JAMMU GENOCIDE OF 1947-REMEMBERING 6TH NOVEMBER

By: Abdul Majeed Zargar

It is one of the least known genocides in the modern history. It was carried out with such a precision that it is difficult to find its traces, except in the memories of the survivors, and the tales of horror they passed on to their next generation. Around five lakh Muslims were killed with a military precision. It was such an operation that language lacks words to express this offence of demolition of human being.

Though the targeted killing had already started in Jammu around Mid July 1947, the operation got a fillip immediately after fleeing Maharaja Hari Singh & his wife reached Jammu on October 26^th 1947. An organised carnage was orchestrated to kill Muslims, wherever found or spotted in Jammu.

British daily "the London Times" quoting its special correspondent in India states that the Maharaja, under his own supervision, got assassinated 2,37,000 Muslims, using military forces in Jammu area. The editor of "Statesman" Ian Stephen, in his book "Horned Moon" writes that till the end of autumn 1947 , more than 200,000 Muslims were murdered in one go.

The Hindu Dogra ruler’s main aim was to change the demographic composition of the region by eliminating the Muslim population. Such was the intensity of carnage that in Jammu province about 123 villages were ‘completely depopulated’. Kathua district ‘lost’ almost fifty per cent of its Muslim population. Thousands of Gujars were massacred inmohalla Ram Nagar. Village Raipur, within Jammu cantonment area was completely burnt down. The Dogra state troops were at the forefront of attacks on Muslims. The state authorities were also issuing arms not only to local volunteer organizations such as RSS, but to those in surrounding East Punjab districts such as Gurdaspur. The state administration had not only demobilised a large number of Muslim soldiers serving in the state army, but Muslim police officers, whose loyalty was suspect, had also been sent home. In Jammu city, the Muslim military were disarmed and the Jammu cantonment Brigadier Khuda Baksh replaced by a Hindu Dogra officer. Meanwhile Maharaja of Patiala was not only supplying weapons, but also a Brigade of Patiala State troops were also operating in Jammu and Kashmir, without whose help & assistance ,the objective could not have been achieved with such a precision . The daily Times of London reported the events in Jammu with such a front page headings: ‘Elimination of Muslims from Jammu’ and pointed out that the Maharaja Hari Singh was ‘in person commanding all the forces’ which were ethnically cleansing the Muslims.

That there was a design to change the demographics is evidenced by another well-reported incident. Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Mehr Chand Mahajan upon arrival in Jammu told a delegation of Hindus, which met him in the Palace, that now when the power was being transferred to the people they should better demand parity. When one of the delegation members wanted to know how that is possible, Mahajan, Pointing to the Ramnagarnatural reserve below, where some Muslim corpses were still lying said, ‘the population ratio too can change’ like that.( Elimination of Muslims from Jammu’ II, The Times, London, 10 August 1948, p. 5.-See also Ved Bhasin’s interview to a local Magzine)

Both documentary and oral sources suggest that the crime committed on the Muslims was nothing less than an organized holocaust. Sheikh Mohd. Abdullah, who was appointed “ Chief Emergency Administrator” on 30^th October 1947 could not prevent the carnage. He writes in his Autobiography Atish Chinar (page 312)“ that the carnage got impetus after the arrival of Union Home Minster Sardar Patel, Union Defence Minster Baldev Singh along with Maharaja of Patiala, a person known for his anti-Muslim bias, in Jammu. The trio met various Hindu organizations & delegations, after which the massacre attained a great momentum. Hindu fanatics, aided & abetted by Govt. forces, started burning down village after village inhabited by Muslims. Women were raped at will.Weapons were distributred freely to marauders from the Kachi Chawni house of Pandith Prem Nath Dogra and motivated by Balraj Madohk.

On 6^th November surviving muslims were told to assemble in an open ground, herded in trucks like cattle & killed mercilessly with Machine Gun fire between Digiana & Samba belt. Women were abducted & raped. Even the daughter of Legendary Chaudhary Ghulam Abbas was not spared. Many women preferred death than falling prey to the cruel beasts, who do not tire calling themselves as secular people.

