SRINAGAR, Leaders of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC), currently imprisoned, paid homage to the martyrs of the 1947 Jammu massacre on their anniversary. They vowed that the Kashmiri people would continue the mission of their martyrs.

According to Kashmir Media Service, the massacre took place in the first week of November 1947, when forces of Dogra Maharaja Hari Singh, the Indian Army, and extremists from Hindutva RSS and Jansang killed hundreds of thousands of Kashmiris in the Jammu region as they migrated to Pakistan. Kashmiris around the world commemorate November 6 as Jammu Martyrs’ Day.

Illegally detained senior APHC leaders, Shabbir Ahmad Shah and Nayeem Ahmed Khan, shared their thoughts from New Delhi’s Tihar Jail. They recalled the massacre as a horrific incident in Kashmir’s history, emphasizing that it was a deliberate genocide and ethnic cleansing to change the demography of the occupied territory.

Another jailed APHC leader, Bilal Ahmed Siddiqui, from Srinagar Central Jail, stressed that the massacre was a systematic plan to cleanse the Jammu region of its Muslim population. He accused the Indian rulers and state forces of supporting this massacre.

APHC leaders Fayaz Hussain Jafri and Syed Sibt Shabbir Qummi, in their statements from Srinagar, observed that the Indian government is trying to repeat similar atrocities in the region today. They remained firm in their resolve to continue the struggle for self-determination.

Ittehadul Muslimeen Jammu and Kashmir, in a statement from Srinagar, also paid tributes to the Jammu martyrs. They emphasized that these sacrifices for a sacred cause would not be forgotten and urged to continue the mission until it reaches its logical conclusion.