§ 2. Mr. DAVID GRENFELLasked the Secretary of State for India whether he will authorise a public inquiry into the occurrence at Karachi when British troops fired on a crowd of Moslem demonstrators 1579 at Karachi, on the 20th March, as a result of which about 30 people were killed and a considerably larger number wounded?
§ Mr. BUTLERNo, Sir. The whole matter has been carefully reviewed by the Governments of India and Bombay, and their conclusions were announced in the statement published by the latter Government last Wednesday, of which I am placing a copy in the Library. The Government of Bombay record the opinion that a situation of great danger was only averted by the discipline and steadiness of the troops under the control of their officers; and further that the local officers made every possible effort to prevent the situation which finally a, and that the action taken to deal with this situation when it menaced the lives and property of the citizens could not have been avoided. They add that the facts have been fully ascertained and that no useful purpose will be served by any public inquiry which would tend further to embitter communal feeling. My right hon. Friend entirely agrees with these conclusions.
§ Mr. GRENFELLIs it not the case that the facts so fully ascertained are known only to certain circles, and that the great mass of public opinion in India is entirely unaware of these statements?
§ Mr. BUTLERA very full statement was published in the Press in India containing all the relevant facts. That statement was largely re-published in the Press of this country, and I am now placing a copy of the full statement in the Library of the House.
§ Colonel WEDGWOODCan the hon. Gentleman tell us anything about the horrible burning alive of 10 Hindus at Firozabad mentioned in to-day's papers?