On ground the killing operations were organized, directed & supervised by Maharani Tara Devi in league with her Debauch Guru Sat Dev & Governor Jammu Chet Ram Chopra. At politico-adminstrative level Sheikh puts the blame solely on Dogra ruler Hari Singh and Prime Minster Mahajan . At one point of time Sheikh had even thought of initiating action against the duo for crimes against humanity (Atish Chinar-page 331).But why did’nt he translate his thoughts into action, remains shrouded in mystery. Did he surrender this right as quid pro quid for Prime Minstership, which came his way in March 1948? As is generally known, Govt. Of India & Dogra ruler were only interested in conceding him a limited role in a “Mysore type of Govt.”But later this plan was changed & sheikh offered full fledged prime Minstership.

The other aspect of the carnage was appropriation of properties of Muslims. The Muslim names were immediately erased to conform to new ownership. For instance Urdu Bazar became Rajinder Bazar and Islamia School became Hari Singh High School to conform to new ownership.Almost ninety five per cent of left over properties which should have, in the normal course been taken over by State Govt, was allowed to be appropriated by looters & rioters. The daily Telegraph of London reported on 12 January 1948: ‘Yet another element in the situation is provided by rioters who seized Muslim lands in Jammu… they originated the massacres there last October to clear for themselves new territory.

Another incident needs a mention here. When Hindu refugees from Muzaffarabad & surrounding areas reaching Kashmir desired to be sent to Jammu or Punjab, local muslims motivated Kashmiri “Tonga-wallas” (horse-cart drivers) to transport them to Jammu against heavy odds. Initially 22 “tongawallas” were hired. They were later joined by many others from Khannabal-Qazigund rural belt. On return all these poor “tongawalls” were massacred near Nagrota. Their only fault was that they made Hindu refugees to reach their destinations safely.

What makes this holocaust unique is the complicity of State on the one hand & the exemplary treatment of Kashmiri Muslims to its minorities on the other hand, given the grave provocation of Jammu genocide . Mahtama Gandhi was so disgusted with the carnage that on two occasions (November 27, & December 27 1947), he made mention of it in following words.

"The Hindus and Sikhs of Jammu and those who had gone there from outside killed Muslims there. Their women have been dishonored. This has not been fully reported in the newspapers. The Maharaja of Kashmir is responsible for what has happened there” (Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi; volume 90, page 115 & 298). It is no wonder then when that when Gandhi was killed by a RSS supported Hindu fanatic, sweets were distributed throughout Jammu in special Thalis supplied from Maharaja’s Palace.

A fitting tribute to those unsung Martyrs of Jammu will be to install a symbolic Epitaph with brief inscription of the incident at Mazar-i-Shuda, Idd-gah. Let the first line of that inscription be

“Qareeb Hai Rouz e Mahshar, Chhupegaa Kushtoon Kaa Khoon Kyoon Kar,
Jo Chup Rahegi Zubaan- e- Khanjar, Lahoo Pukaaregaa Aasteen Kaa.”

(The author is a practicing Chartered Accountant)

Photo Feature: Children being humiliated publicly before their release by occupational forces

Sixteen Minors who were detained by occupational forces being humiliated publicly before their release

Mirwaiz In Response To The Queries From Aalaw & Frontline | Kashmir

Urging people to repose trust in the separatist leadership, Hurriyat (M) chairman, Mirwaiz Umar

Farooq Friday responded to a host of serious questions raised by a facebook community on the role of Hurriyat in the dialogue process and other issues.

‘Aalaw’, the facebook community with more than 8000 followers, had written an open letter to Mirwaiz asking him to clarify his party’s stand on some of the crucial policy issues. Replying to the queries, Mirwaiz told Rising Kashmir that people have the right to question the separatist leadership, but at the same “they should trust us”.

About the talks with New Delhi, he said the real dialogue process virtually stopped in 2006. “We had a dialogue process with New Delhi and we proposed many things but not even a single proposal was accepted by the Indian authorities. So our stand is clear now, no dialogue until the proposed things are not implemented on ground.”

