C P Gupta
Who could guess that the city of Mirpur which as per a legend, was laid by two pious saints namely Mir Shah Gazi (A Muslim Prophet) and Gosain Budh Puri (An Hindu Prophet) presenting a symbol of Hindu Muslim unity by taking the word ‘Mir’ from the name of the former and the word ‘Pur’ from the name of the latter, thus giving the combined name ‘Mirpur’ to the said city, would one day, be annihilated by the political rivalry and frenzy of the leaders of the same two communities of the same country viz India which was later divided into two Dominions i.e India and Pakistan on 15th August 1947.’’
Mirpur city is no more now as the same got submerged in water when the Government of Pakistan constructed Mangla Dam in the late sixties. Now, the only visible sign of Mirpur city is the old crumbled Shiva temple which was in the heart of the city and can be seen in stumbling condition only when the water level of the Dam is low during winter months.
At the time of partition of the country, Mirpur city was the District Headquarters of Jammu and Kashmir State and came on the border line between Pakistan and Jammu and Kashmir State. Maharaja Hari Singh the then Ruler of the Jammu and Kashmir State signed the Instrument of Accession with India as a result of which the Jammu and Kashmir State became an integral part of India. This accession could not be digested by Pakistan and wanted to establish army pickets in Mirpur city to find way to grab the entire State subsequently. In order to get cooperation of the citizens of Mirpur to fulfill its nefarious design, the Government of Pakistan sent a bundle of pamphlets written in Urdu and managed to get the same dropped in the city. The said pamphlet indicated that the Government of Pakistan would give special status and super benefits to the people of Mirpur if they would allow the Pakistani soldiers to enter the city of Mirpur to establish their pickets. But the patriotic citizens of Mirpur decided not to allow them to enter the city till they had the last bullet to fight with them. This negative reply was conveyed to Pakistan through the chain of bullets fired from the pickets of the Mirpur city. This brought incessant firing and heavy gun operation from the enemy side also which confirmed the unsolved conflict between the two sides. The Government of Pakistan immediately made an aggressive plan to capture Mirpur city and to take revenge by killing its citizens in a gruesome manner. To achieve that end, the Government of Pakistan made a secret agreement known as “Zen and Zar Agreement’’ with the Pathan mercenaries according to which if Mirpur was captured, the captured women would be taken by the Pathans and the immovable property, land etc would be the share of the Pakistan Government. On the other side, the citizens of Mirpur had determined not to bow before the enemy at any cost and would protect their birth-place (Mirpur) till the Indian army is sent to Mirpur by the Government of India. Alas’. The citizens of Mirpur would have upheld their vow had their ammunition not diminished or the Indian army reached Mirpur to their rescue.
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. The Garrison repulsed the enemy attacks with heavy losses to them on 6th, 10th and 11th November, 1947. At the midnight of November 24, 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. This was the heaviest attack witnessed so far. 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 runover 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 the 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 zero level. Further, due to the irony of fate, the 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 and accession of the State with India, 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 warth 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 horse and left the city in wee hours on November 25, even leaving behind their own wounded soldiers who were crying in pain of their wounds on their beds in the police line hospital. This coward departure of the State Administration from Mirpur city, gave a jubilant signal to the enemy. Really, at that time, the whole population of the city of Mirpur felt themselves as hanging breathlessly in between the right 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 and 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 intecepted 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 bdies and many uncounted seriously wounded uncared persons were battling for life in the whirlpool of their own blood.
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 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 2,000 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 captiveswere 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 knwon 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 gathered a group of educated peope 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. 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 captves 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 touching reception by their relatives and the general public.
In the memory of Mirpur Martyrs of 1947, a Shaheedi Samarak was 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 Maheshpura Chowk Bakshinagar Jammu. The Jammu Development Authority dedicated the said Samarak to Mirpur Community which was unveiled by Miss Sushma Choudhary IAS the then Financial Commissioner on 25th November, 1998. The said Samarak 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.
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