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Dr.Ramesh Tamiri
On the morning of 27 October 1947, as Pakistani invaders stormed into the historic town of Baramulla, they unleashed a reign of terror of unprecedented brutality. More than two thousand members of the Kashmiri Hindu community, comprising around 200 families, lived in the town. A small Sikh community, comprising six families, resided in the Kanil Bagh quarter of the town. Looting, killings, and arson began almost immediately. Among the first victims was Arzan Nath Bhat, who became Baramulla’s first martyr.
A talented teacher, Arzan Nath, had been transferred from Srinagar to the Baramulla branch of the National High School five months before the invasion. An acquaintance, Parmanand Koul, had pleaded with him to leave town and seek safety elsewhere, but Arzan Nath refused. All the teachers at the National School, including Arzan Nath, were part of the Maharaja’s guard of the school. With the guard actively patrolling, they felt it was their duty to remain at their posts. Arzan Nath was also a close friend of Maqbool Sherwani.
It might have been that the invaders would have marched through without immediate incident, but a servant of Arzan Nath’s neighbour informed them that the Pandit neighbourhood began at his house. A group of ten Kabayalis descended upon the residence. Arzan Nath quickly ushered his wife and their tenant’s two daughters into the kitchen and stood guard at the door, blocking the entrance with outstretched arms. The invaders shot him point-blank. He collapsed at the spot, becoming Baramulla’s first casualty.
Tika Lal of Wadipora, known for his spiritual temperament, had recently moved to his daughter’s home in Baramulla after a pilgrimage to Hardwar. On that fateful morning, while resting in the courtyard, he was shot dead by the invaders.
Later that afternoon, the invaders forced their way into the home of Nath Ram Suri. His two sons, Jawahar Lal and Brij Nath, fled to the neighbouring house of a washerman, but were quickly discovered and dragged into the courtyard. The assailants ordered 22-year-old Jawahar Lal to renounce his faith and raise the slogan “Pakistan Zindabad.” He refused, instead proclaiming Jai Hindustan.” He was shot on the spot.20-year- old Brij Nath too met the same fate after his refusal. What followed subsequently was a far greater tragedy. The family lost 4 members.
A physically challenged man in his fifties, belonging to another family, was killed on the verandah of his home. In yet another incident, an elderly woman was shot in the foot at her doorway and succumbed to her injuries five days later. Among the victims were five mahants of the Devibal and Gosainteng shrines, along with the nephew of one of the mahants. These were only a few among the fifty-one Kashmiri Pandits who lost their lives in Baramulla during the carnage perpetrated by the Pakistani invaders.
Moti Lal Kuchroo was to be married that very day. The wedding party had left for Yaarbug around 8 a.m., unaware that tragedy would engulf the town shortly after. At Binner, only a few kilometres away, seven members of the baraat were killed. The only survivor was a man who sent to inquire about the delay in the baraat.
In the nearby village of Budmulla—the first Kashmiri village on the Uri–Srinagar road—four members of the minority community were slain. One man lost both his father and father-in-law in the attacks at Budmulla and Baramulla town.
The toll in Baramulla town would have been much higher but for a few brave souls who rose above fear and resisted pressure from both invaders and others. The names of Abdullah Kachroo, Abdul Rahim Najar, Ghulam Mohammad Sherwani, Abdul Ahad Makaya, the noble women Azi, Arzaan Dyed Mufti, and her son Abdul Aziz Mufti, remain engraved in the annals of humanity for their courage and compassion.
Bhai Ishar Singh of Kanil Bagh had gone to Shrakawara to consult his cousin about the family’s safety. Discovering that his relatives had already fled, he proceeded to Wagoora in search of refuge, but failed to find it. On his return, he was killed at Vizir. Others in Kanil Bagh who lost their lives included Kulwant Singh, Maan Singh and his son Avtar Singh, and the eighty-year-old Hari Singh.
Jeet Singh was taken hostage and killed. Sohan Singh Fauji of Shalkote village, who was in Baramulla during the attack, was also taken hostage by the invaders. He was dragged to the sandy riverbank and brutally killed.
An elderly woman caring for her ailing son was falsely accused of setting her neighbourhood on fire while she was merely warming her kangri. The Kabayali chieftain himself shot her dead. Two such incidents involving elderly women took place in the town.
Bhai Kanhai Singh, Jit Singh, and Gurbux Singh of Kanil Bagh were among the fifteen victims of the Kanispora massacre.
Over twenty-five women from villages in the Hamal region, who were being forcibly marched to Baramulla, leapt into the river Jhelum from a bridge to preserve their honour.
Silenced History and Suppressed Memory
The great tragedy that befell the minority communities in Baramulla was deliberately suppressed. The only atrocity acknowledged publicly was the invaders’ attack on the Christian Mission Hospital, where out of nine killed, six were Europeans and three Indians. From 27 to 29 October, the non-Muslims of Baramulla were detained in a makeshift concentration camp, enduring unimaginable torture. Yet, this part of history found no place in official records.
A carefully constructed narrative, shaped under the influence of authorities in Srinagar and Delhi, downplayed or ignored the atrocities against Hindus and Sikhs while amplifying the Mission incident as the sole symbol of brutality. Teams of veteran broadcasters were dispatched from Delhi to record the testimonies of survivors at the Mission, but none came to collect the voices of Baramulla’s Hindus and Sikhs. This selective portrayal reflected the Nehruvian version of secularism and the politically motivated writing of history.
Whether this was done to influence Anglo-American opinion at the United Nations by suggesting that the attackers were “anti-White” as well or else for some other political messaging, the attempt failed miserably. Prime Minister Nehru had already failed the people of Baramulla earlier, by delaying the dispatch of Indian troops to Kashmir by five crucial days. His hesitation cost countless innocent lives, not only in Baramulla but across the long belt from the town to Domel, where settlement after settlement was wiped out by the invaders.
The truest tribute to the martyrs of 27 October lies not only in remembering them but in preserving their stories. Official narratives may obscure facts, but they cannot erase memories etched in the hearts of survivors and their families. The Kashmiri Hindus of Baramulla still commemorate the day of the Baramulla carnage as “Kabyali Truvah” in their collective memory.
Secularism cannot be nurtured by suppressing truth. It grows through honest documentation of history and collective reflection on how to build communal harmony by censuring wrongdoing. False narratives serve no nation; they only weaken its moral foundation.
(The writer has authored Pakistan’s Invasion on J&K (1947-48) Untold Stories of Victims)