The Hurriyat (M) chief said his party will never consider the back channel negotiations as a dialogue process “until and unless India doesn’t agree to what we feel is important for improving ground situation for a meaningful and result oriented dialogue process that would ultimately lead us to amicable resolution of this long pending issue.”

One of the questions posed by ‘Aalaw’ to Mirwaiz was about his participation in a lunch programme attended by interlocutor, Radha Kumar, some mainstream politicians, a former Ikhwani (government gunman) and a PDP agent.

“We live in a society where we have friends and sometimes it becomes obligatory for us to participate in functions organized by them,” said Mirwaiz.

‘Aalaw’ had brought to fore Mirwaiz’s participation in the said function organized by a local editor at Manasbal.

“A friend of mine invited me for a lunch and it was a mere coincidence that the interlocutor and other pro-India politicians were also present there. It was just a social gathering and no conversation took place. I had no idea who others were invited.”

Miwiaz further said his participation in the function shouldn’t be taken as something that will harm the Kashmir cause.

“Our faith is not so weak that it will be shaken by mere participation in the social gatherings. People have the right to question, but they should trust us. Being at a place where the objectionable people are also present doesn’t mean that we have run away from our stand. People should trust us and we will uphold that trust at all costs.”

In response to the query as to why despite being a chief cleric, he was opposed to an idea of “Islamic State” for Jammu and Kashmir, Mirwaiz said in the present geo-political scenario such demand will weaken the Kashmir issue at the international level.

“I am not against the idea of an Islamic state. What our party believes is that Kashmir is a political issue and until and unless apolitical resolution doesn’t evolve, we have to take the struggle as it is. Once the people of the state are given the right to decide their future, they have the will to choose the destiny for the state.”

“At present we have to portray it as a political issue and have to take along all other communities. If we give it a religious overtone, the support at the international level will not be there for us. We don’t have to portray that our struggle is Muslim Kashmiris against the Hindu India. I don’t deny that the evolution of this issue is a result of Muslim Pakistan versus Hindu India but the times have changed.”

One of the questions posed by ‘Aalaw’ was about the role of Hurriyat (M) in helping the orphans, the widows and those who are languishing in different jails across India.

Mirwaiz acknowledged that his party has not done much for those who have suffered during the 20 years of turmoil.

“We do what we could with our available resources but I must acknowledge that it is not enough. We have a cell Dar-ul Khairat and we do help people who are in need but it is not that big.” He said Hurriyat (M) has not gone for any massive fund raising exercise keeping in view how much people have suffered economically during the past three years.

“But collectively, the society and leadership can do what will be more effective in helping those who are in real need. The community must help us so that those who have sacrificed for the freedom struggle should not suffer.”

Mirwaiz said his party provides legal aid to the prisoners. “But that is also not upto the level that we could help all. We try to help those who are lodged here but sometimes people don’t come to us and moreover, the lawyers outside the valley demand huge money to fight cases of our people. We are not able to help them. Our help to them is also limited.”

How India alienated Kashmiri people

BY: AIJAZ ZAKA SYED

An unjust law is no law, warned Martin Luther King, the celebrated U.S. human rights icon. The Kashmiris have been living with suchlaws for decades. At least one in every five Kashmiris has at some point or another in his/her life suffered violence, humiliation, torture and old-fashioned abuse at the hands of security forces without any recourse to justice or a distant promise of retribution

Is it any wonder then the Kashmiris today find themselves hopelessly alienated and persecuted even as our politicians never tire of pronouncing the state an “integral and inseparable” part of India?.

The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act has been a license to abuse, torture and kill the Kashmiris in their own land. A law that confers “special powers” on men in uniform to do as they please and get away with it; a law that the UN says violates “contemporary international human rights standards” and a law that cannot be challenged in any court of law no matter how grave the crime.

Following the division of the subcontinent in 1947 when India and Pakistan actively courted the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, it was promised a “special status” and special treatment by New Delhi. The Article 370 of Indian Constitution was supposed to protect that “special status” of Kashmir. We made a lot of other promises as well that are too familiar to revisit here.

