungle , of man turned beast . I can think of “behind the iron curtain" only in terms of a mad house, a vast prison, the workshop of Satan - or a combination of all three.... What has happened in East Bengal was organised political ‘pogrom’, similar to those resorted to by Nazis. That the police officials have had a great hand in these events have been conclusively proved. ‘There is no getting away from the fact that the lead was shown by official quarters which gave a free hand to armed miscreants of the majority community who held sway over different parts of East Bengal for a few days, completely dislocating the edifice of law and order in the province. Consequently, the members of the minority communities who were the sufferers. to-day wail under the shadow of a great tragedy with their faith in law and order rudely shaken and their confidence lost.
  “Whatever be the cause adduced to these events by official quarters, the fact remains that throughout the State, it was the minorities who were killed. It was their homes which were looted and burnt, it was their temples and ashrams desecrated and plundered. It was their women who were abducted and ravished and it was they who underwent threats of forcible conversion or extinction. The reasons are not far to seek, Consistent anti-Indian and anti-Hindu propaganda by Ministers and Muslim leaders, persistently carried on since partition, created a feeling of hatred in the minds of even the lowest strata of Muslims against the minorities. What has happened is not a sudden outburst of communal frenzy, but a logical result of the policy followed by the East Bengal Government. Distrust of Hindus was sedulously preached both from the press and platform. Even responsible ministers have expressed their distrust of Hindus in their utterancess both in
  • Wilfred Lazarus, March 26, 1950 in Amrita Bazar Patrika, quoted in Kamra A. J. (2000). The prolonged partition and its pogroms : testimonies on violence against Hindus in East Bengal 1946-64. pp. 169ff

• In 1950 , nearly half a million Hindus were slaughtered in East Pakistan and this led to another exodus of 4 1/2 million Hindus ...The suffering of the Hindus in 1950 is comparable only to the experience of the Jews in Nazi Germany .... Next came one of the biggest genocides in recorded history . In 1971 , three million Bengalis were butchered ... In 1971 , three million Bengalis were butchered , and two hundred thousand women were raped and murdered ....
  • Roy A. C. (198AD). Genocide of hindus & buddhists in east pakistan (bangladesh). : quoted in Kamra A. J. (2000). The prolonged partition and its pogroms : testimonies on violence against Hindus in East Bengal 1946-64. pp. 170ff