MUZAFFARABAD: Kashmiris on both sides of the Line of Control and across the world are observing Yaum-e-Shuhda Jammu today to honor the victims of the 1947 massacre in Jammu. On November 6, 1947, Dogra forces, aided by extremist groups, brutally killed tens of thousands of Kashmiri Muslims in the districts of Jammu, Kathua, Udhampur, and Reasi. The massacre occurred when a large number of Muslims were preparing to migrate to Pakistan. Before the killings began, Muslim soldiers serving in the Dogra army were dismissed, and a Hindu officer was appointed to command the Jammu Cantonment.
Eyewitness accounts state that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) joined the Dogra forces in this campaign of violence. On November 6, 1947, more than 60 buses carrying Muslims toward Sialkot were ambushed near Samba, where 123 villages were set ablaze. The violence continued for two weeks, resulting in the killing of over 237,000 Kashmiri Muslims.
President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif paid rich tributes to the martyrs of Jammu, reaffirming Pakistan’s unwavering support for the people of Jammu and Kashmir in their struggle for the right to self-determination.
In his message, President Zardari urged the international community and the United Nations to recognize the Jammu massacre as genocide and hold India accountable for its violations of international law, including attempts to alter the demographic composition of the occupied territory. He said the 1947 killings represented one of the darkest chapters in South Asian history, when more than 200,000 Muslims were massacred and over half a million were displaced to refugee camps around Sialkot.
“The Jammu massacre was a deliberate act of ethnic cleansing,” Zardari said, lamenting that while the world remembers other human tragedies, the genocide of Kashmiri Muslims in 1947 has not received the attention it deserves.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, in his message, saluted all Kashmiri martyrs who laid down their lives for freedom, especially those massacred on November 6, 1947. He condemned India’s continued illegal occupation of Jammu and Kashmir in violation of UN Security Council resolutions and international law.
He said November 6 remains one of the darkest days in the history of Jammu and Kashmir — a grim reminder of India’s first organized massacre against the Kashmiri people. Every year, Kashmiris worldwide mark this day as a protest against oppression and a reaffirmation of their resolve to continue the struggle for freedom.
Jammu Martyrs’ Day is observed annually to remember the victims of the 1947 tragedy when Hindu extremists massacred unarmed men, women, and children in cold blood. The people of Kashmir continue to face oppression under Indian occupation even after 77 years, and Pakistan has urged the global community to recognize the Jammu killings as genocide and to hold India accountable for its crimes.
