Even after 18 years the gory scenes of that bloody night are still fresh in minds of the survivors—who witnessed massacre of 35 Sikhs at Chattisinghpora in Anantnag district on the evening of March, 20, 2000.
Nanak Singh, 61, lone survivor of the massacre, who lost his 16-year old son Gurmeet Singh, 25-year old brother Dalbeer Singh and three of his cousins in the incident while talking to Greater Kashmir said, “It was quarter to eight when men wearing combat uniforms asked the villagers to come out of their houses and assemble in an open ground. The villagers who were inside the Gurdwara were also asked to assemble outside.”
“I was one among 19 people, who assembled near main Gurduwara and 17 more were queued up near another small Gurdwara in Shokipora,” he recalled.
Recollecting the memories of that horrific night he said, “The men in army fatigues, speaking Hindi, offered wine to us but we rejected.”
“They trained guns towards us and started firing. A bullet pierced through my hip but I survived, only to watch five of my family members being cremated,” recalled Nanak amid sobs.
“It was like doomsday,” he said. “Leave apart justice, what I fail to understand is what stopped the state and central government from at least ordering an inquiry into the horrific massacre of 35 Sikhs.”
He said that then Chief Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah expressed his helplessness in the matter saying he was not allowed to order inquiry. “We want to at least know who these hidden hands were?” asked Nanak, who is also member of local Gurduwara Prabhandak committee.
Narender Kaur, 58 who lost all three male members of her family, including her husband in the massacre said, “I can’t forget that fateful evening. The men in army fatigues asked the male members of our family to come out of their houses and assemble outside as they have to carryout searches,” said Kaur.
She said that her husband, brother-in-law and her two sons also went out after the they were assured that only their identity cards would be checked. “After some time we heard gunshots and screams, I along with other neighbours rushed out to see what is happening. We were shocked to see that bodies were lying all around in a pool of blood,” she added.
Kaur’s husband Gurbaksh Singh was killed in the incident leaving behind two daughters and aged father. Her brother in law Uttam Singh and his two sons Ajeet Paul Singh and Gurdeep Singh were also killed. “I have been living with the trauma of losing three of my family members for the past 18-years,” Kaur said.
Jeet Kaur , 76, also lost five male members of her family. Her husband- Fakir Singh and two sons – Karnail Singh and Seetal Singh fell to the bullets while her grand -sons Jitender Singh and Sony Singh were also among those killed.
Karnail, who was elder son of Jeet is now survived by his widow Prakash Kuar,, 51, , two daughters while Seetal-the younger son is survived by his widow Sheshandar Kaur, 50, two sons and a daughter.
“. I lost every thing. But lived only for the sake of my grand children and daughter in laws ,” says ailing Jeet Kaul.
She said that last sixteen years have been quite tough for her as well as family.
Another victim-Prakash Kaur- 56 lost his husband- Raghunath Singh and son in law in the massacre and like others wants culprits to be booked.
The family members of all the victims are unanimously seeking an inquiry.
“Though justice continues to elude the Pathribal victims and those killed in Brakpora, but at least truth has come to fore that army and police were responsible for these two incidents. In our case, truth has been concealed for unknown reasons and no inquiry was conducted into the incident either by state or central government,” the victim families lamented.
Besides victim families, the Sikh bodies are also demanding an inquiry into the killings.
All Parties Sikh Coordination Committee Kashmir (APSCCK) while maintaining that it will continue to fight for the justice sought bringing culprits to book.
“We have always been maintaining that Chatisinghpora, Pathribal and Brakpora are a series of interlinked occurrences and hence can’t be taken up in isolation. So we have been demanding a time bound inquiry into Chatisinghpora massacre too,” said President APSCCK Jagmohan Raina.
He said that even Pandian Commission set up into the killing of seven people at Brakpora while recommending an inquiry commission for all three incidents had stated that the incidents were inter-linked.
He said that the killings on the eve of US President’s visit suggested that the massacre was well planned. “After this massacre a suspicion was created in the minds of minority Sikh community. Despite provocations nobody moved out of the Valley,” he added.
.Local Gurduwara Prabhandak Committee also demanded an impartial inquiry into the incident. ” We don’t know who was behind the killings. No inquiry was initiated into the incident and this has made us apprehensive. Our demand is that the matter should be investigated so that truth comes to fore,” said members of the committee..
Those who orchestrated this massacre wanted to scare us but let me tell them that “we were born here and will also die here,” Yashpal Singh one of the members said.
Five days after the massacre on March 25, army shot dead fivemen in Pathribal village of Shangus area and claimed they were foreign militants responsible for killing the Sikhs. The Army version was supported by police who termed it as a joint operation.
It later turned out that all those killed in Pathribal were local residents reportedly picked up by the forces and government gunmen from various areas.
Seven more people protesting against the Pathribal killings were killed in the firing of government forces at Brakpora village on April 3.