EVERY year on November 6, Kashmiris of the Line of Control (LoC), the world over and in Pa-kistan, solemnly observe Jammu Martyrs Day, dedicated to remembering thousands of Muslims of Jammu and Kashmir who lost their lives in one of the most tragic chapters of Kashmir history.
Their sacrifice stands as a reminder that the tragedy of November 1947 did not occur in isolation but was the outcome of months of want, fear, manipulation and political betrayal.
Kashmir’s history is marked by dark days, with the freedom struggle against occupying Indian forces continuing relentlessly. The November 6, 1947, massacre stands out as one of the earliest and most tragic, followed by further tragedies on October 27 and August 5. When the British left the subcontinent, Jammu and Kashmir—a Muslim-majority region—was ruled by Hindu Maharaja Hari Singh. While the people longed to join Pakistan, their natural homeland by faith, geography and heritage, November 6 became a day of calculated violence rather than freedom, leaving a lasting scar on the region’s history and identity.
November remains a month forever marked by sorrow in the history of Jammu and Kashmir. In those tragic days, a brutal wave of violence unfolded not only on the demography of the region but also on its politics and identity. The Dogra Army, backed by RSS elements, tamed the valley of Jammu and Kashmir with the blood of over 250,000 Kashmiri Muslims. For the people of Kashmir, the massacre of November 1947 is not merely an episode of history; it is a living memory. Every generation since has grown up hearing stories of the homes lost, the families displaced and the courage that refused to yield to fate.
For many Kashmiris, remembrance is not just mourning but resistance—a way to preserve their identity and reaffirm that their history cannot be erased. Seventy-eight years have passed since those dark days, yet the scars of that suffering remain: the graveyards of Jammu and the refugee settlements bear witness. Today, as Pakistan and Kashmiris around the world observe Kashmir Martyrs Day, they bow their heads in reverence to those who sacrificed their lives. We remember not only the lives lost but the spirit that endures—the courage that turned pain into purpose.
On this solemn day, the people of Pakistan reaffirm their pledge to stand with their Kashmiri brothers and sisters until justice prevails and every wound is healed through freedom and self-determination, in line with U.N. Security Council resolutions of 1948. Kashmiris laid down their lives with the dream of Pakistan in their hearts, a homeland they never lived to see. Their sacrifice echoes across generations, not only as suffering but as a promise of freedom. Even in the darkest nights, their faith remains a guiding light, inspiring the ongoing unarmed, indigenous and just struggle for justice and dignity.
Pakistan, over these long years, has been extending moral, political and diplomatic support to the Kashmiris in their just struggle and has been and continues to raise and agitate over the long-unresolved Kashmir dispute at all international forums, topped by the United Nations General Assembly. Pakistan’s top civil and military leadership also continues to extend support to the Kashmiris in their just struggle in an unwavering manner, calling upon the U.N. Security Council to act and get its own resolutions implemented, which India has been shamelessly denying all these long years, so that the Kashmiris get their right of self-determination and decide their future themselves, whether they want to join India or Pakistan.
Kashmir is an unfinished agenda of the subcontinent’s partition. In all fairness, the Kashmiris are struggling and sacrificing to secure their birthright of self-determination and complete this agenda. Pakistan and Kashmir have strong bonds of geography, culture and religion. The long-unresolved Kashmir dispute is also a flashpoint between the two nuclear powers.
Over the years, the fascist Indian regime has been forcibly migrating Hindus in large numbers into the occupied territory of Jammu and Kashmir to turn the predominantly Muslim-majority population into a minority. There is no denying the fact that the resolution of the Kashmir dispute in accordance with Kashmiris’ aspirations is the key to stable peace, prosperity and progress in South Asia. Continued denial of the right of self-determination to the Kashmiris and even not holding bilateral talks for resolving the lingering burning issue peacefully persistently expose the so-called democratic face of India.
While paying tributes to the Jammu massacre victims and observing the darkest day on November 6 this year, Kashmiris hope to highlight their just, indigenous and unarmed struggle for freedom from India’s decades-long occupation, wake up the sleeping conscience of the international community and human rights organizations throughout the world and sensitize them to the lingering unresolved Kashmir dispute on the UN agenda for implementation of its own Security Council resolutions at the earliest possible, as already more than seven and a half decades have lapsed in this regard.
—The writer is a Lahore-based freelance journalist, columnist and retired Deputy Controller (News), Radio Pakistan
