1946: Noakhali, The genocide ofHindus in Chittagong, Bengal

The killing of 5000 Hindus, rapes of women's and forced conversion of the 95% of the population to Islam out of 400,000.

This is the story of partition of Bengal hardly known about. In fact, it is so brutal that even Gandhi had asked Hindu women's to consume poison and save their honor instead of getting raped.

The said incident is also mentioned in "1946: The Great Calcutta killings and Noakhali genocide" a book written by Dr. Dinesh Chandra Singha. Gandhi said it on 18th Oct, after receiving a telegram informing murders, loot, abduction, mass conversion & rapes in Noakhali region.

The massacre started on 10 Oct, 1946 on the Hindu festival of Sharad Purnima (Kojagiri Purnima) in the area of northern Noakhali district under Ramganj police station. The violence unleashed was described as "the organized fury of the Muslim mob" by The Muslim League.

It was soon widespread in the neighbouring police stations of Raipur, Lakshmipur, Begumganj and Sandip in Noakhali, and Faridganj, Hajiganj, Chandpur, Laksham and Chudagram in Tippera.

The disruption caused by this mishap was so violence and extensive that it made difficultly to officers to accurately establish the number of casualties. The official number of the death cause was recorded as between 200-300.

After a week-long period when the riots were stopped, the Muslim League claimed that only 500 Hindus were killed in the uproar. But, as per the survivors the numbers were more than 50,000 where Hindus were killed.

According to Francis Tuker, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Command, India, the Hindu press intentionally and grossly exaggerated reports of disorder. So, The neutral and widely accepted death toll figure was confirmed at around 5000.

Miss Muriel Leister, member of a relief committee sent to Noakhali wrote on 6th November 1946,(V.V. Nagarkar – Genesis – p 446) : ❝Worst of all was the plight of women. Several of them had to watch their husbands being murdered And then be forcibly converted and married ...

... to some of those responsible for their death. Those women had a dead look. It was not despair, nothing so active as that. It was blackness. the eating of beef and declaration of allegiance to Islam has been forced upon many thousands of as the price of their lives.

Amrita Bazar Patrika on 23/10/46 reported : ❝For the 13th day today, about 120 villages in Ramganj, Lakshmipur, Raipur, Begumganj and Senbag thanas ...

... in Noakhali district with a Hindu population of 90,000 and nearby 70,000 villagers in Chandpur & Faridganj thanas in Tippera (Comilla) district remained besieged by hooligans.

Death stares the people of these areas in their face & immediate rushing of supply to these areas with the help of military, who alone could do it, would save the lives of these people, most of whom have been without food for the last few days

The Statesman on 16/10/1946 reported : ❝In an area of about 200 sq miles the inhabitants surrounded by riotous mobs, are being massacred, their houses being burnt, their womenfolk being forcibly carried away and thousands being subjected to forcible conversion.

Thousands of hooligans attacked the villages, compelled them (Hindus) to slaughter their cattle and eat. All places of worship in affected villages have been desecrated. The District Magistrate and the Police Superintendent of Noakhali took no step to prevent it.

The Congress Working Committee of the 24th October contained the following statement: — ❝That the attack was pre-arranged was openly admitted even by Lt.-Gen. F. R. E. Bucher at a Press Conference in Calcutta.

He added — and he was in no mood to overstate, as we know — that the extent of muraers, arson, forcible marriages and abductions could not be calculated.

Mr. Shamsuddin Ahmad, a prominent member of the present League Cabinet of Bengal, openly said in a public meeting in the affected area in Noakhali :

❝Reports published in the press and statements of public workers depict a scene of bestiality and medieval barbarity that must fill every decent human being with shame, disgust and anger.

Deeds of violation and abduction of women and forcible religious conversion and of loot, arson and murder have been committed on a large scale in a pre-determined and organized manner by persons often found to be in possession of rifles and other fire-arms.

On the 20th November Sardar Abdur Rab Nishtar made a statement in the Council of State, in which he tried to mini- mise the gravity of the situation in Noakhali by saying that ❝between 200 and 300 innocent persons lost their lives" in that district.❞

Opposing the statement Dr. Rajendra Prasad, said, ❝I cannot say that things were any worse in Bihar than in Eastern Bengal for more than four or five weeks.❞

A Short report of Hindu Mahasabha relief activities during “Calcutta killing” and “Noakhali carnage” reads : Several weeks have elapsed since the beginning of unspeakable atrocities in Noakhali.

Even now isolated murders are being committed, houses being burnt, and thousands of Hindus marooned in Muslim areas are being prevented from seeking shelter in safe zones.

The number of innocent and helpless men, women and children murdered by the hooligans has not been, and will probably never be, ascertained.

Thousands of persons were forcibly "converted" to Islam, and were made to recite the kali'ina or the Muslim creed and to take beef on pain of death. Thousands of houses were looted and burnt. Flourishing markets were reduced to ashes.

More painful than anything else, many Hindu women were abducted and dishonored. Some of them, including married women and mothers of children, were forcibly given in so-called "marriage" to Muslims. No attempt has been made to ascertain the number of these unfortunate women.

The Hindus in the affected area were so panic-stricken that even Mahatma Gandhi himself — the great apostle of love, forgiveness and cool courage — hesitated to advise them to return to their devastated homes.