THREAD: POLICE ACTION IN HYDERABAD.

The forgotten massacre!

Warning: If you're a weakheart who is not used to criticism, please ignore.

At the time of British withdrawal, Nizam announced that Hyd would remain independent & demanded that it must be granted dominion status. /1

By 1948 almost all princely states had acceded to either India or Pakistan. One major exception was that of the wealthiest and most powerful principality, Hyderabad, where the Nizam, Mir Osman Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VII, decided to remain independent. /2

This refusal to surrender sovereignty to the new democratic India outraged the country's leaders in New Delhi.

After an acrimonious stand-off between Delhi and Hyderabad, the Delhi government finally lost patience and came up with a Goddard plan. /3

According to the plan, there were two major thrusts— from Vijaywada in the East and Solapur in the West, while smaller army takes over the remaining points of compass.

At 4 a.m. on 13 September, 1948, India’s plan to occupy Hyderabad was executed and was continued.../4

till 18 September, the day the Nizam of Hyderabad was left with no choice but to give up for the sake of his people and he finally agreed to Hyderabad's unconditional accession to the Indian Union.

A disheartened, self-proclaimed authoritative representative of Indian Muslims /5

Maulana Azad, conveyed that the operation led to massive violence on communal lines and requested to visit Hyderabad, yet with the state now under the jurisdiction of Ministry of States, Patel refused to grant Azad permission to visit Hyderabad. /6

In late November, there were reports of looting, mass murder and rape of Muslims in Hyderabad due to which Nehru dispatched a “Goodwill Mission” to investigate and thus, appointed a mixed-faith commission known as the Sunderlal Committee led by Pandit Sunder Lal. /7

However, the findings of the report (Pandit Sunderlal Committee Report) were not made public, it was considered suppressed or destroyed until 2013 when it was accessed from the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library in New Delhi by A. G. Noorani.

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According to BBC, committee stated that large-scale violence against Muslims occurred in Marathwada and Telangana areas. The Committee concluded that while Muslim villagers were disarmed by the Indian troops, Hindus were often left with their weapons.

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It also concluded: At a number of places, members of the armed forces brought out Muslim adult males from villages and towns and massacred them in cold blood. The official "very conservative estimate" was that 27,000 to 40,000 died "during and after the police action."

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According to Taylor C. Sherman, in her LSE journal, the violence was carried out by Hindu residents, with the troops sometimes indifferent, and sometimes participating in the atrocities. The Committee generally credited the military officers with good conduct but stated that

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...soldiers acted out of bigotry.

A. G. Noorani, in his article in Frontline, December 2019, said that— "It is widely held that the figure mentioned therein for the number of Muslims massacred is 50,000.

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Other estimates by responsible observers run as high as 200,000, and by some of the Muslims themselves still higher. The lowest estimates, even those offered privately by apologists of the military government, came to at least ten times the number of murders with which...

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..previously the Razakars were officially accused... In some areas, all the men were stood in a line, and done to death."

Patel furiously disowned the conclusions of Sunderlal Committee and stated that the terms of reference were flawed because they only covered the part

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during & after the operation. These objections are regarded by Noorani as disingenuous because the commission was an official one, and it was critical of the Razakars as well.

Indian officials labeled the Razakars as fascist, many still believe that Razakars were fanatics

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and hated Hindus, these claims are absolutely erroneous. The fact is that two major Dalit organizations in Hyderabad, the Depressed Classes Association and the Independent Scheduled Caste Federation, threw their lot in with the Azad Hyderabad Movement in 1947

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..and thousands of Dalits joined the Razakars.

In November 1947, Nizam signed a standstill agreement with India, continuing all previous arrangements except for the stationing of Indian troops in the state. However, India violated the agreement and stationed Indian troops

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Indian government justified this violation of agreement by stating that Hindus in Hyderabad were in danger. This exact same reason is still used to justify the brutality against Muslims, to secure votes by the ruling party and this same reason is often used to justify

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the massacre of more than 200,000 Muslims of Hyderabad in 1948.

It is sad to see not even Hyderabadis know this. Memory is resistant. Never forget.

May Allah grant them highest position in Jannah and bless us with at least a portion of their courage to fight injustice.

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