https://indianpedia.org/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=1947_Kamoke_train_massacre1947 Kamoke train massacre - Revision history2026-07-31T14:14:06ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.45.4https://indianpedia.org/index.php?title=1947_Kamoke_train_massacre&diff=481753&oldid=prevSiddharth Darnal at 07:26, 16 April 20262026-04-16T07:26:28Z<p></p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Short description|Massacre in Kamoke, Pakistan}}<br />
{{Infobox civilian attack<br />
| title = 1947 Kamoke train massacre<br />
| image = Millions fled across the border to the other country.jpg<br />
| caption = A train full of refugees travelling between India and Pakistan in 1947<br />
| location = [[Kamoke]]<br />
| coordinates = {{coord|31.9765147|74.2220167}}<br />
| target = [[Hindu]] and [[Sikh]] refugees<br />
| date = 24 September 1947<br />
| time = <br />
| timezone = <br />
| type = [[Massacre]]<br />
| fatalities = 408 (per government report){{sfn|Ahmed|2022|page=457}}<br />
| injuries = 587 (per government report){{sfn|Ahmed|2022|page=457}}<br />
| perps = [[Muslims]]<br />
}}<br />
<br />
The '''1947 Kamoke train massacre''' was an attack on a [[refugee]] train and subsequent massacre of [[Hindu]] and [[Sikh]] refugees by a [[Muslim]] mob at [[Kamoke]], [[Dominion of Pakistan|Pakistan]] on 24 September 1947 following the [[partition of India]].{{sfn|Ahmed|2022|p=456}} The train was carrying approx. around 3,000-3,500 refugees from [[West Punjab]]{{sfn|Khosla|1989|p=151}} and was attacked 25 miles from [[Lahore]] by a mob of thousands of Muslims.<ref name="thedailynews">{{cite news |title=Another Indian Train Massacre |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/84013436 |access-date=19 March 2023 |work=The Daily News |date=26 September 1947}}</ref> Figures for the number of people killed vary, with West Punjab officials reporting figures of around 400 and [[East Punjab]]-based reports suggesting thousands of casualties. Additionally, around 600 female refugees were [[Violence against women during the partition of India|abducted by the attackers]].{{sfn|Khosla|1989|p=152}}<ref name="TMBC">{{cite news |title=Train Passengers Slaughtered |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/107769344 |access-date=19 March 2023 |work=The Muswellbrook Chronicle |date=26 September 1947}}</ref> Local railway officials, [[Muslim League National Guard]]s and local goons aided and participated in the massacre and the subsequent abductions of the surviving female refugees.<ref>{{Citation |last=Major |first=Andrew | date=1995 |title=Abduction of women during the partition of the Punjab|journal=South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies |volume=18 |issue=1 |doi=10.1080/00856409508723244 |page=62 |quote=Describing the massacre of refugees at Kamoke, in Gujranwala district, on 24 September 1947, an Indian official wrote, 'The most ignoble feature of the tragedy was the distribution of young girls amongst the members of the Police Force, the National Guards and the local goondas. The S.H.O. [Station House Officer] Dildar Hussain collected the victims in an open space near Kamoke Railway Station and gave a free hand to the mob. After the massacre was over, the girls were distributed like sweets.'}}</ref><br />
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==Massacre==<br />
A train carrying Hindu and Sikh refugees from West Punjab was headed for India. Most of the refugees had been placed in open [[cattle wagon|livestock wagons]].{{sfn|Khosla|1989|p=151}} The train was halted for the night, apparently due to damage to the track. Muslim gangs were seen roaming around the train through the night, and by morning a large mob of Muslims gathered outside the train.{{sfn|Khosla|1989|p=152}} The train was attacked at noon and the refugees were killed. Young women and girls were abducted by the attackers.{{sfn|Khosla|1989|pp=151-152}} The attack is reported to have lasted 40 minutes.<ref name="TMBC"/> The Muslim attackers are reported to have attacked the train from the back.<ref name="NA">{{cite news|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NA19470926.2.78 |title=Moslems attack train, slay Hindus, Sikhs | access-date=19 March 2023 |work=Northern Advocate |date=26 September 1947}}</ref> The troops which were escorting the train, consisting of 13 Hindu and 8 Muslim soldiers — reportedly fired upon the attackers and killed 78 of them.<ref name="thedailynews"/><ref name="NA"/> The train was reportedly taken to [[Gujranwala]] after the massacre so that the injured could be treated at a hospital.<ref name="thedailynews"/><br />
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===Casualties===<br />
Initial reports put the number of dead at 340 and that of wounded at 250 as announced by the West Punjab government.<ref name="thedailynews"/> In reports appearing a week from the incident, [[The Tribune (Chandigarh)|The Tribune]] reported that only 150 people had survived out of a total 3,500 refugees, suggesting a much higher death toll.{{sfn|Ahmed|2022|p=456}} G.D. Khosla states that “almost the entire body of passengers was killed”, and around 600 women and girls were abducted.{{sfn|Khosla|1989|loc= p.152: "At 12 noon, the train was attacked and almost the entire body of passengers was killed. About six hundred young girls were carried away."}} A report by Pakistan's Punjab police put the figure of dead at 408, with an additional 587 injured. It also reported “a large number” of female refugees abducted.{{sfn|Ahmed|2022|p=457}}<br />
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==See also==<br />
*[[Rawalpindi Massacres]]<br />
*[[1948 Gujrat train massacre]]<br />
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==References==<br />
{{reflist}}<br />
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==Bibliography==<br />
* {{citation |last=Ahmed |first=Ishtiaq |title=The Punjab Bloodied, Partitioned and Cleansed: Unravelling the 1947 Tragedy through Secret British Reports and First-Person Accounts |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kooxugAACAAJ |publisher=Rupa/OUP Pakistan |year=2011 |isbn=978-93-5520-578-0 |id={{isbn|978-0-19-906470-0}}}}<br />
** {{citation |last=Ahmed |first=Ishtiaq |author-link=Ishtiaq Ahmed (political scientist) |title=The Punjab: Bloodied, Partitioned and Cleansed |location=New Delhi |publisher=Rupa Publications |isbn=978-93-5520-578-0 |year=2022}}<br />
*{{citation|last=Khosla|first=Gopal Das|title= Stern Reckoning: A Survey of the Events leading up to and following the Partition of India|location = Delhi|publisher=Oxford University Press|year = 1989|isbn = 9780195624175|oclc=22415680}}<br />
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<br />
[[Category:Anti-Hindu violence in Pakistan]]<br />
[[Category:Massacres of Hindus in the 1940s]]<br />
[[Category:Massacres of Sikhs]]<br />
[[Category:Rail transport in Punjab, Pakistan]]<br />
[[Category:1947 in Pakistan]]<br />
[[Category:Massacres in 1947]]<br />
[[Category:September 1947 in Asia]]<br />
[[Category:1947 in rail transport]]<br />
[[Category:Transport disasters in 1947]]<br />
[[Category:India–Pakistan relations]]<br />
[[Category:1947 disasters in Pakistan]]<br />
[[Category:Persecution of Hindus by Muslims]]</div>Siddharth Darnal