This article contains too many or overly lengthy quotations. (December 2020) |
1948 Hyderabad massacres | |
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Part of the Indian annexation of Hyderabad (Operation Polo) | |
Location | Hyderabad State (hardest-hit areas were Osmanabad, Nanded, Gulbarga and Bidar[2][3]) |
Date | 13 September 1948 | - October 1948
Target | Hyderabadi Muslims |
Attack type | Mass murder, pogrom,[4][5] arson, ethnic cleansing, rape, systematic torture, lootings by Indian soldiers.[6] |
Deaths | 200,000 |
Perpetrators | Hindu militias, Indian Army |
Motive | Islamophobia retributive violence[2] Religious bigotry[7] |
The Hyderabad massacres[8] were the mass killings and massacre of Hyderabadi Muslims that took place simultaneously with the Indian annexation of Hyderabad (Operation Polo). The killings were perpetrated by local Hindu fanatic militias, and by the Indian Army. The death toll of Muslims massacred in the process has been estimated to be at least 200,000.[9] Apart from mass killings, activists such as Sundarayya mention systematic torture, rapes and lootings by Indian soldiers.[6]
The Committee generally credited the military officers with good conduct but stated that soldiers acted out of bigotry.
The lowest estimates, even those offered privately by apologists of the military government, came to at least ten times the number of murders with which previously the Razakars were officially accused...