India Cover Up: Tens of Thousands Massacred in the 1940s

English: The partition of India (1947) Français : La partition des Indes (1947) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

English: The family of Motilal Nehru, who is seated in the centre. Standing (L to R) Jawaharlal Nehru (Panditji), Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, Krishna Hutheesingh, Indira Gandhi and Ranjit Pandit; Seated: Swaroop Rani, Motilal Nehru and Kamala Nehru (circa 1927) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

When India was partitioned in 1947, about 500,000 people died in communal rioting, mainly along the borders with Pakistan. But a year later another massacre occurred in central India, which until now has remained clouded in secrecy.

In September and October 1948, soon after independence from the British Empire, tens of thousands of people were brutally slaughtered in central India.

Some were lined up and shot by Indian Army soldiers. Yet a government-commissioned report into what happened was never published and few in India know about the massacre. Critics have accused successive Indian governments of continuing a cover-up.

The massacres took place a year after the violence of partition in what was then Hyderabad state, in the heart of India. It was one of 500 princely states that had enjoyed autonomy under British colonial rule.

When independence came in 1947 nearly all of these states agreed to become part of India.

…

Determined to get to the bottom of what was happening, an alarmed Nehru commissioned a small mixed-faith team to go to Hyderabad to investigate.

It was led by a Hindu congressman, Pandit Sunderlal. But the resulting report that bore his name was never published.

But now, historian Sunil Purushotham from the University of Cambridge has obtained a copy of the report as part of his research in this field.

Pandit Sunderlal’s team concluded that between 27,000 and 40,000 died.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24159594

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