And we have ensured and protected that “special status” of Kashmir by gifting them the AFSPA that offers sweeping powers to the security forces while ensuring their total immunity. This special law has turned the Vale of Kashmir that the Moguls believed was paradise on earth into a beautiful hell.

How did we end up here? Who lost the paradise? The answer is out there and everyone knows it. In our desperation and determination to keep Kashmir with us and away from our neighbor, we have ended up losing the Kashmiri people.

Of course, the role played by Pakistani agencies, not to mention groups such as the one led by Hafiz Saeed, who have made a business enterprise of jihad, in adding to the woes of Kashmiris isn’t in anyway insignificant.

But if an entire generation of Kashmiris has grown up loathing all things Indian it is because of the excessive presence of the security forces in the Valley and their heavy-handed approach to the local population. And if there is one thing that epitomizes all that has go

ne wrong with India’s Kashmir affair, it is the AFSPA. This black law has created a dangerous, ever deepening disconnect and gulf between the Kashmiris and the rest of India. A draconian law that belongs in a police state, not in the world’s largest democracy.

Thanks to these “special powers”, just about anybody could be picked up from anywhere any time, kicked, abused, raped, killed in broad daylight or simply disappeared and no one including the state government can do anything about it.

Security forces are a law unto themselves. And you see their power in full display all across the state including in capital Srinagar. There are more soldiers than tourists or even locals constantly reminding the Kashmiris of the original sin of being born in this land of incredible beauty. Peaceful protests last year saw scores of young people, some of them as young as nine, felled by the bullets of the forces that are supposed to protect them. In the course of fighting terrorists and cross-border infiltrators, we have turned this beautiful land into a permanent war zone and its proud people a hostage in this never-ending conflict with the neighbor. This war has claimed more than a hundred thousand Kashmiris over the past two decades, not to mention the tens of thousands who have gone “missing.”
If the 2,730 unmarked mass graves recently discovered across the state had been found elsewhere they could have shaken the world, as they did in Srebrenica, in Iraq and Rwanda. But they were met with stony silence in the ever-shrill Indian media and its self-righteous Western counterparts.

Human rights groups including the State Human Rights Commission that finally acted on the complaints of thousands of families of “disappeared persons” unearthing graves with hundreds of bullet riddled bodies fear this may be a tip of the iceberg. The dead in Kashmir have finally begun to speak up, as Arundhati Roy so evocatively puts it. But justice may still elude the victims as long as the AFSPA reigns in Jammu and Kashmir. And India’s powerful security and defense establishment, including the army, are determined to retain it. And why wouldn’t they? It’s this law that allows the security forces to rule and treat Kashmir as their fiefdom without anyone, including the elected government, questioning their authority and excesses. Despite being a fine and vibrant democracy with robust democratic institutions and judiciary that we can justifiably be proud of, we are yet to realize that no people can be governed at gunpoint. Not in this age and time. Not with black laws like the AFSPA and not by constantly waving half a million guns that have contributed to the alienation of Kashmiri society and radicalization of its youth. If India is to win Kashmiri hearts and minds, it could do so only with love, compassion, respect and justice.

(The writer is a Middle East-based commentator. This article first appeared in Arab News on Nov. 3, 2011.)

Turabi urges Pak to review decision of declaring India as favourable country

Amir-e-Jamaat-Islami (JI) Azad Jammu and Kashmir Abdur Rasheed Turabi has said trade with India should not be done at the cost of Kashmir cause. Declaring India as the most favoured nation for trade is not only against Pakistan’s national interests but also is mocking Kashmiris’ sacrifices for obtaining their right to self-determination

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Commenting on Pakistan granting India the Most Favoured Nation status, Abdul Rashid Turabi addressing a public meeting here said granting the most favoured nation status to India for trade by Pakistani government is a matter of great concern for Kashmiri people. He said trade with India should not be carried out unless and until India resolves the longstanding issue of Kashmir peacefully and in accordance with Kashmiris’ aspirations.

