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{{short description|1948 massacre in Gujrat, Pakistan}}
{{Infobox civilian attack
| title = 1948 Gujrat train massacre
| partof = the [[partition of India]]
| image = Millions fled across the border to the other country.jpg
| caption = A train full of refugees travelling between India and Pakistan in 1947
| location = [[Gujrat, Pakistan]]
| coordinates = {{coord|32.5632297|74.0641426}}
| target = [[Hindu]] and [[Sikh]] refugees
| date = 12 January 1948
| time =
| timezone =
| type = [[Massacre]]
| fatalities = 1,300–1,600
| injuries = 150
| perps = Muslim [[Pathans]]
}}

The '''1948 Gujrat train massacre''' was an attack on a refugee train and massacre of [[Hindu]] and [[Sikh]] refugees by armed Muslim [[Pathans]] at [[Gujrat, Pakistan|Gujrat]], [[Dominion of Pakistan|Pakistan]] on 12 January 1948.<ref>{{cite news |url= https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/263810486 |title=1700 Refugees Butchered On Train In India |work=Border Morning Mail |date=15 January 1948 |access-date=21 March 2023 }}</ref>{{sfn|Khosla|1989|p=229}} 1,300–1,600 Hindus and Sikhs were killed in the massacre, 150 were wounded.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/22530984 |title=1,300 Killed in fresh Punjab clash |work=The Argus |date=15 January 1948 |access-date=21 March 2023 }}</ref><ref name="NZ">{{cite news |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19480116.2.83 |title=Refugees Killed In Punjab |date=16 January 1948 |access-date=21 March 2023 }}</ref> The train was carrying 2,400 Hindu and Sikh refugees from the [[North West Frontier Province]] and taking them to India following their displacement due to the [[partition of India]] in August of the previous year. Only 750 of these refugees are reported to have survived and made it to India.<ref>{{cite news |url= https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/52624390 |title=Moslems Kill Nearly 1300 Hindus, Sikhs |work=Examiner |date=15 January 1948 |access-date=21 March 2023 }}</ref><ref name="NZ"/>

==Background==
During the partition of India, around 14–18 million people are said to have moved across the newly demarcated border between India and Pakistan in one of the largest mass migrations in history. A majority of this migration happened in the [[Punjab Province (British India)|Punjab province]] which was divided into two, with Muslims moving to the [[West Punjab|west]] and Hindus and Sikhs moving to the [[East Punjab|east]]. Around 3 million of these refugees moved in 673 refugee trains over a period of three months between August and November 1947.{{sfn|Kaur|2011|p=948}}

==Massacre==
A train carrying a total 2,400 Hindu and Sikh refugees left [[Bannu]] in the NWFP on 10 January 1948,<ref name=TOI>{{cite web|last=Singh |first=Jaspreet |title=Massacre of Gujrat: The forgotten tragedy of Partition |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chandigarh/massacre-of-gujrat-the-forgotten-tragedy-of-partition/articleshow/94405465.cms |work=[[The Times of India]] |date=19 October 2022 |access-date=7 April 2023}}</ref> and was moving towards India via [[Sargodha]] and [[Lyallpur]]. The train was being escorted by 60 soldiers of the Gurkha regiment.<ref name=TOI/> The train was diverted from its the original route, because the route was deemed unsafe.{{sfn|Khosla|1989|p=229}} The passengers were told by the driver that the train would be taken to [[Rawalpindi]]; however, it was further diverted to Gujrat. The train arrived at [[Gujrat railway station]], where the driver fled with the train engine, leaving behind the carriages carrying the refugees.<ref name=TOI/> A clash occurred between the soldiers escorting the refugee train and Pathans present at the station. The Pathans attacked the train, and engaged in a gunfight with the soldiers escorting the train. After the escorting soldiers ran out of ammunition, a mob of a few thousand Muslim Pathans attacked the train and began killing the refugees and looting their belongings.{{sfn|Khosla|1989|p=229}} The attack is said to have been premeditated, and it is believed that the train was deliberately diverted to Gujrat where armed Pathans were present. The [[Pir (Sufism)|Pir]] of [[Manki Sharif]] is said to have overseen the attack.{{sfn|Khosla|1989|p=229}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
*{{Cite journal|last=Kaur|first=Navdip|date=2011|title=Violence and Migration: A study of killing in the trains during the Partition of Punjab in 1947|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44146786|journal=Proceedings of the Indian History Congress|volume=72|pages=947–954|jstor=44146786 |issn=2249-1937}}
*{{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}}

[[Category:Anti-Hindu violence in Pakistan]]
[[Category:Massacres of Hindus in the 1940s]]
[[Category:Massacres of Sikhs]]
[[Category:Rail transport in Punjab, Pakistan]]
[[Category:1947 in Pakistan]]
[[Category:Massacres in 1948]]
[[Category:September 1947 in Asia]]
[[Category:1947 in rail transport]]
[[Category:Transport disasters in 1947]]
[[Category:India–Pakistan relations]]
[[Category:1947 disasters in Pakistan]]
[[Category:Persecution of Hindus by Muslims]]

1948 Gujrat train massacre - Revision history

Wikindia777 at 07:24, 2 April 2026