Saquib Salim

“The condemned men, 22 in number, were placed against the stakes, at intervals of about 4 feet apart at 5:25. The order to fire was given at 5:30, after the reading of the sentence, and the man fell. Captain Fraser, R.A.M.C, examined the bodies and it was found necessary in several cases to give the final despatch with revolver shots. The stretcher party was composed of Mohammedan prisoners from the jail. The bodies having been removed, the parade was March off and the large crowd dispersed in good order." Read a government report released to the press on 25 March 1915 in Singapore. 

The gory description of the public executions of 22 Indian Sepoys of the British Army during the First World War is a glorious chapter of the Indian Freedom Struggle which has largely remained untold. 

On 15 February 1915, Ismail Khan, an Indian Sepoy of the 5th Light Infantry Native Battalion, shot at a British officer declaring rebellion against the British command at Singapore. Indian soldiers didn’t take long in taking over Singapore. German prisoners were released, Britishers were killed and Indian civilians were armed to fight. It was only with the help of Russian and Japanese forces that the British could recapture Singapore two days later.

The British initially tried to dismiss this great battle where more than 1000 Indian soldiers fought as a riot for salary. Later, colonial writers tried to paint this event as motivated by the religious sentiments of Muslims. It was claimed that Muslim soldiers were nursing religious fanatic feelings for the war against Turkey. The fact that around 900 of 950 soldiers were Muslims helped the propaganda. But, they never tried to explain why then at least 55 Sikh soldiers also faced the punishments for fighting the British at Singapore.

The Sedition Committee Report noted that the soldiers in Singapore, “had undoubtedly been contaminated by Muhammedan and Hindu conspirators belonging to the American Ghadar party.” It must not be missed that 130th Baluchis, a regiment that took part in this rebellion, was transferred to Singapore as a punishment for killing one of their officers a few months back in Bombay (Mumbai). 

Indian Revolutionaries, since the start of the First World War, were trying to incite Indian Sepoys against British colonialism with the help of Germany and Turkey. Bagha Jatin, Rash Behari Bose, Lala Hardayal, M. N. Roy, Ubaidullah Sindhi, and others were actively leading the campaign. Sohan Lal Pathak was arrested for smuggling Ghadar and Islamic anti-colonial literature in Burma and Singapore. 

In October 1914, Indian soldiers arrived in Singapore. The British were well aware of a plot to raise Indian soldiers against them but did not suspect Singapore as a place where such activities could happen. A Gujarati Muslim businessman, Kassim Mansur, and an Indian Imam (religious leader), Nur Alam Shah, planned to incite the soldiers into a rebellion. Both of these men were members of the Ghadar Party and committed to the Indian Freedom Struggle. They counseled the soldiers to rebel against the British and on 15 February 1915, the Indians captured Singapore. 

After suppressing the rebellion, they did not take much time and Kassim Mansur was executed with more than 40 Indian soldiers at public ceremonies attended by thousands of people. Nur Alam Shah was also transported. Subadar Dundi Khan, who led the soldiers, was also executed by the firing squad. From 7 March onwards, when Rasulah, Imtiaz Ali, and Rakhmudin were shot dead, till late April Indian soldiers were executed publicly at regular intervals. On 25 March 22 soldiers, viz.:

Naik Munshi Khan, Naik Zafar Ali, Mohammed Baksh, Rahim Dad, Suliman Khan, Nawab Khan, Suliman, Jamal, Bahar Ali, Faiz Mohammed, Umrad Ali, Shafi Mahomed, Suleiman, Lal Khan, Shamsuddin, Said Mohammed, Abdul Ghani, Basharat, Rafi Mohammed, Inayat, Moman, Nur Mohammed. 

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Investigations revealed that the rebellion was well planned by Ghadar Party leaders and Kassim Mansur, Nur Alam Shah, Mujataba Husain (Mul Chand) and others played an important role in this. Almost three decades later, old leaders of the revolution would hand over the command to a dynamic revolutionary leader, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, and Azad Hind Sakar and Azad Hind Fauj were raised in Singapore.