HC Deb 10 November 1927 vol 210 cc381-3W
Colonel DAY

asked the Under-Secretary of State for India whether he has received a report of the riots that took place at Sholapur, Bombay, on 10th July, and at Multan on 11th July; and can he give full details?

Earl WINTERTON

My Noble Friend has received full reports, and the following is a summary of the chief incidents on both occasions:

Sholapur.—On 10th July, when the (Hindu) Ashadhi Ekadashi Rath procession was in progress and the head of the procession had passed a temple in the Manik Chowk, a Moslem procession of Moharrum "Tigers" emerged from a side street and defeated the efforts of two police constables posted at the mouth of this side street, with the object of keeping the main road clear for the Rath procession, to hold them up. The result was that the two processions came into collision and the members of each set on the other with the staffs of flags and the stag horns which, in accordance with customs, the processionists were carrying. The Moslem processionists being fewer in numbers (about 30) were routed and fled for refuge to a Muhammedan hotel, into which the Hindus pursued them, breaking through the roof with staffs and bursting in the door, and proceeded to attack in-discriminately all whom they found in- side. The attention of the police had meanwhile been diverted to the Jumma Musjid by a false report that this building was full of armed Moslems ready to reinforce the attack, but the Superintendent of Police on return from the Musjid was able to stop the attack on the hotel and to get the situation in hand without firing. He sent the injured to hospital and the uninjured Moslems to a neighbouring police outpost for protection, and continued the Rath procession to its conclusion.

The District Magistrate came to the city immediately on receipt of a wire from the Superintendent of Police and endeavoured to secure the stoppage of other Moslem processions which were due to go out that night. The Moslem leaders promised to do this, but had insufficient influence to fulfil their promise, and many processions did go out that night and early next morning. However, these passed off without serious incidents, though there were some isolated attacks by parties of one community on parties of the other. The casualties, mostly contused wounds and abrasions, were Hindus 9, Moslems 34, of which two cases were serious. Three separate prosecutions were instituted as the result of the riots.

Multan.—During the progress out of the city on the afternoon of 11th July of Muhammadan Tazia processions, it was reported that two Moslems had been murdered in a side-street in the Hanunaka Chajja quarter, which is inhabited exclusively by Hindus. The Deputy Commissioner and Superintendent of Police, on proceeding to this place, found a large and excited crowd of Moslems endeavouring to force their way into the quarter. They were restrained with difficulty, and the Deputy Commissioner found the situation so threatening that he decided to send for military assistance from the adjoining cantonments, and also for police reserves from the Muzaffargarh and Dera Ghazi Khan districts. The procession had meanwhile proceeded on its way to the place of immersion of the Tazias, but the crowd continued to remain at the scene of the murders. They were kept in check till the arrival of the local troops about nightfall, when patrols and pickets were at once organised and a "curfew order" issued. It was then possible to ascer- tain the casualties, and by 10 p.m. three dead bodies and eight wounded (of whom two died during the night) were brought to the hospital. All of these were Moslems, and apparently they were the victims of a series of isolated attacks. Fearing that the funerals of the victims on the 12th might result in fresh disorder, the Deputy Commissioner, who during the night of the 11th was in telegraphic communication with the local Government, asked for further military aid, and a squadron of cavalry, with four armoured cars, was despatched from Lahore, arriving on the evening of the 12th.

The funeral arrangements on the 12th were such that the actual burials were carried out without further disturbance in the walled city except one case of stabbing, but isolated attacks, by way of reprisal, occurred in the suburbs and environs, the victims being mostly Hindus, and the assailants were probably persons returning from the funerals of the Moslems killed on the night of the 11th. The arrival on the night of the 12th of the cavalry and armoured

NUMBERS and PERCENTAGES of insured workpeople recorded as Unemployed in (a) Great Britain and (b) the area of the Borough Employment Exchange, from November, 1926 to October, 1927.
Date. (a) Great Britain. (b) Borough Employment Exchange.
Number Unemployed. Percentage. Number Unemployed. Percentage.
1926.
22nd November 1,573,100* 13.3* 8,418 12.3
20th December 1,379,021* 11.7* 7,763 11.3
1927.
24th January 1,400,098* 11.8* 9,189 13.4
21st February 1,271,052 10.7 8,949 13.1
21st March 1,148,889 9.7 8,323 12.2
25th April 1,097,926 9.3 8,072 11.8
23rd May 1,025,578 8.6 7,158 10.5
20th June 1,038,703 8.8 6,898 10.1
25th July 1,082,698 9.1 6,819 10.0
22nd August 1,098,211 9.2 6,908 10.1
26th September 1,098,185 9.2 7,081 10.4
24th October Not available 7,477 10.9
* Exclusive of persons in the coal mining industry who were disqualified for unemployment benefit by reason of the dispute which commenced on 1st May, 1926.