MILITARY TOURISM - Hussainiwala: the resting place of India’s firebrand revolutionaries

As you enter the village of Hussainiwala situated on the banks of Sutlej in the Ferozepur district of Punjab, the mud houses and the green fields give feel of a place straight out of the yesteryears movies. But this small village on the border of India and Pakistan has a special place in the history.

Three of the country’s martyrs- Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru were cremated here on March 23, 1931. Bronze sculptures of the three are etched on a wall of pink sandstone.


On the dark night of March 23, 1931 they were executed at the Lahore Central Jail, a day earlier than scheduled, to avoid mass protests. Their bodies were cremated amid secrecy on the banks of the Sutlej at Ferozepur-Hussainiwala.

It is also the cremation place of B.K. Dutta (Batu Keshwar Dutta) who was also involved in bombing in parliament with Bhagat Singh and died in 1976. His last wish was to cremate him at the place where Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev were cremated. Mother of Bhagat Singh, Vidyawati, was also

cremated there as per her last wish and later she was awarded with title of 'Punjab Mata'.

Besides the memory stones laid to mark the sacrifices made by the young freedom fighters, stands an old fort structure bearing signs of the artillery attack by Pakistan in 1971. Across the old fort lies the bridge that was blasted by Indian Army engineers during the 1971 war to prevent Pakistani tanks from entering Indian Territory. The village is still referred to as Ghulam Hussainiwala.

A small settlement, Hussainiwala is 7 km from the district headquarters town of Ferozepur and only 3 km from the international border.

Hussainiwala, being at the border, had to bear the brunt of the two major wars fought between India and Pakistan in 1965 and 1971. This explains the mud houses in the village as villagers have to leave their houses at the slightest signs of tensions between the two countries. Here the Sutlej forms

the international border between the two countries and the Pakistani soil starts right at the end of the bridge across Sutlej.

Hussainiwala derives its name after Ghulam Hussain, the mazaar of whom now falls on the other side of the border. Among the Punjabi folk, the village is still referred by its original name, Ghulam Hussainiwala.

(Photos courtesy Sitanshu Kar)