INDIA QUIETER

Southland Times, Issue 24832, 26 August 1942, Page 5

INDIA QUIETER

ATTACKS ON POLICE (Rec. 7 p.m.) 'LONDON, Aug 22. A New Delhi message states that conditions are now virtually normal, except in certain eastern areas, where the authorities have the upper hand. Order is being rapidly restored. The mob attacked a police station in the Ghazipur district and killed seven policemen. It is feared that at least two policemen were killed when two other stations in the same district waeburned down. A policeman was killed in tne Pilibhit district. Collective fines ot £7750 have been imposed on Chunur and Ashtu and villages within a 10-mile radius of them. , The Government has prohibited iurther publication of the newspaper Harijan, also its provincial editions because of objectionable articles about civil disobedience. In Washington Sirdar Singh, president of the Indian League of America, declared that Japan was now training Indian, Burmese and Siamese troops for the Battle of India, which could be expected soon after the Monsoon season ended on September 15. He added that the United States should mediate to induce Britain to meet the demands of Mr Gandhi. He also proposed that India’s defence should be entrusted to a War Council composed of General fair Archibald Wavell, Commander-in-Chief in India, Lieutenant-General Joseph W. Stilwell, and Chiang Kai-shek s military adviser, and a Chinese general. STUDENTS’ STRIKES A few attacks on the police have been made in the eastern United Provinces and the Central Provinces, while m Bengal students’ strikes have taken place. Some disturbance also has occurred in Madras Province and in Orissa. Otherwise the situation throughout India is calm. The incidents have all been isolated instances ot hooliganism. Sir C. P. Ramaswami Aiyar, member for Information and Broadcasting in the Executive Council of the Viceroy, has submitted his resignation so that he may be free to take up the defence of the Indian States against the threat from the Congress Party. The Viceroy, the Marquess of Linlithgow, nas accepted his resignation with regret. In his letter of resignation Sir C. P. Ramaswami Aiyar makes it clear that he is in full sympathy with the action taken by the Government of India in the recent disturbances and that he is resigning only because he wishes to be completely free to do what he thinks is necessary against mass action, which would hamper the Indian war effort. The police in Bombay have arrested a prominent A.R.P. officer, Dr K. NNarole. It is alleged that they seized firearms and ammunition which were in his possession. His arrest followed investigations into recent activity by dacoits near Bombay, during which revolunionary literature and firearms were seized.