AMRITSAR RISING

Southland Times, Issue 18756, 17 December 1919, Page 5

AMRITSAR RISING

BIG MUTINY THRREATENED. A SALUTARY LESSON. (By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright.) (United Service.) LONDON, December 13. Evidence before the Commission enquiring at Lahore into the Amritsar risings in April is causing a sensation among the public. It appears that a general rising was threatened in the Punjab, recalling the Indian Mutiny. General Dyer, commanding the loyalist troops, ordered indiscriminate shooting with the result that five hundred natives were killed and fifteen hundred were wounded. The Punjab outrages included the cutting of telegraph wires, the burning of three bank officials, murder of ?. railway guard, the burning of the Town Halt and public offices in Amritsar. General Dyer, in evidence, stated that when he found that his orders had been disobeyed, he had to do something strong. “I shot well and strongly, 1650 rounds lasting ten minutes. The crowd had defied the law and no middle course was possible. So I fired until I ran out of ammunition.” Asked if the idea was to strike terror, General Dyer said; “I did not intend frightfulness, but I had to give them a lesson. I thought that from a military point of view the shooting would make the widest impression in the Punjab.” The Lieut.-Governor wired approving of the action taken. Miss Sherwood, a missionary, whilst cycling had been beaten with shoes and sticks and left for dead. General Dyer said: “We look upon women as sacred. Therefore I ordered the street to bo picketed from six in the morning till eight in the evening. No Indian was allowed to pass in except by crawling on his hands and knees. I merely wanted to keep the place sacred.”