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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Editor: Akhtar M. Faruqui
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