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PARTITION - additional recordings I
Afljirew Whitehead I
'I
CD-20
D.N. Kaul
Bom 1921 - a Kashmiri pandit from Srinagar, Assisrant Suoperintendentn of police iin
Srinagar city in 1947 - later Suoperintendent at Baramulla - retired as Director General of the
J and K police in 1980. Moved to Delhi in nl990 because of the insurgency - has returned to
Srinagar only so sell his property. Published his reminiscences (with a fooreword by Karan
Singh) in 1985
I/vd at his home at Mandakini, ND 19 by AW, 29 April 2003
Highlights - durbar when lights failed
sense of panic in Srinagar
raiders mistook brass teacups for gold
saw raiders on top of a truck
repeats anti-raider slogans
Track 1
My name is DN Kaul and I belong to the state police service and in 1947 I was an Ass Super
nof police stationed in the Srinagar city. I had joiend nthe police force in 1943 ... so it waqs
my first posting in the Srinagar city when the raiders came in October 1947.... Somehow the
whole city was agog with rumours that the raiders have arrived K and the3y want to capturei it
by force, some peoploe started running away, some people panicky, but most people, the
generality of the people of the Srinagar city, were unaware of what was happening.... Even
some marraiages,... I found that dancing and singing was continuing unabated, (chuckles)
without the people knowing what was happening. And I remember some people from B’lla
side and others coming in tongas and horse carriages giving horrible descriptions of w2hat is
happening there in B’lla and there, where the raiders had infested those places.
(1’30) WHEN DID U FIRST HEAR ABOUT THE RAIDS?
... somewhere in the3 last week of October, 22nd/23rd October, w2er heard that some raiders
have come via M’bad and they have invaded the city andnthey are just rushing towards
Srinagar city, andn they have fanned out towards the jungle, you know it’s all foresty area
there. Mohura and the Uri area... and there ultimate target is Srionagar city. So thay we heard.
Later on, as the Maharajah was conductingn his udssehra durbah, where all gazeeted officers
are suppoed to offer him a sovereign or half a sovereign depending on there status to show his
allegaicne to the Maharajah, and I was also one of the crowd, so as soon as we emerged out of
the durbar hall, the lights went off. I sd, heloo, what has happe3ned, and somebody said while,
why are you surprised probably the raiders have captured the Mohura power station, which
was a damn fact, they had captured the power station which was about 60 miles from Srin and
therefore, the wholoe city was pluged in darkness.
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