Highlighting the situation of Indian Occupied Kashmir, he said the Indian forces have intensified human rights violations in Kashmir. Kashmiris are being killed while rape is used as a weapon of war by Indian forces. Pakistan was a counsel for the Kashmiri people; therefore, it is the responsibility of all Pakistanis to highlight the Kashmir issue at all international forums.

He also urged the Pakistan government, instead of declaring India as the most favoured nation, to highlight the Kashmir issue and the Indian state terrorism unleashed in the Occupied Kashmir at all international forums. He said that the decision was tantamount to rubbing salt on the bleeding wounds of Kashmiri people and a historic blunder. Kashmiri people have rendered tremendous sacrifice during years-long struggle to achieve globally recognised right to self-determination.

He said it is totally unintelligible and inconceivable decision on the part of Government of Pakistan to declare India as the most favoured nation as it is involved in clear violations of international norms of justice and massive human rights violations in Kashmir. The decision would have far-reaching consequences for Kashmiris’ peaceful struggle.

He said the Government of Pakistan should review and revisit its decision keeping in view the prevailing political and human rights situation in Kashmir and devise a policy thereby taking the aspirations and apprehensions of the people of Kashmir into consideration. He called for national unity and diplomatic campaign at international level to highlight the Indian aggression against Pakistan.

AFSPA Revocation - Army recaps opposition

We'll be handicapped : Parnaik

Amidst raging debate over Omar Abdullah government's intention to revoke Armed Forces Special Powers Act from parts of the state, Army on Thursday made its case clear saying any such move will handicap the capability of the force to conduct counter insurgency operations.

"We have a situation which has now carried on for more than 20 years and the Army requires the provisions to enable it to act... Without the provisions, the Army will be handicapped," General Officer Commanding in Chief for Northern Command Lt Gen K T Parnaik told reporters.

The Army commander, who visited this village - located on the Line of Control - in north Kashmir's Kupwara district, said removing the AFSPA from certain areas of the state will make it difficult for the Army to operate.

"It is a question of the confidence and trust that you repose in your Army. If you are removing the Act from certain areas then it will become difficult for the Army to operate in the manner we operate now," he said.

Debate over the partial revocation of AFSPA and Disturbed Areas Act, introduced in 1990 to give the Army and paramilitary forces powers to detain suspects and use deadly force began last month when Chief Minister Omar Abdullah announced that Acts will be revoked from parts of the state "within few days".

Lt Gen Parnaik, who was accompanied by General Officer Commanding of Srinagar based 15 Corps Lt Gen S A Hasnain, termed AFSPA as an "enabling" Act and said it was not a draconian law.

"The fact is that partial revocation from the areas may be seen as a genuine thing because there seems to be peace here. But peace is very fragile," he said. "After all we have seen one of the most peaceful summers in 2011 and that has happened with AFSPA only," he said.

He said if AFSPA is revoked from certain areas, "terrorists and inimical elements" will exploit the situation. "We don't want that to happen," he said.

Linking the revocation of AFSPA with the dismantling of the militant infrastructure across the border, Lt Gen Parnaik said it is not the "correct time" to remove the law till there is interference from Pakistan.

"We are not looking only at a few places or counter- terrorist operations or peace in few areas. It (AFSPA) has to be seen in context of the entire proxy war which is going on. The proxy war in J-K is externally abetted by Pakistan," he said.

"Therefore, we feel that unless we are able to neutralize that infrastructure and unless we are able to remove interference from Pakistan, it may not be the correct time for us to think of revoking it partially," he said.

The commander said Army was not on a confrontational path with any one and pleaded that there should be more discussions before taking a final call.

"There is no confrontation with anyone and these issues need a lot of discussions and deliberations. We have made our stance clear to the state government. I have had discussions with the high powered committee which came here for review recently and we continue to have dialogue with them," Lt Gen Parnaik said.

He said the chief minister had asked the Army to give its recommendations earlier this year.

"On our part, we have sensitised them on the manner in which it will affect our operations," he said.

"We have to see whether the AFSPA's revocation is a matter of security or political dispensation. It will all happen after discussions with the people who are concerned," he said.