1947 Mirpur massacre


The 1947 Mirpur Massacre was the killing of thousands of Hindu and Sikh refugees in Mirpur of today's Azad Kashmir, by armed Pakistani tribesmen and soldiers during the First Kashmir War. It occurred on and after November 25.

Background

Soon after British India's independence, a rebellion occurred in Poonch and Mirpur districts, and the Pakistani Army conceived a military plan to invade Jammu and Kashmir. The military campaign was said to be code-named "Operation Gulmarg", which was said to be assisted and guided by British military officers.
Before the Kashmir War in 1947, the Mirpur District had about 75,000 Hindu and Sikhs, amounting to 20 percent of the population. A great majority of them lived in the principal towns of Mirpur, Kotli and Bhimber. Refugees from Jhelum in Western Punjab had taken refuge in Mirpur town, causing the non-Muslim population to increase to 25,000.

Event

During the war, militants entered the city on the morning of November 25 and set several parts of the city on fire, causing chaos and turmoil across the city. Large-scale rioting took place. Of the minority population, only about 2,500 Hindus or Sikhs escaped to the Jammu and Kashmir along with the State troops. Many Hindus and Sikhs were also killed inside the small town of Chitterpari. The remainder were marched to Alibeg, where a gurdwara was converted into a prison camp, but the raiders killed 10,000 of the captives along the way and abducted 5,000 women. Only about 5,000 made it to Alibeg, but they continued to be killed at a gradual pace by the captors. Hindu and Sikh women were raped and abducted. Many number of women committed mass suicide by consuming poison before falling into the hands of the militants, to avoid rape and abduction. Men also committed suicide. The estimates measure the death toll at over 20,000.
“A 'greatly shocked’ Sardar Muhammad Ibrahim Khan”, the then president of Azad Kashmir, who visited the place during the event, “painfully confirmed that Hindus were 'disposed of' in Mirpur in November 1947, though he does not mention any figures.”

Aftermath

In March 1948, the ICRC rescued 1,600 of the survivors from Alibeg, who were resettled to Jammu and other areas of India. By 1951, only 790 non-Muslims remained in areas that came to comprise Azad Kashmir; down from a previous population of 114,000 which used to live there. Many Hindus and Sikhs from Muzaffarabad and Mirpur not killed became displaced within Jammu and Kashmir. To their displeasure, the Jammu and Kashmir government has not given them the status and associated benefits of internally displaced people.
The date of 25 November is remembered as the Mirpur Day in the Indian-administered Kashmir.