[Reader-list] They ordered everybody to chant, 'Maharaja ki jai!'

[Aditya Raj Baul]

Recalling bloodshed of July 13, 1931


Zahir-ud-Din
http://www.risingkashmir.com/?option=com_content&task=view&id=24968

On July 13, 1931 Haji Ghulam Ahmad Bhat then a ten-year-old chap left
for his working place early in the morning. His tender heart was
filled with joy when he had a look on the shawl he had been weaving
for the past several days. Meanwhile, the factory owner announced
lunch time and Ghulam Ahmad left for his home to have lunch. Somebody
called for Zuhr (Afternoon) prayers and asked the people to perform
ablution in the nearby stream. He also went to the stream and while he
was washing his limbs, guns started oozing bullets. People ran for
safety and Ghulam Muhammad who lived in the close vicinity of the
Central Jail also rushed to his house. What followed left a deep
imprint on his mind.
Recalling the incident, Ghulam Muhammad said: “While on my way to
home, I saw scores of persons falling to Dogra bullets. Scores
sustained injuries.  After some time the dead and the injured were
brought to my house. Our lawn was reddened with their blood. By this
time 15 people had died. I heard the painful screams of the injured.”
Bhat said the incident evoked severe reaction from the people. “They
rushed to the residential quarters of the jail staff situated just
outside the jail. The quarters were set ablaze. The protesters also
decamped with charpoys from the quarters. The martyrs and the injured
were laid on the charpoys and taken in a procession to the Jamia
Masjid.”
Muhammad Subhan Khan of Ashraf Khan (Kathi Darwaza) was known to Bhat.
He had bullet injuries in his legs. Somehow he managed to reach his
home and was rushed to hospital next day. He survived.
Soon after hundreds of soldiers arrived and cordoned the area. “They
made people chant pro-government slogans. People were asked to chant
Maharaja ki jai. Those who defied the orders were taken to task”, he
said.
“The people were also frightened by the fire engines that had arrived
to extinguish the flames in the staff quarters”, he said.
Next day proved a nightmare for the Bhat family. Bhat’s brother had
sustained a serious injury most probably while running away for his
life on July 13. “My father asked me to take him to the Maharaja
hospital. I picked him on my back and my father accompanied me. I saw
soldiers everywhere. They ordered everybody to chant Maharaja ki jai”,
he said.