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Published 19 Feb, 2019 08:03am

From The Past Pages Of Dawn: 1944: Seventy-five years ago: Indians in S. Africa

(EDITORIAL) Lord Wavell’s silence on the South African issue in his address to the Legislature does not encourage hopes of any satisfactory settlement … The South Africans have not changed in their attitude to Indians since the General Election which confirmed Smuts’ victory…

Where the Secretary of State has discovered constitutional difficulties to prevent him from urging the South African Government to accord fair treatment to Indians, presumptions in favour of equal Imperial citizenship for the subject races of Empire seem ill-founded. Field Marshal Smuts has gone back upon all his past professions of sympathy for Indians and apologists who explained his renewed colour prejudice as a necessary vote-catching measure dictated by his uncertain hold on the electorate must interpret his policy since his smashing success in the General Election as the settled course of the South African Whites … The conviction of Indian settlers who had acquired property in “European areas” are being reported. The policy of segregation of Indians in ghettoes has gained new momentum … The recent instance of White opposition to an Indian School which the Minister of the Interior was scheduled to open and subsequently compelled to cancel illustrates the trend of opinion which is not content with penning Indians in black spots … — Dawn Delhi

Published in Dawn, February 19th, 2019

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