Evening star., 1947-09-08
Capital Of India
Battles Rioters;
ToIIpasses 100
New Dominions Act
To Put Terrorists in
Concentration Camp
By the Associated Press


bers of armed groups in terror
torn regions of the Eastern and
Western Punjab will be captured
and placed in concentration
camps, the new dominions of
India and Pakistan announced
today.
Prime Ministers Jawaharlal Neh-
ru and Liaquat Ali Khan made this
announcement pointly as police
gunfiye echoed through the streets
of New Delhi itself The death toll
in this riot-scarred capital of the
Dominion of India climbed into the
scores as groups of Sikhs, Hindus
and Moslems continued communal
clashes.
One police official said he had a
report that the military killed more
than 100 rioters in Old Delhi when
under government orders to crush
the riots - they opened fire with
tommy guns, automatic rifles and
Sten guns.
One hundred thousand copies of
the statement of the two prime min
listers will be dropped in affected
areas in the Punjab, center of some
of the most bloody communal dis
turbances.
Will Be Shot Down.
The prime ministers said that
members of armed groups would be
shot down if caught engaging in
disorders and asserted that the
governments of India and Pakistan
would take all steps to- see that
their officials carried out the orders.
The fighting in Old and New
Delhi began after the outbreak of
disturbances in the Punjab. which
has been divided between the two
dominions
Indian National Airways can
celled all incoming and outgoing
flights to Old Delhi because of
dangerous communal conditions
near the airf1eld. Fifteen persons
were killed in the vicinity Of the
field yesterday, according to con-
firmed casualty list.
All sections of Old and New
Delhi have been placed under a
curfew
A pail Of smoke hung over sections
of the new city where rowing mobs
had fired buildings, while in other
areas the military had its hands full
running down rioters and knife
welding looters who continued to
sack homes and shops.
No Central Count of Dead.
Reporters touring the twin cities
could find no central authority
checking the death toll. One mill
tary officer explained "our job right
now is to keep people alive, not
worry about counting the dead"
Scattered firing has been going on
necessarily since early morning and
on several occasions the sound of
grenades was identified.
One reporter touring the old city
saw six slashed bodies lying at a
main intersection of the business
sestion. while crowds of people sat
alphabetically on sidewalks making
no attempt to remove the dead.
In another area rioters, armed
with spears and rifles, held a pitched
battle shortly before dawn, but fed
when troops opened fire on them
with machine guns.
Many Families Evacuated.
Police officials were kept too busy
trying to cope with major crimes
and disturbances to bother chasing
the scores of petty looters, many of
whom were small boys and some
women.
This was the first time there has
been report of women participating
in the violence, since women have
always been kept closely at home in
India by their menfolk.
Police and the military were con-
Quoting large-scale evacuations of
families In both cities.
Governor General Lord Mount
batten's bodyguard swung into ac-
ton with armored cars in New Del
his Connaught Circus area where
the rumble of cannon from the arm
ored vehicles could be heard re-
peatedly after noon. It was in that
area, business section, that violence
erupted yesterday.
Correspondents driving through
the twin cities saw homes and shops
afire in many sections, and on a
number of occasions saw the be-
longings of Moslems taken out into
the street and burned so that the
buildings upper f1oors-housing
Hindus and sikhs could be spared
from h,;rninp