KASHMIR (Dispatches) –
Kashmiris on both sides of the Line of Control (LOC) are marking the 75th anniversary of the day when hundreds of thousands of Muslims were killed in the Jammu region.
More than 200,000 Muslims were systematically killed by Hindu extremists when they were migrating to Pakistan.
The All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) leaders on Sunday paid tributes to the memory of those killed.
Detained senior APHC leader Shabbir Ahmad Shah, in a message from New Delhi’s Tihar Jail, said the massacre of Muslims was the most horrible incident of Kashmir’s history that continues to haunt the regional people.
Other APHC leaders, in a joint statement, said the Kashmiris “will always remember the great sacrifice of the Jammu martyrs”.
“The Kashmiris have been rendering sacrifices for a great cause for the last several decades and the day is not far when they will achieve their cherished goal,” the statement said.
They also urged the international community to press India to stop its “brutalities” in Kashmir and settle the dispute in accordance with the aspirations of its people and the relevant UN resolutions.
Between October and November in 1947, the majority of Muslims living in Jammu, Kathua, Reasi and Udhampur were uprooted from their homes during the days the genocide took place.
The crimes that were committed during that week included abduction and rape of Muslim women, mass slaughtering of Muslims including children and stealing of personal belongings.
In one of the many incidents that took place during that week, it was announced by the beat of the drum for all Muslims to assemble at the parade ground in Jammu.
They were later loaded on motor lorry convoys to be sent to Suchetgarh in India, but instead they were driven to Kathua road of the Jammu region and told to get off, after which they were killed by the Hindu forces that escorted them.