The Genocide in Kohat (1924)

The problem between hindus and muslims is a major problem existing in today’s Indian society. The
problem has, however, it’s roots in history. Some say that British in order to maintain their dominance
in the subcontinent created the rift between these two communities, while others say it is not just an
ordinary conflict between these communities, rather it was developed with a significant section of
Indian population being converted to Islam and thereafter, got cut with the Indic culture. So for them
the clash between hindus and muslims is actually a centuries old war between the Indic and Islamic
civilisations. With the attack of MD. Bin Kasim on Sindh in the seventh century, the period was followed
by long war between the Indic and Islamic rulers till the British conquest of India. However, with the
decline of the Mughal empire, the Islamic clerics lost their old patrons and started eyeing muslim masses
for getting patronage and hence, they started Wahabi movement and other Islamic movement in the
subcontinent and even declared jihad against Indic rulers like Raja Ranjit Singh. This lead to the
radicalisation of ordinary muslims who earlier since their convert to Islam were very much following
Indic customs and traditions, but these movements further separated them from their Indic fellow
counterparts. After the war of independence of 1857, British understood to continue ruling the
subcontinent they had to create a rift between the hindus and muslims. With the help of loyalist
muslims like Syed Ahmed Khan and others , they tried to ensure that muslims stay away from any kind
of nationalist struggles . The establishment of All India Muslim League and the 1909 Morley Minto
Reforms the Indian Act (which provided separate electorates for representation of Indians in based onz
religion) further increased the rift between hindus and muslims. While all this developments in the
political arena were going on, the intermingling of muslims with the Western education resulted in
weakening of the grasp of the ulema class over the community.

Kohat according to local lore was founded by an ancient Buddhist king, Raja Kohat. In Baburnama, it is
mentioned that after Babur captured it in 1905 he plundered the Kohat city and looted it’s riches. In
1810 after the fall of Shah Shuja the area became part of Durrani Empire which later became part of
Khalsa Raj. In 1849 the area was ultimately annexed by East India Co. During the first war of
Independence of 1857, the area mostly remained peaceful and the local pashtun soldiers of EIC ignored
the call for rebellion. In 1901,when NWFP was created as a separate province after it’s separation from
Punjab. Half of the province, was under direct administration of the British while the rest was tribal
areas .Kohat district became part of this new province which weakened the position of Hindus and Sikhs
in the area. The population of Kohat in 1924 was reckoned to be 5000 Hindus and Sikhs, and about
12000 muslims, although the large hindu and sikh proportion is accounted for by the inclusion of the
army garrison in the 1921 census. In the entire province hindus mostly lived in towns and used to do
business. Kohat was an important military station with large military contentment outside the town. The
main concern of the British Authorities was to maintain peace and not take any steps with may outrage
the majority community(i.e, muslims) as turbulence may easily spread to the surrounding tribal areas.
The police force and administration of the town were mostly in the hands of muslims.
 After the end of World War 1, British decided to abolish the Ottoman Khalifat under pressure from the
Turkish and Arab nationalist movements. This gave rise to Khilafat movement in the subcontinent for
saving the Khalifat under the leadership of Islamic clerics like Ali Brothers, Maulana MD. Ali Gauhar etc.
In the meantime since 1857, the nationalist leaders of India were of the opinion that to free the country
from the clutches of British Raj, the unity between hindus and muslims was important. Mahatma Gandhi
to bring this unity with other Congress members, decided to support the Khilafat movement. An alliance
was formed between them in 1920 with a promise to fight together for the causes of Khilafat and
attaining Swaraj.

However, in the eyes of many nationalist leaders like Lala Lajpat Rai, the Khilafat movement led to
development of strong pan Islamic spirit and extra territorial loyalty for the cause of Islam among Indian
muslims. It also helped Ulemas to be again strongly influential in Indian politics and in the subsequent
years after the end of Tehreek-e-Khilafat , it’s leaders became defenders of Islam. The parallel
movement of Non cooperation launched by Congressunder Gandhiji’s leadership also resulted in
increased influence of the hindu symbolism in the independence movement and growth of revivalist and
reformist activity within the hindu community in the late nineteenth century. These developments
within the communities of hindus and muslims deteriorated the relation between them. Throughout
1920s, riots took place in different parts of India, which continued throughout 1930s and 1940s
ultimately leading to partition. Nationalist revolutionaries of India like Bhagat Singh, Dinesh Gupta etc.
expressed their deep concern regarding this issue. With the rise in Islamic zeal among muslims , severe
riots were happening all across India, starting with Mopla Genocide of Hindus in 1921 followed by Hindu
Genocide in Delhi and Gulbarg on the occasion of Bakri Eid in 1924.

