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Ram DEV - Hindu; 70+; in Lahore working for Punjab Univ in spring
of 1947 when arrested and detained for involvement in rioting;
sent to Amritsar several months later - after partition - as part
of an exchange of prisoners; interviewed at his home in Chandigarh
on 17 Mar 97
IN HINDI
267 - Feb/March the ms attacked at Chavni Gate [?], a big
market/indl area in Lahore; set fire to it; it was
the first time in the history of Punj that the Hs
got together; in 2nd week of March, Hs att'd a M
area of Rajghar; 'I was one of them'
285 - I was not part of the attack, but I know all about it;
when they were attacking, my duty was diff't; my duty
was to take care of all the girls in Lahore colleges
whose parents were unknown, and look after them; ...
girls were from NWFP, and not in a posn to go back
home ...
305 - this was to save them from retal'n; the place the girls
were in was surrounded on three sides by Ms; I was on
duty for many days, but one day I was warned that the
attack wd happen
315 - most of the boys in the hostel were in the RSS - there
was no other group; even I was a part of the RSS
327 - in area attacked, a lot of milkmen and wooden sheds, and
a lot of haystacks; there were 00s of tons of wood;
someone threw kerosense, someone threw a bomb, it was
set on fire and for 20 miles you cd see the smoke;
there were 00s of 000s of buffalo there, the entire
milk supply of Lahore came from there; it was a milkmen's
colony - all Ms
335 - the attack had a lot of effect - for the first time, they
realised that Hs cd attack ... they arrested 5/600 H boys
... any H boy who was young was arrested
345 - there was not much loss of life; a few people got injured;
... the women wre not touched; they were not prof
criminals, they were just students, shopkeepers; someone
threw kerosene, someone threw a match, the ainjvas to
start a fire; they took one or two guns, a hundred
swords
365 - there was no trad of fighting or killing in my family, |
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