Saquib Salim

“The Azad Hind Fauj (Indian National Army) was formed at Jitra and Captain Mohan Singh was styled General Officer Commanding (G.O.C.). For the first time in its history, the sky rents with the shouts of ‘Azad Hindustan Zindabad' and 'Azad Hind Fauj Zindabad’. Captain Mohd. Akram Khan and Jamadar Sadhu Singh were the first to join the I.N.A. They came to Alor Star on the 15th Jan. 1942.”

Unsung Heroes of Freedom Struggle

This is how Giani Kesar Singh describes the formation of the Indian National Army in South East Asia to liberate India. The AHF or the INA was later led by Subhas Chandra Bose.

After the surrender of the British forces at Jitra, Malaysia, in December 1941, Giani Pritam Singh of the India Independence League persuaded the Indian officers of the British Army to join the freedom struggle. Captain Mohan Singh and Captain Mohd. Akram of the 14 Punjab were trusted by the Indian soldiers. Both of them agreed to Pritam Singh’s proposal as Major Fujiwara, a Japanese officer, promised support to the Indian Independence Movement.

Akram played a key role in persuading other Indian soldiers to join the INA. Wherever the Indian soldiers were captured by the Japanese, Mohan Singh and Mohammad Akram Khan would try to convince them to join INA.

After the World War II was over. the INA soldiers were tried by the British Government. In the court, Subedar Major Babu Ram said that his regiment surrendered and they were handed over to Japan, “Two or three days later, Major Fujiwara, accompanied by Captain Mohan Singh and Captain Mohd Akram, visited the camp.”

Akram was second only to Mohan Singh in the hierarchy of the INA. In March 1942, a meeting of Indian leaders fighting in South-East Asia was convened at Tokyo and it came to be known as the Tokyo Conference. The INA leaders had to discuss the future course of action and collaboration with the Japanese. Veteran Indian revolutionaries Rash Behari Bose and Raja Mahendra Pratap also participated in the meeting.

Mohammad Akram was among the three INA officers present at the meeting. Mohan Singh and Akram left for Tokyo in separate planes. Kaiser Singh writes, “The first batch consisting of four most zealous workers left for Japan via Saigaon on the early morning of 11th March 1942. They were Swami Satyananda Puri - the organizer of the Indian National Council of Thailand, Sirdar Pritam Singh - the originator of the Indian Independence League, Captain Mohammad Akram - the right-hand man of General Mohan Singh in the Indian National Army and Mr. Nilkanth Ayre - the trusted assistant of Sri Raghavan. Mr. Ottaguru of the Fujiwara Department along with six other Japanese also accompanied them. They were reported to have left Saigaon on the 13th March 1942, and after that, nothing was heard of them.”

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It was later reported that their plane crashed at Mount Shirakura on 24 March. Lt. Col. Naranjan Singh Gill who was the third INA officer apart from Mohan Singh and Akram to attend the Tokyo Conference called these four men, “the first martyrs of our movement. All homage to them even though they are hardly known today. We paid due respects to them at a local temple, Hongenji, where their ashes were enshrined.”