The Qadian Diary — Page 95
Letters, Correspondence, and Articles 81 to that place a month and a half earlier. In fact his words were: “Qadian now looks like a dead city as compared with the busy town humming with life that I had found in my first visit. ” The party was told that an attack had taken place and this was corroborated by Major Wright in charge of the local Military, and though the correct number of those killed could not be accurately ascertained, owing to the dead having been disposed of by the Police itself, it was generally agreed that the casualties were pretty large. In fact the Ahmadiyya representatives at Qadian told the visiting party that the casualties numbered about 200, and that they could show the party as many as 40 dead bodies dumped into a single pit, and that there were several other pits into which dead bodies were thrown without their having been approached or identified by their relatives. The party was also told that there had been widespread looting, and that many thousand heads of cattle had been forcibly taken away by Sikh Jathas who were helped by the Police. We were also told that many Muslim Mohallas had been evacuated by the Police and the Military, and several Ahmadi public buildings had been forcibly taken possession of by them. About 40 cases of abduction were also reported, and 2 abducted women, subsequently rescued, were actually produced before the party. Maj. General Thimaya saw and heard all this tale of woe and misery, and frankly confessed that he agreed with what had been related or represented to him. In fact he himself volunteered the suggestion that in Qadian curfew was unjustified and uncalled for, and ordered that it should be removed. He also promised that Muslim Military would soon be sent to Qadian. In view of the above it is indeed a mystery to me how the Delhi Radio attributed to General Thimaya the report that