Originally Published in The Times of India (Chandigarh), March 11, 2015.
Source url: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chandigarh/Government-not-doing-enough-to-identify-relatives-of-freedom-fighters-of-1857-struggle/articleshow/46523734.cms
AMRITSAR: The man who spearheaded the drive to locate and exhume the mortal remains of over 100 brave Indian soldiers buried in Kalianwala Khu for over 150 years in Ajnala near Amritsar, is dismayed over the lackadaisical attitude of Punjab government in conducting forensic examination of their bones, which were the only mean to trace their relatives.
Originally Published in The Times of India (Chandigarh), March 11, 2015.
Source url: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chandigarh/Government-not-doing-enough-to-identify-relatives-of-freedom-fighters-of-1857-struggle/articleshow/46523734.cms
AMRITSAR: The man who spearheaded the drive to locate and exhume the mortal remains of over 100 brave Indian soldiers buried in Kalianwala Khu for over 150 years in Ajnala near Amritsar, is dismayed over the lackadaisical attitude of Punjab government in conducting forensic examination of their bones, which were the only mean to trace their relatives.
"It’s been over 10 months since the state department of cultural affairs, archaeology and museums took the mortal remains to be examined by forensic sciences department of Panjab University, Chandigarh. But the department has not even begun work," historian Surinder Kochhar alleged while talking to TOI on Tuesday.
He said that the DNA and other forensic tests were the only means through which relatives of the soldiers could be located. In March 2014, Kochhar had carried out three-day excavation of the well, earlier known as Kalianwala Khu, with the help of local volunteers and management committee of Gurdwara Shaheed Ganj had and discovered 90 human skulls, 170 jaws, around 5,000 teeth, 70 coins of rupee 1 denomination of the East India Company, two Royal Victorian medals, a gold amulet and rings.
"I am left with no choice but to write to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to attract his attention," he said, alleging that the forensic examination was not being conducted due to paucity of funds. "This is an emotional issue, but the government seems to have turned a blind eye towards it," he alleged.
However, Navjot Pal Singh Randhawa, director of cultural affairs, archaeology and museums department rubbished the allegations. "The relics are with PU and experts are doing their job very well," he said. Randhawa clarified that there was no fund crunch, but every procedure takes time.
According to historians, as the news of the first war of independence in Meerut and Delhi spread, the 26th Native Infantry Regiment posted at Mian Mir near Lahore was disarmed on May 13, 1857 and placed under surveillance. On July 30, under the leadership of Prakash Pandey, soldiers of the regiment killed a British Major and a Sergeant Major and headed towards Ajnala.
They say that soldiers bravely crossed the nearby flooded Ravi river and reached the adjoining Ajnala town. However, acting on a tip-off, Fredric Cooper, the then deputy commissioner of Amritsar, ordered that all of them be put into a cage-like room of the Old Tehsil where about 200 soldiers died of asphyxiation. The rest of them were shot the next morning and their bodies were dragged and thrown in a well which later came to be known as Kalianwala Khu.
Kochar alleged that the state government had forgotten the death anniversary of princess Bamba Sutherland, daughter of Maharaja Duleep Singh and granddaughter of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, who had died in Lahore on March 10, 1957. "The state government could have at least organized a symbolic homage ceremony in her memory," he said