The effect of rise in religious polarisation was also well felt in the of NWFP, which was far away from
mainland India, where earlier hindus and muslims had cordial relationship. However, with the increase
in political consciousness among muslims and rise in influence of aggressive hindu social groups like Arya
Samaj , in the Frontier Province, created rift among these two communities. Here, the communal press
did the fuelling work along with the communalists in both the communities who to maintain their power
and influence manipulated events to make them appear as communal issues. Even before the genocide
both the communities published poems and articles which stirred up communal tension. In most cases
Islamic fanatics were the aggressors who were in majority. Despite Hindus who were only 6% in the
district they put up strong resistance and drew their courage from the days of Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s
Khalsa Raj. They had to face forced conversion to Islam, depopulation, and abduction and rape of their
women. However, rather than giving up, and convert or leave their ancestral karmabhumi, they formed
Sanatan Dharma Sabha and registered it at Kohat to preserve and safeguard their dharma.

During the period from 1920-24, at an average 150 hindus were converted to Islam every year by
various means from bribe to under coercion. This created great much resentment among the hindus
who were already in minority and they felt that their very existence was in danger. Using the fear of
suffering total extermination, hindu communalists played their minority complex card for political gains.
Hindu writers urged their community to take strong action against forced conversions and they
published many anti muslim writings which expressed their fear while the Muslim press asked their
readers to defend Islam against the hindu insults. In the months before the genocide everyday events
were presented in communal terms. Another such occasion aroused when son of Sardar Makan Singh, a
prominent member of the minority community, had eloped with a local Muslim girl. The affair was
treated as a communal issue, and the Muslim populace were stirred by inflamatory speeches. Sardar
Makan Singh’s house and garden were extensively damaged during the riots of 9-10 September. The
gradual decline from harmony to friction in 1920s which ultimately led to the outbreak of violence. In
fact tension had raised to such an extent that in the words of the Chief Commissioner of the NWFP,
H.N. Bolton, ’Sooner or later an explosion was inevitable’.

In May,1924 an anti hindu poem was published in Muslim Newspaper Lahaul which demeaned Lord
Krishna and Hindu Goddesses and urged muslims to destroy all symbols attached to Hinduism. This
insult made hindus angry. Jiwan Das(a resident of Kohat and local Secretary of Santana Sabha) in reply
to this published a pamphlet named ‘Krishna Sandesh’ consisting of poems to create religious
consciousness among hindus and they were mostly harmless . However, only one of these poems talked
about destroying Kaba and replacing this with a Vishnu Mandir. Jiwan Das fully aware of this. This had
the intended effect of making muslims furious. They held meetings in the masjids where inflammatory
speeches were given by fanatic Muslim leaders of Kohat and even Pirs like Jamt Ali Shah of Lahore
participated in it .While Dharma Sabha argued it was a mere reply to the poem the published by the
muslims in precedent to this incident and muslims were just exaggerating the significance of the
issue .In August a dispute rose over a bathing tank built for hindu women near the borders of their
mohalla contagious to muslim houses. The matter was brought before Assistant Commissioner who
through some negotiations gave his verdict in favor of hindus on 2nd September.

This was not well accepted by the muslims. On seeing building up of communal tension, hindus
understood the gravity of the situation that (despite their sturdiness in comparison to other hindus of
the subcontinent) they being 6% can not defeat muslims, 92% of the district’s total population. So, on
the same day they held a public meeting in the town hall where the hindu leaders admitted the
offensive nature of the poem and blamed young ‘Hindu Party’ for the mischief. Later they passed a
resolution asking for pardon. The apology letter was sent to Assistant Commissioner and top muslim
leaders. But for the Mohammedans it was of no effect. On the next day Maulvi Ahmed Gul and Qazi
Miraz uddin led a crowd and went to Police Superintendent Mr. Lillie to pressuirse him to arrest Jiwan
Das and prosecute him under Sections 153-A/505 of the Indian Penal Code or else face the dire
consequences. When Mr. Lillie said he was investigating the matter, the crowd went to Assistant
Commissioner S.Ahmed who ordered to arrest Das and keep him in custody until trial and to burn the
pamphlets publicly. The pamphlets contained a portrait of Krishna on the covers. So on hearing the
news of the burning the Hindu community organized a hartal. The situation was getting heated up so
quickly that hindus could easily read the walls regarding to the upcoming danger. Hence, they sent a
letter on 6th September to Chief Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner to draw their attention to the
imminent anti hindu pogrom.

