Saba Ghulam Nabi
The Jammu Genocide is one of the numerous genocides that have taken place in the world history. The genocide was primarily carried out by Hindus in nexus with anti-Muslim elements at the behest of Maharaja Hari Singh. The main purpose of the genocide was to eradicate the Muslim populace in the Jammu region. However, it is the most undiscussed and least highlighted event, with much of its details concealed by Hindu authorities. It began after the partition of the subcontinent, its aftermaths included the ‘ethnic cleansing’ of Muslims from the Jammu region.
The worst-ever human massacre was planned, organized, and executed with the full support of Indian rulers and with the active support of Indian state armed forces. The Dogra regime, established in 1846 under the Treaty of Amritsar, operated as a Hindu Raj, Pandit PraimNathBazaz noted, “Muslims were treated harshly in Jammu and Kashmir in various respects simply because they were Muslims.” The 1947 Poonch uprising, which ultimately led to the Jammu massacre, was not the first instance of resistance against the Dogras;
previous uprisings occurred in 1865, 1924, and 1931. Christopher Snedden noted that “the Jammu genocide started in mid-September-Oct 1947, and many incidents of Hindu-Muslim riots were reported during this time. In Kathua district 8000 Muslims were massacred on October 20, 1947, in Akhnoor 15000 Muslims were reportedly done to death and the Samba massacre on October 22, 1947, accounted for 14000 Muslim Victims. Charles. H. Kennedy, discussed the Massacre in Jammu has an appendix detailing 90 Anti- Muslim incidents in Jammu between (Aug 1947 to Dec 1947).” As Hindu and Sikh refugees flooded into Jammu from newly-formed Pakistan, tensions escalated, intensified by harrowing stories of violence in the press and arms provided by the state to Dogra troops, the RSS, and Sikh deserters. Several cases of transfer of Muslim officers and police were reportedly done by Dogra Maharaja Hari Singh.
Muslim citizens and Police officials were also asked to surrender weapons, as Maharaja did not want Muslims to be armed, leaving them unable to defend themselves against Maharaja’s Troops. The Muslim community was the primary target of this dreadful intercommunal violence; between 250,000 and 300,000 Muslims were killed, and convoys were ambushed, resulting in more massacres and kidnappings. Muhammad Yusuf Saraf mentioned that “an unspecified number of Muslim women was abducted from different parts of Jammu province, most of them were not returned to their families and in many cases, Hindus and Sikhs forcibly married them.
The abducted women were raped and smuggled out to different parts of India, although the number of such unfortunate victims will be never known, there are some estimates which say that 25,000 women were abducted, the author considers this figure on a higher scale. Many parents killed their daughters for the fear of rape.” Survivors of the 1947 ethnic cleansing in Jammu tell the horrors of a systematic campaign to eliminate Muslims, a dark chapter in Kashmir’s history. Eyewitnesses describe the Dogra troops as directing the atrocity, with accounts emphasizing the horrific murder of families. This genocide is remembered as one of the worst atrocities in Jammu and Kashmir’s history, characterized by a deliberate effort to erase the Muslim presence in the region. In contrast to the partition of Punjab, the Hindu Dogra state’s political goals of ethnically purging the Muslim population and facilitating their migration to Pakistan were the driving forces behind the Jammu killings, which changed the demographic makeup of the region. Because of their religious and cultural ties, miserable migrants choose to travel to different regions of Pakistan like Sialkot, Gujrat, Jehlum, etc. Despite limited resources, Pakistan and its people supported these homeless people and did their best to provide them with all that they could. India has sought to hide this grave sin. Still, the tragic consequences persist in Indian-Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), where ethnic cleansing of Muslims continues to be a central aim. After 77 years, the people of illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir continue to face brutality from Indian troops. The objective is to change the region’s demographics and suppress people’s voices for their right to self-determination. The Indian government has brought in 2.5 million non-locals among other efforts. Since 1947, countless Kashmiris have been martyred, women have been widowed and raped, and egregious human rights violations have taken place.
The Indian authorities, as usual, attempt to mask their human rights violations in Kashmir by portraying a false sense of normalcy in the region. They enforce internet blackouts, ban human rights activists and organizations, and harass or imprison numerous Kashmiri political activists and journalists. The strategy of demographic engineering for IIOJK has changed while the aim remains the same as in Jammu to eliminate the Muslim population. Despite these inhumane efforts, the Indian government has been unable to change the narrative of the Kashmiri people, who continue to struggle for their right to self-determination.