Pakistan should be tried for Kashmir genocide of 1947

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Pakistan, the biggest and brazen exporter of terrorism in the world, is marching, tweeting, and using every opportunity to condemn Israel’s attack on the Islamic terrorist organization, Hamas, calling it a genocide and the end of humanity.

The act has exposed its double standards. Pakistan has forgotten its treacherous invasion and genocide of innocent Kashmiri Hindus and Christians in the October of 1947.

Begging and crying for more than 75 years got them international sympathy. But in the 21st century, it is not hard to identify these Islamic hardliners that displayed their jihadi mindset, just two months into India’s Independence in 1947. It is time the world learns about Pakistan’s first contribution to humanity.

In his book, ‘Raiders in Kashmir’, Pak Army Major General (Retd.) Akbar Khan describes Pakistan’s role in their jihad on Kashmir. On October 22nd, 1947, twenty thousand tribesmen from Pakistan launched an attack on the princely state of Jammu & Kashmir and captured the towns of Muzaffarabad and Mirpur (currently a part of Pakistan-occupied Jammu-Kashmir, PoJK).

The Kashmiri treasures were plundered. Animal instincts of tribesmen freely made sex slaves of women; girls poisoned themselves to die in dignity. Some were sold as slaves to Pakistan. Thousands were forcibly converted to Islam. Innocent children were massacred. Hundreds of thousands became homeless overnight.

In Khan’s words, “On October 26 (1947), the Pakistani forces captured Baramulla where only 3,000 survived out of 14,000. The troops were now only 35 miles from Srinagar when the Maharaja (Hari Singh) sent his papers of accession to Delhi asking for help”. The St Joseph’s Hospital in Baramulla was burnt crisp to the ground; its sick, elderly, and nurses were raped and killed.

Operation Gulmarg as it was known was the brainchild of the top leadership of Pakistan – including Mian Iftikharuddin, then a leader in the Muslim League (the ruling political party), Prime Minister of Pakistan Liaqat Ali Khan, and Sardar Shaukat Hayat Khan who was then a minister in the Punjab government and a close aide of Pakistan’s founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah. In his book, ‘The Nation That Lost its Soul’, Shaukat Khan confessed that he was the supervisor of the Kashmir operation.

Over the years lakhs of Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs have been killed in the region. India observes October 22nd as Black Day, a reminder of Pakistan’s deceitful and evil intentions for Kashmir. Pakistan only wants Kashmir to bleed and burn. Given their historic blunder, every year Pakistan has the audacity of observing October 27, the day its trained tribal militia was forced to retreat home, as Black Day. It is an annual humiliation of poor Kashmiris, from whom Pakistan has taken much away since 1947.

The Kashmir invasion was a repeat telecast of Pakistan’s occupation of Balochistan. Under Pakistan, Balochistan, Gilgit-Baltistan, and PoJK share common elements today – 75 years of radicalization, loot of natural and mineral resources, starvation, unemployment, ethnic cleansing, and dictatorship of the Pak Army. All three are fighting to be separated from Pakistan to join India.

Pakistan’s mentality is hardly complicated. First, radicalize youth. Second, train them in combat and arms. Third, wage a “holy war” on non-Muslims, (not sparing their fellow Shia and Ahmadiyya Muslims). Fourth, kill, convert, rape, and establish an Islamic caliphate.

Truth is usually the first casualty of war. And Pakistan is best known for moulding it well. Interviews with their Army Generals reveal their justification for such manipulation. They say and firmly believe that lying to a non-believer (non-Muslim), especially in wartime is allowed.

For them, even the times of peace have been declared war times. How can perpetual liars be trusted?

Fast forward to today when the reality of this “freedom movement” has hit home, Kashmir has turned a new page. It has recovered from a time when the future seemed bleak and life meaningless. Today Kashmiris are on the path of peace and development along with the rest of India, soon to be the third-biggest economy of the world.

The youth here have given up the gun culture and dissociated themselves from Pakistan. Pakistan’s facade – wolves dressed in sheepskin – is peeling. Youngsters have opted for respected professions, joined government services, or taken up the challenge of self-employment through many entrepreneurship schemes of the Government of India.

The international community has finally understood the fallacies of Pakistan’s Kashmir narrative. Conniving thieves and murderers, talking internationally about humanity? Their duplicity while supporting Hamas while relentlessly pursuing Gazwa–e–Hind, blatantly exhibits their terrorist mindset. (INDIA BLOOMS)