Excelsior Correspondent
RAJOURI, Nov 11: Rich and glowing tributes were paid to martyrs of Rajouri who were massacred by invaders from Pakistan on this day in 1947 at a simple but special programme organised AT Balidan Bhawan here, today.
On this day in 1947 everywhere there was blood as innocent people were killed in the most brutal way the history has ever witnessed. Local residents of Rajouri were joined by MoS Kuldeep Raj Gupta and MLC Vibodh Gupta in paying tributes to the martyrs. Many senior citizens of Rajouri who were eyewitnesses to this massacre also participated in the programme and shared their horrific stories of this very day in 1947.
With numb eyes and heavy heart Sat Pal Gupta, a local of Rajouri somehow gathered the courage to recount the bloody massacre which he witnessed when he was just 12 years old. He said “my father was killed in front of my eyes, my mother preferred to die by poisoning herself rather then getting into the tainted hands of Pakistani raiders. Like my mother, thousands of women happily preferred to die over dishonour by invaders. Women gathered and consumed poison and jumped into the wells so as to save their dignity and honour”, he added.
Addressing the gathering, BJP senior leader and MoS Kuldeep Raj Gupta said that on November 11 in 1947 when whole of India was celebrating Diwali and Independence the patriotic citizens of Rajouri where defending their motherland at the cost of their own lives. He called upon every citizen of the country to remember the sacrifice made by the people of Rajouri.
In his address, BJP senior leader and MLC Vibodh Gupta informed that on this very day the Kabailis and local miscreants killed more than 10,000 locals in a very brutal way. For this history will never spare such brutal acts wherein thousands of innocent women and children were also killed. Giving details about the memorial of these martyrs, Vibodh said that Balidan Bhawan in Rajouri was constructed as a mark of respect to those martyrs. He further added that at that time when the local residents were suddenly attacked by thousands of Kabailis, the young men and women bravely fought with them so as to save their motherland. While paying tearful tributes to those martyrs Vibodh said that as a result of the sacrifices of those people, Rajouri will always be remembered as a land of scarifies and unsung heroes. On this occasion, he stressed upon the need to properly document such brutal incidences of the Kabailis of Pakistan so that rest of the world must know about such heinous crimes in the history.
Those senior citizens in the today’s programme who were eye witness to this massacre included Krishan Kumar, Onkar Nath Chuga, Satpal Gupta, Rajnesh Saraf and Joti Parkash Gupta. Prominent among others who were present on the occasion included Chand Gupta, Rano Gupta, Vinod Gupta, Gita Gupta, Sumit Gupta, Sunil Gupta, Koushlaya Devi, Tripta Gupta and Sita Devi.
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