UNREST IN INDIA.

Taranaki Daily News, 15 January 1920, Page 7

UNREST IN INDIA.

AGITATORS AT WORK. STIMULATING DISCONTENT. London, Doc. 30. The correspondent of The Times at Bombay states that intense feeling has been aroused by the belated Amritsar disclosures, the indignation teing assiduously fanned by the native antiBritish press. The fact that if the lawless elements in the Punjab- had been allowed to get the upper hand the cost would have been not hundreds but tens of thousands of lives does not impress India, which concentrates on the evidence of the British desire not only to punish, but to humiliate the natives. ' This has had disastrous results on British influence and the natives' confidence in our methods of justice. A second disturbing factor is the partition of Turkey. The system of mandates, which would have been accepted passively in March, is now universally resented, and the Indian Mohammedans regard any system of partition as an attack on their religion. Their "izzat" (i e., credit) as Mohammedans is at stake, for they do not recognise the King of the Hcdjaz as (he legitimate protector of the holy places. Feeling themselves without friends in Europe, they ard making common cause with the extreme Hindoos, who are filled with active discontent.

They demand the status quo ante for the Turkish Empire and threaten a boycott of Britisli goods. There is no attempt to enlighten them regarding the horrors of Turkish rule in Asia Minor. The National Congress of Mohammedans now meeting in the tragic city of Amritsar passionately denounces Britain. The King's proclamation, which is the greatest step yet towards self-government, goes unnoticed, though such liberality was undreamt of two years ago. Our hopes lie in moderate action and the present immense prosperity of the country.