1964: Hindu Massacre and Ethnic Cleansing: The Hazrat Bal Incident
On January 22, 1964 The Washington Post reported that over 1000 Hindus were killed in a pogrom by the Pakistani Govt, police, and mobs. It is reported that Father Richard Novak, an American Catholic priest, visited the Hindu neighborhood where the Hindu owned Laxmi Narayan Cotton Mill was situated, and he was missing. The Morning News of Dhaka, East Pakistan, A “Missing note” was pasted on the gate about Father Richard Novak. At this time, there was uprising against the oppression of the East Pakistani Bengalis by the West Pakistan, although both population wise as well as their contribution to Pakistan’s finances were more. To divert the public attention, the rumor was spread by the Government and the Islamists that a part of Prophet Muhammad’s hair kept in the Darga or majar (where the bodies and remains of Saints are preserved in Islam) in Srinagar, Kashmir, a state in India, (about 1632.03144 miles or 2626.5 kilometers from Dhaka, the main city of then East Pakistan; Dhaka is now the capital of Bangladesh), was stolen. There was no such rumor or subsequent violence in India or across the border in West Pakistan. In an oblique reference, Matiur Rahman, a Muslim reporter for the Bengali daily, Ittefaq, reported that several Muslims were also killed trying to save the Hindus and their properties. Within a month over 1.1 million Hindu refugees registered with the Government of India for settlement in India.
References:
(Marcus Franda, Population Politics in South Asia: Part II Refugees and Migration Patterns in northeastern India and Bangladesh, American University Field staff, May 1972). https://www.nytimes.com/1964/01/24/archives/riots-arouse-moslem-shame.html https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v25/d4.
