Jammu Martyrs Day

Mohammad Abdullah

From mid-October to 6th November tens of thousands of Muslims were massacred by Indian army, Dogra and Hindutva forces in November 1947 when they were migrating to Pakistan from Jammu, Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

The Kashmiris on both sides of the Line of Control (LoC) and the world over observe Jammu Martyrs’ Day on November 06 every year to remember sacrifices of the Jammu Muslims.

The massacre of Jammu Muslim in 1947 was the worst massacre of human history and the killing of Kashmiris that started in 1947 still continued.

The historians say that the killings carried out by the Hindu ruler’s army and Sikh army was a “state sponsored genocide” to bring out demographic changes in Jammu – a region which had an overwhelming population of Muslims.

“The massacre of more than two lakh (two hundred thousands) Muslims was state-sponsored and state supported. The forces from Patiala Punjab were called in, RSS (a right-wing Hindu organisation) was brought to communalise the whole scenario and kill Muslims,” says PG Rasool, the author of a book The Historical Reality of Kashmir Dispute.

The Muslims, who constituted more than 60 percent of the population of Jammu region, were reduced to a minority after the killings and displacement.

The Jammu massacre of 1947 is the darkest chapter of Kashmir’s history as scars of the gruesome massacre of Jammu Muslims are still fresh in Kashmiris’ memory. The massacre of Jammu Muslims was meant to change the demography of the territory and the carnage is a reminder of the criminal face of Hindutva forces, it added.

The sole purpose of the brutal massacre, orchestrated by Dogra soldiers, Indian troops and Hindutva RSS and Jansang forces was to turn the Muslim majority into a minority in Jammu, under a conspiracy the Dogra army massacred lakhs of Muslims in Jammu in the first week of November in 1947.

The conflict born in 1947 has led to three wars between India and Pakistan. An estimated 70,000 people have been killed in the violence in the past three decades since the armed revolt against Indian rule broke out in the region in 1989.

The chain of sacrifices that started from Jammu in 1947 was continuing till today in IIOJK and so far over four hundred thousand Kashmiris had been martyred for demanding their right to self-determination. The Hindutva forces were trying to repeat the 1947 Jammu massacre in Kashmir as well, it added.

From 1947 till date, Kashmiris were determined to continue resisting Indian brutalities with courage and valor. It said that the people of Kashmir were destined to see the dawn of freedom.

The international human rights organizations, including the United Nations, must play their role in stopping genocide of the Kashmiris by Indian troops in occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

(The writer is a research scholar and also works as sub-editor at daily Country News, Islamabad.)