The Jammu Genocide (1947): Overview
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Genocide Overview The Jammu genocide refers to the killings of Jammu Muslim people living in the Dogra State of Jammu & Kashmir from October 1947 through November 1947. At least 200,000 and possibly as many as 250,000 died during the genocide, either in massacres and individual killings, or after kidnapping and illness in refugee camps.
Dogra authorities, supported by auxiliary troops and at times by civilians, perpetrated most of the persecution and mass killing. The Dogra State, run by Hari Singh aimed to solidify Hindu dominance in the regions of Jammu by eliminating the sizeable Muslim presence there.
Mass atrocities, war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide are often perpetrated within the context of war or some other major event. The killings of Jammu Muslims was closely linked to the events of 1947 partition. Fearing that the Dogra rule would come to an end after the successful uprising in Poonch, in mid 1947 the Dogra government began the training, funding, planning and propaganda against Muslim population in Jammu province. In the months that followed, the Dogra army along with Hindu extremists would kill over 200,000 Muslims in Jammu, further deporting another 200,000 Muslims to the neighboring Pakistan and newly created state of Azad Jammu & Kashmir.
The victims of the Jammu genocide include people killed in local massacres that began in October 1947; others who died during deportations in refugee camps, under conditions of, dehydration, exposure, and disease; and Muslims who died in or en route to the regions of the Pubjab, Pakistan. In addition, tens of thousands of Jammu women & children were kidnapped.
Gandhi commented on the situation in Jammu on 25 December 1947 in his speech in New Delhi:
"The Hindus and Sikhs of Jammu and those who had gone there from outside killed Muslims. The Maharaja of Kashmir is responsible for what is happening there… A large number of Muslims have been killed there and Muslim women have been dishonored."