PUNJAB RISING.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3364, 17 December 1919, Page 5

PUNJAB RISING.

__._¢...—— ; HOW IT WAS QUELLED. 1 TROUBS ON DEFIANT ‘ CROWD. ' J ________ \ LONDON, Dec. 15. Evideriee given before -the commis- : sion which is inquiring at Lahore into ‘the risings at Amritsar in April is ¥eausing a. sensation among the public. It appears that a general meeting was threatened in Punjab, recalling lthe Indian mu-tiny. General R. E. H. 'Dyer, who commanded the Loyalists liroops, ordered indiscriminate shooting, with the result that 500 natives were killed and 1500 wounded, The t. outrages in Punjab included the cut- ._ ting of telegraph wires, the burning of ‘three bank iofiicials, the murder of a railway guard, and the burning of the ‘Town Hall and public ‘Offices at Ami ritsar.

i_ General Dyter, in evidence,.s.t.alted lvthlit when he found his ‘orders were jdisobeyd he had to do something lLst.rong. “I shot well ’and strongly r'1,650 rounds,” he said, “lasting ten lminutes. The crowd had defied the law. No middle course was possible, 150 I ordered the troops to fire until they ran out of ammunition.” I Asked if his idea. was ‘.to strike terror into the natives, General Dyer !said: “I didnot intend frightfulness, Ibut I had to give them la. lesson. I [thought from the military point of I View that the shooting would -make ‘-the strongest impression in Punjab.” The ‘Lieut.-Governor wired approving his action. Miss Sherwood, a missionary, whilst cycling, had been beaten with shoes and sticks and left for dead. uG-eneral Dyer said: “We look upon ~wcmen as sacred. ‘Therefore I ordered the street to be pieketed from six ‘o’clock in ‘.the morning until eight o’clock in the evening. No Indian was { allowed to pass except by crawling on his hands and kneesff‘ General Dyer said he merely wanted to keep the pla.ce slaered. “ .