THE KAMOKE MASSACRE

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Statement of Shrimati Laj Wanti, widow of Shri Manak Chand Age 23 years, caste Khatri, resident of Nurpur Sethi, District Jhelum, to the Chief Liaison Officer, Lahore.

My husband Shri Manak Chand was employed in the Workshop of Alkali Chemical Corporation of India, Limited at, Khewra. We were living in the quarters attached to the Company. Towards the end of Bhadon (August 1947) a Muslim mob attacked Khewra and a large number of houses were burnt. The Manager of the Alkali Chemical Corporation of India, Limited being a European, the premises of the Company were not attacked and employees and quarters in which they were living were saved. The Manager, however, asked all Hindu employees to get ready for evacuation.

Accordingly, on the 6th of Asuj (beginning of September, 1947) the Hindu employees left Khewra by trucks. 6 trucks were loaded. I, my husband, my son 1½ years old, my uncle Ganda Mal, his wife Karma Wali and their small daughter 1½ years old were all in one truck. We left Khewra at about 4 p.m. and reached Pind Dadan Khan at about 4.30 p.m. We found a large number of non-Muslims collected at the railway station. It was said that the train was to leave Pind Dadan Khan and would be the last train for the refugees to leave Pakistan.

Approximately 5,000 people had collected to go in the train. Out of them between 6 to 7 hundred were women. The train left Pind Dadan Khan at 10 p.m. on 7th of Asuj.

Fifteen men of the Pakistan army were with the train as guards. We were given railway tickets for Ferozepur and Rs. 3/8/- were charged per passenger.

It was said that the train would go straight to Ferozepur.

The train reached Kamoke railway station at about 8 p.m. on the 7th Asuj. In the way no water was supplied to the passengers. Even where the train stopped water was not given, as it was said that the passengers were all Hindus. No other provisions were also allowed to be purchased by the passengers for the same reason.

The train stopped at Kamoke railway station for the whole of the night. At about 8 a.m. on the 8th of Asuj Wednesday the Police came to the railway station and started searching the train. Each and every article of the passengers was searched; even the persons of the women were searched. The search continued for about two hours. 97 guns and rifles were taken away, although all of them were licensed weapons and the licences were with the owners. Even pen-knives were taken away from the passengers. All passengers were told that the guns and rifles would be returned as soon as the train would start. After the search the passengers were asked to get into the train and their luggage into it.

When everybody had got into the train and as the engine was whistling to indicate that the train was going to start, a huge crowd of Muslims came from the side of the Mandi and factories. They were armed with rifles, chhuras, axes, barchas and other lethal weapons. They were shouting �Ya Ali� and came running. They entered the compartments of the train and started butchering male passengers. The police force including the Sub-Inspector and Assistant Sub-Inspector were present at the platform and they also joined in shooting down the passengers who tried to come out of the train. The Pakistan Military made a show of firing, but their fire was directed towards the sky and not the mob and after a short while they also joined the mob and the police in shooting down the passengers.

Those of the passengers who tried to run towards the platform out of the compartments were shot dead by the police and the military and those who went out of the compartments towards the maidan were butchered by the Muslim mob. In this way most of the passengers were either butchered or shot dead. A few who were taken as dead after having been injured were later rescued.

The women-folk were not butchered, but taken out and sorted. The elderly women were later butchered while the younger ones were distributed.

I saw an old woman who cried for water being caught hold of by her feet by a Muslim and flung twice on the ground and killed. The children were also similarly murdered. All the valuables on the persons of the women were removed and taken away by the mob.

Even clothes were torn in the effort to remove valuables. My son was also snatched away in spite of my protests. I cannot say who took him away. I was taken by one Abdul Ghani to his house. He was a tonga driver. I was kept in the house for over a month and badly used. I went to other houses to look after my son. I saw a large number of children but I was unable to find my son. During these visits I also saw a large number of Hindu women in the houses of the Muslim inhabitants of Kamoke. All of them complained that they were being very badly used by their abductors.

After about a month it was announced by beat of drum that the Hindu Military had arrived and those of the inhabitants who had Hindu women and children in their possession should produce them at the police station. On this account, I and many other women (about 150) were produced at the police station. During the period of a month, that I stayed in the house of Abdul Ghani the members of his family and he always said that there was no food in India, the relations of all Hindu women had been killed and no one was prepared to have them back into their homes and that even Mahatma Gandhi said that there was no food in India and therefore, no women or men who had been kept in Pakistan should return to India. We were also told that all the girls who would go to India would be made to stand in line and shot dead by the Indian Military because they were not fit for being returned to Hindu society and Hindu society was not prepared to take them back. Such propaganda was made in every Muslim house and all the women whom I met told me of it as I went from house to house in search of my son. One Muslim Mirassi named Barkat Ali who had also taken a young Hindu girl was boasting that he had with his own hands killed 50 men with his dagger and had been rewarded by the Sub-Inspector of Police, Kamoke, for his valour. We were also told that we must state before the police and other authorities that we were not willing to return to India. The 150 women who were produced at the station, Kamoke, were taken in tongas to Gujranwala. Out of the women collected only 20 got up and said that they wanted to return to India. I was one of them. There were 10 children with these women. The remaining lot was put into the trucks and sent back to Kamoke by the Sub-Inspector of Police. We were then taken to the Hindu refugee camp and put into trucks which brought us to Amritsar.

My uncle, my aunt and my husband were all killed at Kamoke railway station. I have not yet been able to trace my son and the daughter of my uncle and aunt must have also been similarly killed.

Note: Other statements on the Kamoke Massacre appear later in the Appendix.