“We call upon the international community and the United Nations to recognise the Jammu massacre as genocide and to hold India accountable for its continuing violations of international law, including its attempts to alter the demographic composition of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) in contravention of the Geneva Conventions, the president said in his message on Youm-e-Shuhada-e-Jammu (Jammu Martyrs’ Day).
On this day in 1947, he said the forces of the Hindu Dogra Maharaja, aided by RSS extremists and armed bands from Patiala and Kapurthala, carried out one of the worst massacres in the history of the subcontinent.
Over 200,000 Muslims were killed and more than half a million fled to areas around Sialkot after the Jammu massacre. In a matter of weeks, the tragedy of 6 November 1947 changed the demography of Jammu forever, turning a Muslim-majority region into a minority through systematic ethnic cleansing.
President Zardari said the massacre in Jammu stands as one of the darkest chapters of modern history. While the world remembers other great human tragedies, the genocide of Kashmiri Muslims in 1947 has never received the recognition it deserves. The scale of brutality was staggering, with entire villages wiped out and families torn apart.
Prime Minister
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that Pakistan paid homage to the thousands of Kashmiri martyrs especially of November 1947 who sacrificed their lives in their long struggle for freedom.
“In utter denial of United Nations Security Council resolutions and in violation of international law, India has held illegal usurpation and illegitimate occupation of Kashmir. Pakistan and all other proponents of fundamental human rights voice their censure in the strongest terms,” the prime minister said in a message on Jammu Massacre of 1947 being observed on November 6.
He said that India was guilty of protracted violation of fundamental human rights, right to self-determination and International Law.
“In the history of Jammu and Kashmir, 6 November, 1947 is marked as the darkest day and is etched in the minds of Kashmiri people as a fresh wound even after decades. Each year, Kashmiris across the world commemorate it in condemnation as the “first massive genocide” of the Kashmiris by brutal Indian armed forces,” he added.