On 8th September, Jiwan Das was released on bail after paying a bond of Rs10,000 and was ordered to
leave the district until trial. However, muslims thought this to be letting off of him. So, they organized
public meetings in various local masjids along with Islamic prayers on 8th September’s night. At about
6.30 pm it was proclaimed by drum beating that there would be preaching after Khaftan prayer. In one
of such meeting in Haji Bahadur Masjid , muslims took the oath of giving divorce to their wives if they
don’t fight for Islam in this case. Maulvis said that in case police did not redress their grievances on the
next day, they would abide by Shariah. But before taking any action they would wait till 8 o’clock in the
next day. They were even ready to die or face imprisonment in the course of action. Shahin Shah and
Mian Fazlul Shah said that Das should have strictly punished by law but the Authorities had betrayed
them by releasing him on 8th instead of 11th September. In one of these prayers Faqir Chand, a police
inspector and other two police officers were present in one of these prayers. The crowd of about 1500
people were totally excited by these preachings. In night armed groups of muslims were reported to be
parading.

On 9th morning telegrams were sent to Superintendent of Police and Deputy Commissioner regarding
the possible genocide in the city and were requested to take necessary actions but no suitable action
was taken by the British. Hindus with their limited manpower and other resources were prepared to
fight and fortified themselves in their houses and closed their shops. After the end of the meetings a
crowd of muslims most of whom were young boys attacked hindu mohallas with sticks and stones.
Hindus in utter fear fired shots which killed one and wounded some others. In retaliation the muslim
crowd then burnt and looted the hindu shops and temples. Even some policemen took part in looting
along with the mob instead of protecting the hindus, though Government denied it. In this situation
hindus not being able to trust anyone, fired on both police and muslims under fear of life. It was only
after 7 o’clock that the situation was under control to an extent. On 10 th morning Authorities had not
taken any necessary measures to prevent recurrence of such violence. The recurrence of trouble on the
morning of 10 September was mainly due to the entry of frontiersmen from the surrounding
countryside, intent upon looting and causing damage. Some Muslim property was destroyed in the
course of the day as the tribesmen appeared to make no distinction between Hindu and Muslim
property. Rioting was more serious on the tenth than on the previous day, the tribesmen were driven
out, order was restored, and the authorities were able to tackle. Despite the need, Government had not
called sufficient troops and gave the excuse that it would spread the disturbance even in the
surrounding tribal areas.

In 10th September night they made a number of breaches in the mud walls of the city and committed
wholesale plunder and incendiarism. In the early morning tribesmen from the surrounding entered
through the holes in the walls and army was not able to control the crowd entering and they along with
the Kohat’s muslim residents gathered around the hindu mohallas and destroyed their gardens and
properties. Before noon there were widespread fires in hindu quarters. The hindus were ultimately
forced to flee from their homes and their muslim neighbours and authorities. There were more than
three times as many Hindu as Muslim casualties. According to official statistics, twelve Hindus were
killed, thirteen were missing, believed killed, and eighty-six were wounded. On the Muslim side, eleven
were killed and twenty-three wounded. Two police constables were injured by acid and gunfire. The
total casualties were thus 155. Had the Hindus not been evacuated, the authorities estimated that the
number would have been much larger. Only about 155 Hindus remained in the city after evacuation, out
of a population of 3,200. House property to the estimated value of Rs. 9 lakhs was destroyed, and a
large quantity of goods were looted. As a result of this reign of terror the whole Hindu population
evacuated the city of Kohat and took shelter in refuge camps in Rawalpindi.

