HARYANA:
Chandigarh :
The first mutiny of World War I was led mostly by young men from villages of Hisar, Rohtak, Meham and Gurgaon districts of Haryana. The Singapore Mutiny, which is known as the first mutiny of WW-I and left an indelible mark on India’s freedom struggle, started on February 15, 1915. It was led by Muslim soldiers who belonged to British army’s 5th Light Infantry Brigade.
Even as the world observes the centenary of the Great War, the sacrifice of these soldiers has been all but forgotten as most of the soldiers and their descendants migrated to Pakistan after Partition.
The brigade mainly comprised Rajput Muslims and Pathans and had been sent from Madras to replace the Yorkshire Light Infantry in Singapore. They reached there in October 1914 and were to leave for Hong Kong in February. On the day of embarkment, a rumour spread that they were actually being sent to Turkey and would have to fight Muslims there.
Singapore Mutiny shook the foundation of British rule in Asia
A rumoured triggered the Singapore revolt. The sepoys killed British officers and seized ammunition. The mutiny went on for 5 days. Eight hundred Indian sepoys of the British army killed 47 British nationals; 200 sepoys faced court martial; 73 were given a range of punishments.
As many as 41 sepoys were shot by a firing squad in front of 15,000 spectators at Outram Prison in Singapore.
In his book “The Mutiny in Singapore”, author Sho Kuwajima has argued that the mutiny not only caught the British off-guard but also shook the foundation of British rule in Singapore and forced the British to reconsider their strategy in Asia.
“The mutiny had a great impact on India’s freedom struggle. Freedom fighters, including Ghadarites were vindicated when finally in 1946, the British decided to leave following the naval revolt of February 19, 1946 when they felt that their protective shield, the armed forces, had itself turned against them,” said historian Malwinder Jit Singh Waraich, who has penned a number of books on the freedom struggle.
Four of those executed in public were from Jamalpur (Hisar), three from Jatusana (Gurgaon) and two from Balyali (Hisar). According to Phul Chand Jain’s Swatantarta Sainik Granth Mala, most of these people belonged to Jamalpur, Paten, Balyali, Kirawad and Balliya Ali in Hisar; Jatusana, Karmpur and Kheri Nangal in Gurgaon; Garhi, Kani and Kahnaur in Rohtak. One sepoy each was from Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh, Karnal and Nabha in Punjab.
“These villages were gripped by violence of Partition, so, there is not much trace of their memories now,” says documentary filmmaker Daljit Ami, who is making a film on the Singapore Mutiny and has visited these villages a number of times. In the course of his research, he came across just one man who had heard about these heroes and their Haryana connection.
According to historians, the Singapore Mutiny was followed by the Russian soldiers’ mutiny in 1917 and a series of mutinies in the French armies.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> News> India News / by Sarika Sharma / TNN / July 05th, 2014
