Mirpur Massacre of 1947

The 1947 Mirpur Massacre was the killing of thousands of Hindu and Sikh refugees in Mirpur of today's Azad Kashmir, by armed Pakistani tribesmen and soldiers during the First Kashmir War. It occurred on and after November 25.

Soon after British India's independence, a rebellion occurred in Poonch and Mirpur districts, and the Pakistani Army conceived a military plan to invade Jammu and Kashmir. The military campaign was said to be code-named "Operation Gulmarg", which was said to be assisted and guided by British military officers.

Before the Kashmir War in 1947, the Mirpur District had about 75,000 Hindu and Sikhs, amounting to 20 percent of the population. A great majority of them lived in the principal towns of Mirpur, Kotli and Bhimber. Refugees from Jhelum in Western Punjab had taken refuge in Mirpur town, causing the non-Muslim population to increase to 25,000.

During the war, militants entered the city on the morning of November 25 and set several parts of the city on fire, causing chaos and turmoil across the city. Large-scale rioting took place. Of the minority population, only about 2,500 Hindus or Sikhs escaped to the Jammu and Kashmir along with the State troops. The remainder were marched to Alibeg, where a gurdwara was converted into a prison camp, but the raiders killed 10,000 of the captives along the way and abducted 5,000 women. Only about 5,000 made it to Alibeg, but they continued to be killed at a gradual pace by the captors. Hindu and Sikh women were raped and abducted. Many number of women committed mass suicide by consuming poison before falling into the hands of the militants, to avoid rape and abduction. Men also committed suicide. The estimates measure the death toll at over 20,000.

...
Wikipedia