Bloodbath at Mirpur

C P Gupta
What a terrible and heart rending scene it was! which the author witnessed at the age of sixteen,  when Pakistan with its fully armed Battalion, like a  hungry wolf, pounced upon the innocent and unarmed population of Mirpur city now in P.O.K. when out of the total population of 25,000 souls including men, women and children of tender ages, more than 18,000 persons were brutally killed in three days Carnage on 25, 26th and 27th November, 1947.
The only fault of the people of Mirpur, was that they had unitedly vowed to protect Mirpur their birth land, from the Pakistani raiders even at the cost of their own lives.
The trouble started when on 26th October, 1947 the Maharaja Hari Singh the then Ruler of Jammu and Kashmir State ,signed the Instrument of Accession after which the State of Jammu and Kashmir became an integral part of India. This could not be digested by the Pakistan Government. They planned a nefarious design in connivance with the Pathans. This led to a secret agreement between Pakistan Government and Pathan mercenaries according to which if Mirpur city was forcibly occupied, the captured women would be taken by the Pathans and the immovable land of Mirpur and movable property viz gold, cash etc. would be the share of Pakistan Government. This was named as Zan and Zar Agreement.
Before conducting the army attack, the Pakistan Government in the first week of November 1947 managed in secret manner, to send a bag of Pamphlets written in Urdu language, in the city of Mirpur , in which it was written that Pakistan Government would assign a special status to Mirpur in Pakistan Government if the citizens of Mirpur amicably surrender themselves and allow the Pakistan army to occupy the territory of Mirpur without any hindrance. The literate and the elderly persons of the city met in the evening and decided out rightly to reject the proposal of the Pakistan Government and the refusal was conveyed through the shower of bullets from each defense picket of the city. This brought a terrible attack on Mirpur from the enemy.
The small and ill equipped state Police force stationed at that time at Mirpur was fully assisted by the young civil population of the city. At the midnight of November 24, 1947, under a thick cover of artillery shelling and bursting of grenades which are normally used during an openly declared war, the Pakistan army launched a major attack on the southern side of the city, which was spiritedly resisted by the depleting garrison force for six hours. Although the pickets held tough resistance, the enemy came in wave after wave and after six hours of ceaseless fighting, the defense line of the city was run over by seven pathans. Alarmed by the most critical situation, the Flying Death Squads of the city engaged themselves madly in hand to hand fight with the infiltrators and killed all the seven pathans at the cost of life of many young men of the Mirpur community. Though the people of Mirpur displayed tremendous grit and tenacity but the end seemed gloomy and dreadful because that operation brought the city stock of ammunition to nearly zero level. Further, due to the irony of fate, the old modeled wireless set installed in the police camp at Mirpur suddenly developed some technical defect and went out of order which led to disruption in radio link with the State Police Headquarters at Jammu and Government of India. Despite war like situation created by Pakistan, the Government of India due to political rivalry between the then Prime Minister of India and the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir State, did not send army though at that time the Indian army was stationed at Jhanghar which was at a distance of only 20 miles from Mirpur.
In that critical situation, the State Administration headed by Wazir Wazarat of Mirpur decided clandestinely to retreat to Jammu leaving behind the hapless civil population of the city to face the wrath of the marauders . In fact, at that time it was the moral duty of the State Administration to ask the citizens of Mirpur to vacate the city and march towards Jammu under their protection but contrary to it, the Wazir Wazarat and his Police Officers galloped their horses and left the city in the wee hours on November 25, even leaving behind their own wounded soldiers who were crying in pain of their wounds in the Police Line Hospital. This coward departure of the State Administration from Mirpur city, gave a jubilant signal to the enemy. At that time, the whole population of the city of Mirpur felt themselves as hanging breathlessly in between the tight jaws of the enemy which was very eager to swallow the flesh and even the bones of the people of Mirpur who had refused out rightly to give shelter to the Pakistani soldiers in the city of Mirpur.