The riot made Gandhiji to undertake 21 day fast in Delhi to protest against the horror and in an effort to
restore harmony. He said, ‘’The Muslim fury knew no bounds. Destruction of life and property, in which
the Constabulary freely partook…was general…Even the Khilafat volunteers, whose duty it was to
protect the Hindus, and regard them as their own kith and kin, neglected their duty, and not only joined
in the loot but also took part in the previous incitement’’. In the following year Congress decided to
undertake an enquiry into the matter and it’s responsibility was given to Gandhiji and Maulana Shaukat
Ali. During the visit Gandhiji said bribe and force have been used to convert the hindus , which Shaukat
Ali denied rather he said it was the hindus who had actually instigated the riot. In reply Gandhiji said he
expected him to be more sympathized to the sufferings of hindus and Sikhs. After returning to his
ashram in Gujrat, he was so upset that in one instance he even expressed his desire of quitting from this
filthy politics. Other great leaders like Mahadev Desai and B.R.Ambedkar strongly protested against this
massacre and criticized the muslims of Kohat. In one of her letters to , Sarojini Naidu urged Gandhiji to
take effective action to prevent recurrence of any such riot in future. While many of these leaders
directly show sympathy for hindus , Motilal Nehru said despite the tremendous degree of violence
caused, yet no party can be solely made responsible for it. In 1927, Jawaharlal Nehru even without
trying to understand the key problem which caused the riot, he said that too much religiosity had been
the reason behind this genocide and indirectly warned hindus not to return back to their ancestral
homeland of Kohat.

After protracted negotiations an agreement of reconciliation was concluded between the two
communities. Government giving an assurance that, subject to certain reservations, the prosecution
pending against persons concerned in rioting should be dropped. With the object of enabling the
sufferers to restart their businesses and rebuild their houses, Government sanctioned advances, free of
interest in certain instances, amounting to Rs. 5 lakhs.

The text of the agreement is as follows:

We the representatives of the Muslim, Hindu and Sikh communities of Kohat, being desirous of effecting
a settlement of all matters among the various communities connected with the Kohat disturbances of
September 1924, hereby agree as follows:
1. That all criminal cases connected with the Kohat disturbances of September 1924 be dropped and
given up, and no criminal cases of any sort be put forward in the guise of civil suits against one another,
either individually or as a community.
2. That the Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims will raise no objection and put no obstacle in the way of the
restoration and reconstruction of their respective places of worship which existed before the
disturbances...
3. That the Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs will give one another full and genuine assistance in restoring to
its owner any property seen and clearly identified by the owner to be his and for which he can offer
clear and legitimate proof.
4. That the Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs sincerely assure one another that there will be no organised
boycott due to the disturbances on either side in Kohat city or its suburbs, and that every effort will be
made to maintain friendly relations with each other.

But even after the settlement had been reached and evacuees had returned to Kohat there was no
peace Throughout 1924-25 the tension between the Hindu and Musalman masses in various parts of the
country were highly increased. The Kohat riot in the evacuation of minority Hindus from Kohat and
caused the development of solidarity among the Hindu communities. There was an increasing feeling
that the Hindus were being sidelined by Gandhi led Congress throughout 1924-25 the tension between
the Hindu and Musalman masses in various parts of the country increased to a horrifying extent. During
this phase, Lala Lajpat Rai actively promoted the reduction of the “absolutist rights” of the Muslims
which created boundary between Muslim and Non-Muslim India. He resigned from the INC and became
the president of Hindu Mahasabha in 1925.The hindus of Rawalpindi helped their fellow hindus of Kohat
to return to their ancestral land. However, despite some steps taken by Authorities and great eagerness
among hindus to return, but due to the loss of confidence of in Kohat muslims , and present of strong
Islamic sentiment in Frontier, speedy return of hindus could not took place and only a small number of
them only returned.

Kohat genocide lead to large killing, abduction and rape of hindus which forced them to leave their
homes and take shelter in other places. It almost shook the entire subcontinent. The violence
committed in this riot does not have even any parallel with the partition riots. After this riot of
1924, entire Kashmir valley, East Bengal, West Punjab, Sindh and many other places have been
totally depopulated by the hindus. Also, there is riots and breaking of temples and idols is
happening almost everyday in different parts of the subcontinent including India. So, the future
of hindus appears to be very dark and gloomy and our very existence seems to be in danger, and
if we don’t take proper action we may even get extinct. However, with the rise of collective
consciousness about the situation, there is still enough hope for our respectable survival and
victory by Ishwar’s wish.