‘Jammu massacre worst example of genocide and ethnic cleansing’

Glowing tributes paid to martyrs of Jammu carnage of 1947

The All Parties Hurriyat Conference leaders including Shabbir Ahmed Shah have said that the Jammu massacre of 1947 is the worst example of genocide and ethnic cleansing of Muslims in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

According to Kashmir Media Service, the APHC leaders paid rich tributes to the hundreds of thousands of Kashmiris who were martyred by the forces of Dogra Maharaja Hari Singh, Indian Army and Hindu fanatics in different parts of Jammu region while they were migrating to Pakistan during the first week of November in 1947. Every year, Kashmiris mark November 06 as the Jammu Martyrs’ Day to pay tribute to the victims of the Jammu massacre.

Illegally detained senior APHC leader, Shabbir Ahmed Shah, in a message from New Delhi’s Tihar jail said the Jammu massacre of Muslims in 1947 was the most horrible incident of the history of Jammu and Kashmir that continues to haunt the Kashmiris despite the passage of seventy-six years.

He said that chronology of key events of Kashmir history amply demonstrates the fact that changing of demographic complexion of Muslim majority Jammu and Kashmir had always been on the cards from day one of the partition of Indian subcontinent. He said the Muslims, who constituted more than 60 percent of the population of Jammu region, were reduced to a minority after the killing of over two hundred thousand Muslims. He pointed out that stripping IIOJK of its decades-old special status by the Narendra Modi-led Indian government in August 2019 is part of this sinister design to convert Muslim majority of IIOJK into a minority.

Shabbir Shah expressed serious concern over the continued bloodshed and violence in occupied Kashmir at the hands of Indian troops. He said it is high time that the world community should take effective notice of human rights violations and killing of innocent Kashmiris by Indian troops.

The APHC leaders including Khawaja Firdous, Syed Bashir Andrabi, Muhammad Shafi Lone, Devinder Singh Behl, Abdul Samad Inqilabi, Muhammad Yousuf Naqash and Shafiq-ur-Rehman in their statements said that the Jammu massacre marked the beginning of systematic genocide and ethnic cleansing of Muslims. They said the Jammu massacre, which was meant to change the demography of the region, is the darkest chapter of Kashmir’s history. They said that the killing of the Kashmiri Muslims that started in Jammu in 1947 was still going on unabated in the region despite the passage of 76 years.

The APHC leaders maintained that the Jammu carnage is a reminder of the brutal and criminal face of Hindutva forces and Hindu fascism. They said the scars of the gruesome massacre of Jammu Muslims are still fresh in Kashmiris’ memory. They deplored that the Hindutva forces are trying to repeat the 1947 Jammu massacre in Kashmir Valley as well.

The APHC leaders vowed that the unparalleled sacrifices of Jammu Muslims will not be allowed to go waste and the Kashmiris will continue their freedom struggle till they achieve freedom from the Indian yoke.

Meanwhile, APHC-AJK leaders including Muhammad Sultan Butt and Mushtaq Hussein Gilani, in their statements issued in Islamabad said the same elements that were responsible for the Jammu massacre are now in power and imposing Hindutva ideology on the Kashmiris. They added that the Kashmiris can never forget the heart wrenching Jammu massacre and, despite the Indian tyranny and oppression, will continue their freedom struggle till complete success.