Noakhali Genocide
The Noakhali Genocide took place in the year 1946 in the Noakhali District (present day Bangladesh). In this genocide, the Muslim League killed over 5,000 Hindus and forced 95% of the population out of a population of 400,000 to convert to Islam. [1]
The massacre started on October 10, the day of Kojagari Lakshmi Puja and continued unabated for about a week. It is estimated that 5,000 Hindus were killed, hundreds of Hindu women were raped and thousands of Hindu men and women were forced to convert to Islam. Around 50,000 to 75,000 survivors were sheltered in temporary relief camps in Comilla, Chandpur, Agartala and other places. Additionally over 50,000 Hindus remained marooned in the affected areas.
Gruesome accounts were reported of the atrocities perpetrated against Hindus:
โ๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐ด๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ. ๐๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ต๐ค๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ถ๐ด๐ฃ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ณ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ค๐ช๐ฃ๐ญ๐บ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ณ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ข ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ. ๐๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฑ๐ข๐ช๐ณ, ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต. ๐๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ดโฆโฆ.๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ง ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ค๐ญ๐ข๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐จ๐ช๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐๐ด๐ญ๐ข๐ฎ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ช๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ญ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ดโ - Miss Muriel Leister, member of a relief committee sent to Noakhali(V.V Nagarkar - Genesis - pg.446)
โ๐๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ 13๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ, ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต 120 ๐ท๐ช๐ญ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐๐ข๐ฎ๐จ๐ข๐ฏ๐ซ, ๐๐ข๐ฌ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฑ๐ถ๐ณ, ๐๐ข๐ช๐ฑ๐ถ๐ณ, ๐๐ฆ๐จ๐ถ๐ฎ๐จ๐ข๐ฏ๐ซ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฃ๐ข๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ข๐ด (๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ช๐ค๐ฆ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด) ๐ช๐ฏ ๐๐ฐ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ช ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ช๐ค๐ต ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ข ๐๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ถ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง 90,000 ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ฃ๐บ 70,000 ๐ท๐ช๐ญ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ช๐ฅ๐จ๐ข๐ฏ๐ซ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ข๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐๐ช๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข (๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ๐ข) ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ช๐ค๐ต ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ด๐ช๐ฆ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ช๐จ๐ข๐ฏ๐ด. ๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ง๐ข๐ค๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ช๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ถ๐ด๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ด๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ญ๐บ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฑ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฎ๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐ข๐ณ๐บ, ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ข๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐ช๐ต, ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ, ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ง๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ข๐ด๐ต ๐ง๐ฆ๐ธ ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ๐ด.โ - Amrita Bazar Patrika on 23/10/46
โ๐๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต 200 ๐ด๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฃ๐ช๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ด ๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ณ๐ช๐ฐ๐ต๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฃ๐ด, ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ด๐ด๐ข๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ต, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ง๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ค๐ช๐ฃ๐ญ๐บ ๐ค๐ข๐ณ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ธ๐ข๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ด๐ถ๐ฃ๐ซ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ค๐ช๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ช๐จ๐ข๐ฏ๐ด ๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ข๐ค๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ท๐ช๐ญ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ (๐๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ด) ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ญ๐ข๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ค๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต. ๐๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ด๐ฉ๐ช๐ฑ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ข๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ท๐ช๐ญ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ๐ค๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ช๐ค๐ต ๐๐ข๐จ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ญ๐ช๐ค๐ฆ ๐๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฐ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ช ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ ๐ฏ๐ฐ ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฑ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ช๐ต." - The Statesman on 16/10/1946
โ๐๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ข๐ถ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ค ๐ด๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ค๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ข๐ต ๐ข ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ 400 ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ 300 ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ด๐ด ๐ณ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐๐ถ๐ด๐ญ๐ช๐ฎ๐ด. ๐๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ถ๐ด๐ญ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ค๐ณ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฅ, ๐ท๐ช๐ฐ๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ถ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ถ ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐จ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏโ - Mr. Simpson, I.C.S in his letters