Jammu: Mirpuris residing in Jammu city and its peripheral colonies on November 25 paid glowing floral tributes to over 16,000 martyrs of Mirpur who were brutally killed by Pakistani raiders on November 25, 26 & 27, 1947. The only fault of the citizens of Mirpur (now in Pakistan Occupied Jammu Kashmir) was that they stood united and vowed to protect their land of birth (their janam bhoomi) from the raiders. The valiant martyrs held the killers at bay for as long as they could, using bullets, locally made guns and other weapons they could lay their hands on, several speakers remembered.
The last week of November every year is a gloomy time for the community as they look back and remember their ancestors. The day began on a somber note with a large “prabhat pheri’’ consisting of men, women and school children of the Mirpur community being taken out. The participants were mainly those Mirpuris who reside in Gurha and Bakshi Nagar (Jammu). The main prabhat pheri started from Mirpur Chowk (in front of Spring Blossoms School) and reached Mirpur Shaheedi Smarak, Maheshpura Chowk, in front of the main gate of Government Medical College, Jammu in the morning. Several similar prabhat pheries were taken out from Rehari, Sarwal and Gandhi Nagar areas and they all converged at the smarak to pay floral tributes to the martyrs.
This smarak has now become a central place for all the other organisations of displaced persons from POJK to pay tributes to their martyrs on their respective dates. Arvind Gupta, MLA Jammu West, started the proceedings of the day by lighting lamps at the said smarak. In his address, he highly appreciated the pious role and dedicated spirit of the Mirpuries in keeping the memory of the martyrs alive, even after 78 years, and organizing functions to remember them. Gupta promised that within a year, the Mirpur community smarak will be upgraded and present a much better outlook.
Gupta, a tireless and dedicated leader of the area advised the gathering to maintain this dedicated spirit to remember the sacrifice of the martyrs of Mirpur in the years to come. He said that commemoration functions like these helped establish connect with the younger generations. The tales of horrors which their ancestors went through needs to be told and retold to the youngsters, he said.
During the prabhat pheri, many people residing in Bakshi Nagar served tea and light refreshments as a token of their love to the participants. The whole programme of the prabhat pheri was conducted by Ravi Kant Gupta.
Heart wrenching poems describing the horrors that the Mirpuris braved in 1947 were read by two elders of the community. When Ved Prakash Gupta and C.P. Gupta read these emotional poems, everyone present on the occasion had moist eyes and a pin drop silence prevailed. The speeches made by Santosh Gupta, Madhu Gupta and Sardar Dheeraj Singh were also highly appreciated by the audience.
General secretary Raghav Gupta coordinated the prabhat pheris being taken out from different places. At the end of the function, he presented a vote of thanks to all those who had attended. Among the participants, Rajni Gupta, Sakshi Gupta and Jyoti Lachotra led the women participants in the prabhat pheris. The participation of the Principal and school staff of the Spring Blossom School, Bakshi Nagar, Jammu added was much appreciated by the participants.
The programme ended with shanti paath accompanied by the melodious tunes of the school band.
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