Immediately after the departure of the State Administration from the city a fully armed Battalion of the Pakistan army assisted by Pathan raiders entered the city from all the sides at the stroke of 8.30 A.M. and by creating terrible sounds from the war instruments, pushed the city population into one corner of the city. The terrified men, women and children in utter chaos and confusion in the midst of heavy firing from all the sides and in choking atmosphere due to smoke coming out of the burning houses of the city, scattered and marched in caravan in different directions without knowing where they were going. They were intercepted by the enemy at various places and like hungry wolves they unleashed terror and brutal savagery which made the whole area an open grave yard of dead bodies and many uncounted seriously wounded uncared persons were battling for life in the whirl pool of their own blood. By the time of sunset, the whole area from Mirpur city to a hill-foot was fully covered with dead bodies and critically injured persons. Ultimately, in the depleting evening, the Nature by force had to display a signal through the darkness that the grave yard was full and no more entry of any dead body was possible. That brought the temporary stay in the day atrocity.
This was not the end of the misery of the people of Mirpur. At night of the same day an ill-fated group of about 2,000 captured persons was brought at a place known as “Kas Guma” a colony of retired Muslim soldiers. The enemy encircled the captives and asked them to surrender all the cash and jewellery which they had with them. Thereafter, the male persons were asked to remove their clothes and lie down in a row. They were tortured brutally and killed in batches during the whole night. The women and girls were taken to unknown places by the Pathans as per their “Zen and Zar “Agreement with the Pakistan Government. Next day, the enemy drove another group of about 2000 persons and brought them at a village known as “Thathal”. They also met the same brutal treatment as at “Kas Guma”during the day. Finally there was a massacre at Alibeg where, about 5,000 captives were huddled up in an old deserted and unhygienic ruined Gurdwara building. In the beginning about 50 to 100 young men were daily taken on pick and choose basis to kill them in the open fields. Besides, on average basis about 15 to 20 aged captives died every day due to severe cold weather condition, starvation, illness and mental shock.
On December 1, a young Muslim Attorney named Mohammad Ibrahim being very soft in tongue and well known to many Hindu Officers of Mirpur, visited the Alibeg prison and showed his lip sympathy to the intelligentsia who were brought there as captives and also shed his crocodile tears on their pitiable condition and assured them that he would do his best to talk with the concerned authorities of the Government of Pakistan to get them employed in the factories on daily wage basis till they were at Alibeg camp as captives. He distributed Muslim caps and mufflers to some of them as a token of friendship, but those gestures were in fact subtle signals and indications to the Pakistani soldiers to kill those persons first. The next morning, the enemy soldiers drove a group of educated people of the prison on the pretext that they would be taken back in the evening with earning after utilizing their services in the factories during the day. Those wearing caps and mufflers proudly occupied the front line to get priority in getting job in the factories but they never came back as they all were slaughtered on the bank of Jhelum canal.
In the mid January, 1948 a team of ICRC (International Committee of Red Cross) arrived there and took charge of the camp and supplied the needed food and medicines to the captives. On March 18, they managed to get the captives liberated in exchange of the same number of Muslims who were in India and willing to go to Pakistan. The liberated captives, at that time, were not more than about 1600 as the rest were either killed/died or kidnapped. The liberated persons were mostly aged and even unable to walk. They reached Amritsar where they were given a tearful and touching reception by their relatives and the general public.
In the memory of Mirpur Martyrs of 1947, a Shaheedi Samark has been constructed by the Government of Jammu and Kashmir at a conspicuous place in front of the main entry gate of the Government Medical College at Mahespura Chowk Bakshinagar Jammu. The Jammu Development Authority dedicated the said Samark to Mirpur Community which was unveiled by Miss Sushma Choudhary I.A.S. the then Financial Commissioner on 25th November, 1998.The said Samark is also the starting point of “Mirpur Road” which was named so, on the same day viz 25th November, 1998 to pay tributes to the martyrs of Mirpur, under the patronage of late S. Harsajan Singh who at that time, was the Chairman of the Legislative Council of the Jammu and Kashmir State.
On 25th November every year, thousands of Mirpuris residing in Jammu city and its peripheral colonies, march in Prabhat Pheries coming from different Sectors of Jammu city and all assemble at the said MIRPUR SHAHEEDI SMARAK to pay jointly, the rich tributes to the Martyrs of Mirpur who sacrificed their lives for the sake of their mother land as a result of which the Jammu and Kashmir State remained an integral part of India.
(The author is retired Deputy Secretary J&K Govt)

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