HINDU-MOSLEM CONFLICT

Hawera Star, Volume L, 16 February 1931, Page 5

HINDU-MOSLEM CONFLICT

TENSE BENARES SITUATION SEQUEL TO MOSLEM’S MURDER GANDHI rtIFJNFAYS DEMANDS. [jni Uhl I’jvm ASMti'Lauon —By Teltgraprt oopynjfuv.j DELHI, Feb. 14. There was a tense situation in Benares following the murder of Mohammed Agha, a prominent Moslem merchant who persisted in the sale of British cloth against the Indian Congress boycott. As Agha’s body was being taken to the station for conveyance to Peshawar. Moslem mourners demanded the closure of Hindu shops as a mark of respect. The Hindus refused and their shops were looted and they were attacked. A general conflict between Hindus and -Moslems followed. The police while endeavouring to separate the contestants were fiercely attacked and opened fire. British troops were called out and are at present patrolling the city with armed police. Up to the present there have been three killed and nearly 100 wounded. 'Discussions' at Allahabad "between Gandhi and members of the Congress working committee and delegates to the round-table conference on the subject of co-operation in the new constitution offer have been fruitless so far. Gandhi last night drafted a resolution containing the following conditions for calling off civil disobedience: General amnesty, immediate cessation of “repression,” an inquiry into alleged police excesses, liberty to carry on picketing of liquor, and foreign cloth shops, the restitution of all confiscated property and reinstatement of all Government servants dismissed or punished on political grounds. The riots have had the effect of inducing Gandhi to agree to meet the Viceroy in an endeavour to reach a settlement of the Indian situation. They will meet probably on Tuesday.