Remembering
the Forgotten Genocide in Hyderabad
By Mohammed Ayub Ali
Khan
Police Action Ki Bhooli Tareekh
Ka Aik Janbaaz Shaheed (Urdu)
Author: A.R. Yaf’ai
Pages: 294
Price: Rs.200
Publisher: Darul Isha’at , All India Majlis-e-Tameer-e-Millat,
Madina Mansion, Narayanguda, Hyderabad, 29, A..P.
India
The 1948 military action of the
Indian army to annex Hyderabad, and the resulting
mass slaughter of Muslims that followed in its
wake, remains one of the forgotten episodes of
modern historiography. Apart from Dr.Omar Khalidi’s
classic Tragedy of Hyderabad, a dozen or so non-fiction
and fictional works in Urdu, a few in English
by scholars like V.K.Bawa and Narendra Luther
and isolated references in the research of Western
scholars like W.C.Smith, Lucien Benichou and Margrit
Pernau, nothing much exists on this topic. What
is even astounding is the total absence of eye-witness
accounts of the survivors of these massacres.
In the years immediately preceding the military
action (deceptively termed as ‘police action’)
the State Congress as well as the Arya Samaj and
other organizations had launched a propaganda
campaign alleging that the Nizam government and
the para-military Razakaars are harassing the
Hindu majority of Hyderabad and that their lives
and property are in great danger. Influenced by
such propaganda and emboldened by India’s
independence, activists of the above mentioned
organizations and criminal elements started attacking
border areas of Nizam’s Dominions from within
as well as from India.
In Police Action Ki Bhooli Tareekh Ka Aik Janbaaz
Shaheed, A.R. Yaf’ai provides an account
of his father Muhammad Isa Yafa’I’s
activities in defending Hyderabad from the nefarious
onslaught of communalists and highway robbers
who in the name of independence had unleashed
a wave of violence in the Udgir area of modern-day
Bidar district.
Trouble started brewing in Udgir in 1938 when
the Arya Samajists took out a provocative Dussehra
procession and murdered a Muslim resident. Sensing
the coming upheaval and the disorganization of
Muslims Isa Yaf’ai left his governmental
post as sub-inspector in the excise department
to lead the Razakaars in his native Udgir. Isa
Yaf’ai immediately set to work and started
organizing the Razakaars and was conferred with
title of Salar.
He faced an uphill task as the Muslim community
was rife with opportunists. The local Majlis-e-Ittehad
ul Muslimeen, of which the Razakaars were an offshoot,
was also not free from such characters. Help from
Hyderabad was not forthcoming. Numerous requests
to the government and Razakaar and Majlis leadership
fell on deaf ears as the situation worsened by
the day. Salar Yaf’ai did whatever he could
relying on the local resources. Benefiting greatly
from this situation was the highway brigand Appa
Rao who regularly carried raids on Muslim settlements.
As political deliberations between Hyderabad and
New Delhi failed and with an all out military
attack looming Yaf’ai moved the town’s
Muslim community to one of the interior villages
hoping that this will save lives. The military
came and assured them that they will not be harmed
if they give up their arms. However this was not
to be and thousands of unarmed Muslims were killed
indiscriminately as the army watched. Not only
this but the author presents eye-witness testimony
to prove that the army provided arms to the attackers
and actively participated in the killings. According
to the author’s estimates as many as 30,000
people were killed in the Udgir area alone.
Rejecting claims that the Razakars looted and
killed the Hindus, the author contends that they
were not at all communal and that they in fact
protected Hindu lives and property. This is attested
by the fact that there were many Hindus like Lakshayya
who actively collaborated with them.
The book at times reads like a hagiography. The
recreation of some events (skirmishes, etc) appears
to be exaggerated as the author was still a child
during that time and was not present at each one
of them. Some of the speeches and statements that
the author attributes to his father cannot be
entirely his own as they are clearly those of
the late Majlisi leader Nawab Bahadur Yar Jung.
Despite theses flaws the book is an eye opener
and abounds in long forgotten facts. A short history
of Hyderabad, the Nizam’s government, Majlis
and its leadership, and the political and military
situation of the time is presented in a readable
manner. In writing this book the author has not
only interviewed the victims but also their persecutors.
He presents a neighborhood-wise list of 125 of
those who were killed and another consisting names
of the 25 leaders of the attackers. Many of these
attackers reportedly led gangs of 500 men.
It is heartening that at least one survivor of
the 1948 massacres has come forward with his reminisces
of the tragic period. There are many others who
fearing persecution hesitate to recall their experiences.
Such individuals should be persuaded to record
chronicle their experiences so that a clearer
picture of what really happened could emerge.
The long suppressed Sunderlal Report whose full
text was finally obtained by noted columnist and
legal scholar A.G.Noorani in 2001 should also
be made available to public as it sheds much light
on the massacres.
Those who forget history are condemned to repeat
it. So goes the saying. For Muslims, 1948 serves
as a lesson as to what can happen when they ignore
reality and let their passions take over. It is
vital that Indians know of the gory events of
the attack on and annexation of Hyderabad. No
longer can this issue be put on the backburner
on the plea that it will instigate violence or
threaten national integration. When the Germans
and the Americans can objectively study their
past and acknowledge their darker aspects why
can’t we?
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