Jaranwala town witnessed mass killings of Sikhs and Hindus in September as documented by author GD Khosla in his book Stern Reckoning. When describing the horrific events in Jaranwala, GD Khosla specifically mentions the name of a Muslim zamindar Nawab Saadat Ali Khan and his valiant effort in protecting the Hindus and Sikhs in Jaranwala.
In September, Jaranwala witnessed horrific large scale eruption of violence some led by Baloch soldiers.
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The Hindu military, stationed at Kamaha to protect the non- Muslims, was replaced, on September 1, by Muslim troops. Nawab Saadat Ali Khan and a number of other Muslim Zamindars of the ilaqa made very gallant efforts to protect the Hindu and Sikh residents and offered their assistance.
The town was attacked on September 6 by a huge Muslim mob It is said that ammunition was given to this mob by some Muslim soldiers who arrived in Kamaha by a refugee train.
The mob invaded the whole town, attacked the Khalsa High School, the Gurdwara Prem Sati, Arya Putn Pathshala and the house of Bahadur Chand Zemindar where non-Muslims had collected In the course of a determined attack, made by the Muslims, large numbers of Hindus and Sikhs perished. Many young women were kidnapped.
On September 7, a Hindu Army officer arrived with two military trucks to evacuate members of his family. He had an armed escort with him and the non-Muslims of Kamaha begged him to stay and lead them to a place of safety. The officer had a small military escort which was quite inadequate to protect a convoy of several thousands. He, therefore, left. Deprived of this avenue of escape the non-Muslims despaired of surviving the bitter attack. The next day, however, Nawab Saadat Ali Khan appealed to the good sense of the Muslims. It is said that he went to them with folded hands and his turban round his neck and asked them to spare the non Muslims. The fury of the mob had abated and they desisted from continuing their brutal attack. The non Muslims were a few days later evacuated in military trucks and refugee trains.
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