Deaths Estimated at 400

Chronicle (Levin), 21 October 1946, Page 5

Deaths Estimated at 400

Pres's Assn

government's inertia

By Telegraph

.-CopXj right

Re'ceiVed MOn'day, I'O a.in. CALCUTTA,' Oct. 19. 'Tlie newsp&per Suiida'y Stat'esman" "estim'ates ' that 400 Have been killed and from '2'0'0 to'3'00 i'njured since the rioting began in thfe •Noakhali district. It sayS tliat 'about 150,000 people an'd 400 villages arfe affected by the mob Violence. It quotes a staff correspoh'd'fent aS Saying 10,000 have left "the mtelio'r and are sheltering at 'Chandpur. One thousand more evacnefes from the Noakhali 'district havfe ar-rived at Calcutta. The evacuees said their villages had been a'ttacked, houses b'urned, and Some womeh carried olf. The Bengal Press Advisory Comm'ittee has released a le'tter from a Hindu coiTespondent at Noakhali st&ting: "All villages in this area have accepted Islam. A Kuge mob gave us an ultimatUm to jjoin Islam •or be burnt." The Daily Express correspondent says that 1000 Indian troops with reconnaisSance planes are cleaning up the communal disturbances in •the Noakhali district. A11 official communique states that the riots have been localised in a few districts. The London Sunday Times' Calcutta correspondent says that thfe Bengal Government, showing the same tardiness and inertia which characterised its handling of thfe Calcutta riots, is displaying great caution regarding the Noakhali disturbances, leaving it to unofficial organiSations to shov; the e-xtreme seriousness of the situation. The Moslem Premier of the Bengal Government, Mr. Suhrawkrdy. who yesterday toilred the affected areas, declared that the Noakhali area was now practically free from disturbances. He described newspaper reports of mass slaughter and abduction of women as exagigerated and fantastic. The Bengal Government, however, has requested that more troops should be sent to the area. Ghandi, referring to the "tragic happening-s" in the Noakhali' district, advised women running thi L'isk of dishonour to take poison before submitting. He added tha+ what hurt him very much v/as thc fact that women were being carried away and convefted to Islam, A Bombay message states that flve were stabbed in the city between daybreak and noori. Sixty-four of the 68 mills and many factories and shops were closed in response to the appeal by the provincial Congress leader for closilre as a mark of sympathy for tlie East Bengal riots.