by: Habib Rehman
On October 22, 1947, foreign invaders carried out a massacre of innocent, blameless, and unarmed people in our region. They looted property, raped and abducted women, and even desecrated the dead. All these atrocities were committed in the name of religion and faith.
Then, on November 6, 1947, this same human tragedy was repeated—this time in the name of a different faith. These bloody events surrounding the Partition gave rise to such harrowing tales of slaughter, helplessness, forced migration, and humiliation that the perpetrators were treated as respectable, while the victims were branded as criminals.
For years, the cries and sobs born of these atrocities have echoed through the mountains of Azad Jammu and Kashmir. Today, those very mountains have given a new voice to this long-wandering cry—a voice of resistance, a call for justice, and a demand for the right to self-determination.
It is a tragic irony of history that the very same forces behind the assault that left this region drenched in blood in 1947 are now responsible for the killing of a new generation in this same land.
The lesson of history is clear: oppression carried out in the name of religion, nationality, or the state can never be equated with justice. While the voice of the oppressed may be suppressed, their fundamental rights can never be buried forever.
Today, the mountains of Azad Jammu and Kashmir bear witness: the final reckoning of history is yet to come, and this call for justice shall no longer be silenced.
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