Integration of Hyderabad State and 'Police Action': The Secrets of Violence and Massacre that the Indian Government has cherished in the name of 'National Interest'
After the fall of Hyderabad, Sardar Patel and Mir Usman Ali Khan, the seventh ruler of Hyderabad.
It happened in just two weeks.
In a village in Hyderabad state, young women were raped, including five daughters of a man named Usman and six daughters of a man named Qazi. The atrocities did not stop there, but many of the girls were raped for days.
In another village in the same state, the house of a man named Ladley was illegally occupied by non-Muslims. In another village, the minaret of a mosque was demolished and idols were placed inside. Two Muslims from the village were forcibly converted to Hinduism and forced to sing hymns in the mosque.
In another incident, dozens of raped women jumped into a well and committed suicide.
These are just a few of the incidents mentioned above which were part of the report of the committee sent to Hyderabad by the Nehru government on the 'Goodwill Mission'. Obtained from and published.
This government report summarizes the shocking incidents of sexual and physical violence that took place thereafter the annexation of the state of Hyderabad to India in September 1948.
After the departure of the British rulers in 1947, although India became independent and Pakistan came into being, the future of the three largest states in the region, Kashmir, Hyderabad, and Junagarh, was uncertain. The three states had decided to remain independent but India and Pakistan wanted to join them.
September 1948 Indian Army tanks enter the state of Hyderabad (pictured in AG Noorani's book)
Many suggestions were made regarding these states but the situation remained as it was and finally on 13th September 1948 Indian forces invaded the state of Hyderabad and only five days later on 18th September the Commander-in-Chief of Nizam Hyderabad Syed Ahmed Al-Aidros formally Surrendered
The Indian government calls the military operation in Hyderabad a 'police action' at the official level, also known as 'Operation Polo'.
During this operation and the events that followed, the bloodbath in Hyderabad heated up, the full details of which are still a secret.
Evidence of the incidents that took place during this period was submitted to the government through the 'Sunder Lal Committee' but the report and evidence received through this committee were never made public by the government.
Brought on Highlights from this report tell heartbreaking stories.
The government committee was headed by Pandit Sundar Lal and Qazi Abdul Ghaffar.
Sundarlal Ghadr was a former member of the party who joined the Congress under Gandhi and strongly advocated Hindu-Muslim cooperation. Qazi Abdul Ghaffar was a former editor of the nationalist newspaper Payam in Hyderabad and a fierce critic of Qasim Rizvi, the president of the Volunteers.
The volunteers were part of a semi-trained group fighting for the independence of Hyderabad and were involved in violence against communists protesting against landlords and against Hindus and Muslims opposing the independence of Hyderabad.
Historian Sajjad Shahid says that the violence in 'Police Action' was not fully recorded and that whatever was recorded was kept out of public reach for a long time. The report is still the most important document.
Although it has been published in fragments by several researchers in recent years, the full report, which was submitted to the Interior Ministry, has not yet been declassified.
One of the recently published documents in this regard belongs to AG Noorani, a well-known constitutional expert, and author, but historian Sajjad Shahid says that this is not a complete report either.
"As soon as the report was submitted, it was completely buried," he said. The sections that are generally available are just a brief summary of the report. They do not have full details of the cases. Reports published by various people, including Noorani, do not contain these details.
However, if the parts published by Omar Khaldi and AG Noorani are read together, the picture of the atrocities that took place at that time is quite visible. But the exact number of deaths is still uncertain.
Omar Khalidi claims that according to the report, at least 200,000 Muslims were killed, but the part of the report published by AG Noorani states that "according to a very cautious estimate", at least in the entire state of Hyderabad. Between 27,000 and 40,000 people died during and after the police action.
It added that the committee members visited nine of the 16 districts of Hyderabad between November 29, 1948, and December 21, 1948, to compile the report and interviewed more than 500 people in an additional 109 villages.
According to the report, "at least 100 people were punished for the sins committed by a criminal in retaliation."
Violence during the Partition of India killed scores of people, but hardly any tragedy has suffered as much anonymity as the government-sponsored military operation in Hyderabad.
In fact, the Indian government did its best to cover up the incident and the report from the beginning. Vallabhbhai Patel, the then Home Minister of India, condemned the report and questioned the authority of its authors, saying "there is no question of sending a Godol mission to Hyderabad through the Government of India."
However, Nehru sent the committee at the insistence of Maulana Azad, who had been denied permission by Patel's ministry to visit Hyderabad at that time.
Citing Younis Saleem, one of the members of the Omar Khaldi Committee, writes in Hyderabad: After the Fall, Younis Saleem was appointed to visit the affected areas of the state.
However, when Sundarlal presented the report, Patel wrote an angry letter to Qazi Abdul Ghafoor, saying, "In this report, you have mentioned that you were asked by the Government of India to go to Hyderabad on a goodwill mission." At least I do not know of any such mission for which the Government of India has entrusted you. As far as I know, you wanted to go there and your departure was arranged at the government's expense.
Contrary to Patel's claim, Younis Saleem and Sunder Lal's private secretary Mujeeb Rizvi told Khaldi in 1988, "This mission was indeed sent by the government because, in November-December 1948, no one was allowed to enter Hyderabad without the permission of the army." Entry or exit was not allowed. Even freedom of movement within the state was being controlled.
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