When India began its extraordinary journey for its 'tryst with destiny', Pakistan chose to take the path of violence and terror, a characteristic which has come to define the country and its people, a media report said.
Although Pakistan came into existence on August 14, 1947, its true birth as a country known for terrorism was on October 22, 1948, when it first launched a terrorist attack on Kashmir, said Al Arabia in an editorial on Monday.
Calling Pakistan's move deceitful, the editorial said it was a barbarous raid on innocent men, women and children of Kashmir, breathing free after centuries of the bondage of foreign rule.
The violence let loose by armed raiders sent by Pakistan into peaceful, idyllic surroundings of Kashmir was so devastating that even after 72 years, people recollect those days of horror as the Black Day, it said
The premeditated plan, which was hatched by the Pakistan Army, was in connivance with the civilian leadership. It aimed to carry out the "genocide of the Kashmiri" people.
"Operation Gulmarg" was the codename of the plan and it was signed by the then Pakistan Army's Chief of Staff. They picked up Pashtun men from tribal areas, trained and armed them to carry out mass murder rape loot and arson, Al Arabia Post said in the editorial.
It also said that under the guidance of and protection of the Pakistan army, the raiders were pushed into Kashmir valley where they launched an orgy of violence and terror on unarmed people of Kashmir.
The armed tribal militiamen were trucked to Kashmir, first to Muzaffarabad where they plundered the state armoury, set markets on fire and indulged in looting. They shot everyone who couldn't recite kalma.
A BBC report, quoted an eyewitness, drew the picture of mayhem thus--the streets were littered with broken buildings and furniture, ashes of burnt goods and dead bodies, according to Al Arabia.
Scores of "bodies were floating" in the river. The raiders then drove down to Uri and Baramulla where another round of death and destruction was carried out. Even the barbarity of the attack is recalled by many in Baramulla.
Before those looters were pushed back bravely by the Indian forces, the "Pakistani militia had laid waste several towns and cities, raped countless women and took them as slave and killed over 35000 Kashmiris including Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs. The scale of horror and destruction was unimaginable. The day of infamy, October 22, thus remains etched in the memories of people of Kashmir who have lived in the shadow of Pakistani terror ever since," said Al Arabia Post.
( With inputs from ANI )
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