This book was written in April, 1924 and published in June, 1924. It is the most accurate and authentic detail of the Nabha/Jaito agitation.
Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee has announced the release of 300 books on the occasion of the tricentenary of Khalsa. The present volume is one of those selected for the above project.
Jaito/Nabha agitation (1923-25) is a landmark not only in the history of the Gurdwara Reform Movement but also of Sikhism, the Punjab and the sub-continent. On February 21, 1924, the British administered State of Nabha massacred a very large number of Sikh men, women and children at Jaito for their "crime" of a peaceful march to assert their right to religious worship. Punjab, the Sikh Homeland, had already seen two massacres (April 13, 1919 at Amritsar and February 20, 1921 at Nanakana Sahib.) The British had already tested the Sikhs' resolve to fight for justice, freedom and Righteousness. In spite of this a mad-office Johnston carried on another massacre. This heinous act angered the international community.
The Jaito struggle has had a career, beset with many ordeals and much martyrdom for the Sikhs. The details of the struggle have come up to public notice in press reports as they occurred from time to time. The attempt is made in the succeeding pages to piece them together in booklet form with a view to present a connected version capable of easy reference. In the following pages, only, revelations of first-hand authenticity have been included; nothing has been taken for granted; and the material published is drawn from the reports of actual sufferers or respectable eye-witnesses mainly of the moderate persuasion. The aim kept in view has been to eschew all tendency to advocacy one way or the other, and present the bare facts in their true sequence, leaving the reader to his own resources of judgement for the formation of independent opinion.
The booklet was written by the end of April this year, though due to a series of adverse circumstances, publication has been delayed all this period. As no additions have been made to the original version, the recent developments of Akali history beginning with the arrest of the fifth and sixth Shahidi Jathas, and the march of the seventh, eighth and ninth, and leading up to the break-down of the Birdwood negotiations and the prosecution of the members of the first Shahidi Jatha have had necessarily to be excluded from this booklet. It brings its tale to a close with the start of the fifth Shahidi Jatha for the martyr-sector at Jaito. The contents cover a range of wide and vital purport including the genesis of the Nabha deposition; the Sikh objective to combat and defeat it; the transformation of the Nabha agitation into the fight for restoration of the Akhand Path at Jaito; its culmination in the massacre of the 21st February; the strict censorship of Jaito officials to prevent the trickling out of the news and the testimony of Dr. Kitchlew and Mr. Zimand of the 'New York Times'; the unprecedented excitement amongst the public, followed by the clamour for a searching scrutiny; the farce of magisterial enquiry; the belated return to good sense and to the method of peaceful arrest: and finally, the succession one after another, of gallant bands of 500 Sikhs, marching to court arrest and hardships in the vindication of faith and freedom.
It is necessarily out of the question to depict to the finish a struggle that is still going on. For the purpose of publication, the thread of continuity must perforce be arbitrarily snapped somewhere, though each day goes on making history in the world of unrelated events. But through all variations of potential suffering, prosecutions en masse, inhuman jail treatment and arbitrary executive impositions, enough has been indicated of the past to underline the essential impossibility of the Sikhs succumbing to terrorism or despair. Whatever the dangers and the difficulties, they will fight their way to the end of their goal, undeterred and undaunted into dismay. Indeed each new phase of repression has only quickened the impetus for fresh workers, until to-day the movement has transcended the limits of the Punjab and is the recipient of eager offers of personal service from the Sikhs of Patna, Sistan, Bengal and even Afghanistan.
The need for propaganda in the cause of Sikh reform is unlimited; but unfortunately, the means at the disposal are strictly limited. The S. G. P. C. therefore requests every reader of this booklet, to pass it from friend to friend after use, with a request for further circulation likewise. It also takes this opportunity of rendering its thanks to the Manager of "Swarajya", Madras, but for whose prompt assistance in the midst of innumerable other pre-occupations, this booklet could not have been so expeditiously printed and published.
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