Hyderabad massacres
| 1948 Hyderabad massacres | |
|---|---|
| Part of the Annexation of Hyderabad | |
Indian Army officers ordered the surrender of all arms, but in practice, only Muslims were disarmed. Hindus, whom the military deemed less of a threat, were often allowed to keep their weapons which resulted in the massacres. | |
Hyderabad State | |
| Location | Hyderabad State (hardest-hit areas were Osmanabad, Nanded, Gulbarga and Bidar) |
| Date | 13 September 1948 – October 1948 |
| Target | Hyderabadi Muslims |
Attack type | looting, arson, mass murder, rape |
| Deaths | 27,000-40,000 (Sunderlal committee)
200,000 (estimate by responsible observers) |
| Perpetrators |
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| Motive |
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The Hyderabad massacres were the mass killings and massacre of Hyderabadi Muslims that took place following the Indian annexation of Hyderabad (Operation Polo). The killings were perpetrated by local Hindu fanatics, often supported by the Indian Army soldiers. Wilfred Cantrell Smith, based on leaked contents of a confidential report by Pandit Sunderlal and Qazi Abdulghaffar commissioned by Nehru, estimated that between 50,000 and 200,000 Muslims were killed.