The Islamic pogrom against Bengali Hindus in
Noakhali and Tipperah, positioned in the then Chittagong division of pre-partitioned
As per history, Noakhali genocide affected the areas under the Ramganj, Begumganj,
Raipur, Lakshmipur, Chhagalnaiya and Sandwip police stations in Noakhali
district and the areas under Hajiganj, Faridganj, Chandpur, Laksham and
Chauddagram police stations in Tipperah district. A total area of over 2,000
square miles turned into a cremation chamber of Hindus completely. The whole
saga took place to avenge defeat of Muslims on Direct Action Day, August 15,
1946 – a face-to-face fierce battle started by Muslim jingoists to wrest
Calcutta, the second city of the British Empire after London, from Hindus,
ended with valiant reprisal by Hindus.
An assortment of reports,
investigations do authenticate that 6,000 – 7, 000 Hindus were killed on the
whole but above all massacres, rapes, abductions and forced conversions of Hindus
and loot and arson of Hindu properties, perpetrated by the Muslim community in the
districts of Noakhali caught the attention of humanity worldwide. The event not only sealed
the fate of dreams of a free, undivided
Now the subject remains of
the extent of tortures on Hindus in Noakhali.
Here are some excerpts.
“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” –
written by Miss Muriel Leister, member of a relief committee sent to Noakhali,
on 6th November, 1946,(V.V. Nagarkar – Genesis – p 446).
October 23, 1946 edition
of Amrita Bazar Patrika stated clearly:
“For the 13th day today,
about 120 villages in Ramganj, Lakshmipur,
On 16/10/1946, The
Statesman 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.”
Noakhali carnage took
place due to several factors, one of them was the need of Muslim vengeance to
defeat in Great Calcutta Killing by Hindus. On October 10, 1946 the pogrom
started with the rabble-rousing speech of Gulam Sarowar, an ex-M.L.A of Muslim
League at Begumganj Bazar. A dreadful anti-Hindu speech by quoting verses of
Quran exhorting Muslims to kill the Kafirs and idolators and perform religious
duty was given. This was followed by violent assaults of Muslim mobs on Hindu
properties, killings of hundreds of Hindus, rapes of Hindu women – a complete
savagery.
When the correspondent of
'Amrit Bazaar Patrika' S.L.Ghosh reached Noakhali, he reported:
"The horror of the
Noakhali outrage is unique in modern history in that it was not a simple case
of turbulent members of the majority community (Muslims) killing off helpless
members of the minority Hindu community, but was one whose chief aim was mass
conversion, accompanied by loot, arson and wholesale devastation... No section
of the Hindu community has been spared, the wealthier classes being dealt with
more drastically. Abduction and outrage of Hindu women and forcible marriages
were also resorted. The slogans used and the methods employed indicate that it
was all part of a plan for the simultaneous establishment of
Each Kojaagari Laxmi Puja brings back horror
of Noakhali more and more – an episode that remains unparalleled in the history
of savagery even, in every sense of the term.
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