“THE Government of Pakistan regret to have to announce that a Muslim evacuee special [train] was attacked at Amritsar on Sept 22 and that, except for 200 persons who are reported as ‘all right’, everyone else in the train including the escort was either killed or wounded. The British officer in command of the escort was killed.”

This information was given in a Press communique issued by the Cabinet Secretariat of the Pakistan Government last night ... [Sept 24]. The communique added: “The Governor of the West Punjab has issued orders that Sikh convoys from Lyallpur are not to be allowed to proceed to the East Punjab until further orders. … All evacuee and Pakistan special trains from Delhi to Lahore have been stopped for the present… .” According to information received by Dawn, the British officer died at the hands of the non-Muslim escort under him. He had ordered the escort to open fire at a crowd in Amritsar, but the escort fired shots in the air only. Thereupon, the officer opened fire himself. The escort got wild and shot him down.

…[T]wo other evacuee trains which left Delhi with Muslim refugees have not been heard of. …[A] refugee “Special” [train] usually carries about 3,000 to 4,000 passengers.

Published in Dawn, September 25th, 2022