WARS RARELY DO GO WITHOUT COLLATERAL DAMAGES. Conflicts happen, soldiers die doing their duties, citizens get displaced from their homes and face unjust violence, and afterwards world leaders shake hands and the world moves on. The painful and tragic side of the war, marred by violence and loss, is often glossed over and sidelined. India too, has its own share of stories like these. One such lesser-known history chapter is the internment of Chinese-Indians people during the Indo-China War of 1962. From the start of the war till 1967, around 3,000 Chinese-Indian were forcibly interned — that is detained without any reason — in a prisoner of war (POW) camp in Rajasthan's Deoli region.

The Indo-China War of 1962: What Led to the Conflict 

After World War II and the Chinese Communist Revolution, Chinese war refugees settled in several regions across India, including Calcutta, Northern Bengal, and Northeast India. By the end of World War II, the Chinese Indian population was estimated by the British colonial government to be 26,250. In 1962, around 20,000-60,000 ethnic Chinese people were estimated to reside in India.

In 1962, tensions between India and China, both emerging nations in Asia, boiled over. A series of conflicts, such as unresolved Himalayan border disputes, the 1950 annexation of Tibet, and India granting asylum to the Dalai Lama, resulted in a military standoff between the two nations, and thus started the Indo-China War of 1962. 

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The war lasted 32 days, starting from October 10, 1962, and ending on November 20, 1962. On November, 21, 1962, China declared a ceasefire, kept the smaller Aksai Chin region under its command, and the war was over. On paper, anyways, as the war against Chinese-Indians would wage on for much longer.

The Defence of India Act and the Rise of Anti-Chinese Sentiment 

Even though the war ended, anti-Chinese sentiments did not. After the outbreak of the war, Chinese people were portrayed to be deceitful and untrustworthy by the Indian government and some members of academia. With hateful sentiments on the rise, ethnic Chinese people, along with Chinese-Indian people and Indian people who looked Chinese, were assaulted. Chinese schools and media were shut down, and people of Chinese descent were assaulted by mainstream Indians, with their property, restaurants, and shops damaged.

The civil liberties of ethnic Chinese were curtailed. People of Chinese descent were required to report to the authorities for “registration and classification,” and non-citizens found it increasingly difficult to meet residency requirements. Faced with widespread hostility, many Chinese Indians publicly expressed their support and loyalty to India, condemned the Chinese government, and contributed to India’s defence funds. However, these expressions of solidarity were often met with suspicion and contempt.

After the Indo-China War, the Indian government introduced The Defence of India Act, 1962, an emergency wartime law. The act was passed on December 12, 1962, and granted the central government sweeping powers for preventive detention, civil defense, and media censorship during the War. The law also permitted the “apprehension and detention in custody of any person [suspected] of being of hostile origin". The vague language of the act permitted the detainment of any person simply for having a Chinese surname or a Chinese spouse.

Inside the Deoli Internment Camp 

After the Indo-China War of 1962, around 3000 Chinese-Indians were sent to the Deoli Camp in Rajasthan. The camp was a prisoner of war (POW) camp, built by the erstwhile colonial British administration to detain Japanese, German, and Italian prisoners of war during World War II. These detainees, who came to be known as “deoliwallahs,” were kept in the camp for over five years, subjected to meagre meals and inhabitable conditions. Many detainees died owing to heat strokes, unaccustomed to the heat of the desert region, or by contracting other diseases.

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In 1964, the Indian government ordered that all those being kept in the Deoli Internment Camp were to be deported to China. These forceful deportations resulted in the breaking up of many families. Some detainees migrated to China, and those who could afford to do so were left behind in the camp.

The next year, in 1965, internees were allowed to leave the camps in small batches. However, those who came out of this nightmare found themselves with a painful reality: they had no homes.

After the detainees were released, many discovered that their properties had been sold off in their absence. They were offered a tiny sum as compensation. Almost all internees had their homes, shops, and factories plundered or forcefully taken over by the locals.

Even after their release, the internees struggled to return to their previous lives that seemed to be an echo of their past. Unable to resume work in India, a large number of them moved to Canada, USA, Australia, and other countries, leaving behind a painful past.

Even though the internment of Chinese-Indians in the Deoli Camp is likened to the forceful detainment of Japanese-Americans during World War II, the Indian government is yet to apologize or offer any  compensation to the internees for their incarceration. Apology won't undo the damage and the trauma that had been done to the internees, but it would be a small step in acknowledging the horrors that were committed against minorities in the name of war. 

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