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35 Sikhs massacred in Chhati Singhpora

KT News service

CHHATI SINGHPORA, (Anantnag), Mar 21: Thirty five Sikhs were barabarically massacred by unidentified gunmen, wearing army uniforms, here last evening. Seven of them belonged to a single family. An IB inspector and an ex service man were among the deceased.

Giving details the eye witnesses said heavily armed gun men wearing army uniforms reached the village around 7.45 PM. Among the 2000 village population, 250 families are Sikh, while 14 others are of Muslims.

The gunmen claimed that they were from army and wanted to conduct a cordon and search operation as some militants were hiding in the village. One of the gun man describing himself as the officer opened a liquor bottle and started consuming it.

The gunmen summoned the " nambardar" Naseeb Singh and told him to inform the people about their presence. Subsequently, the gun men took position in lanes and bylanes and started knocking the doors of the villagers. The gun men asked the females and children to remain inside their houses, but directed the males to come out for identification parades .

Some Sikhs came out while others did not. A number of people who were busy in prayers at the local gurduwara were also asked to come out. As they came out, they were directed to line up. Eighteen of them were killed one by one on the spot.

The other group of gun men herded out the Sikhs out of their houses at Showkeen Mohalla in same village and killed 16 of them under identical circumstances. Two others were injured,one of them later succumbed to his injuries.

The firing by gunmen lasted for about half an hour. It created panic in the village and its neighbouring areas. The gunmen escaped from the villages after the massacre. While leaving they shouted "Jai Hind" a number of times. But After they left, the other Sikhs came out of their houses. They rushed towards the two spots and found the victims lying in a pool of blood.

After some time some Sikhs rushed towards the neighbouring Keerbal police chowki and informed the police about the incident. The cops reached the spot after some time and flashed the message about the massacre to their seniors. The police authorities also reached there after a few hours. The Rashtriya Rifles personnel of the Ranipora camp (three kilometers from here) reached the village around 4 AM.

Kanwaljeet Singh, a teacher, fled after he was asked to join the lined up people outside Gurduwara. Giving details he said he was returning from a shop when he saw the gunmen in uniform asking the people to assemble for identification parade. He told them that he wanted to go home and take the milk . But the "officer" told me that it will not take much time as they have only to do the "khanapuri" and asked Kanwaljeet Singh to get lined up with other Sikhs. " Fearing trouble I slipped quitely and rushed to my house. I told my wife that some thing bad is going to happen", the teacher said and added that within minutes he heard the burst of AKs.

Kartar Singh said he was busy teaching his children when he heard a kock on his door around 8.50 PM. " The gun men were asking us to come out of our houses. But I ignored their call and remained inside. After some time I heard the gunshots which continued for a long time", he said.

He said he mistook the firing as an encounter and did not move out. After some time Kartar Singh also came out and found the bodies at the two places. He said the other Sikhs also joined him. Shocked they were mourning the death of their near and dear ones. The people did not sleep fearing another attack.

Sikhs from other villages started reaching the village during the wee hours of this morning as they came to known about the incident. They included the women and children. Heart rendering scenes were witnessed with people wailing and mourning the deaths. The two spots where the massacres occured were red with human blood with a number of chappals and shoes lying scattered there. With the passage of time the number of Sikhs increased and tension mounted. DIG Anantnag- Pulwama Raja Aijaz Ali and SSP Farooq Khan were on the spot besides other officers of police and security forces. Police recovered some bottles of rum from the sites of massacres.

While most Sikhs said they are not sure as to who the killers were, but some of them blamed the militants.

They held strong protest demonstrations and raised slogans against militants , Pakistan, and Farooq government. They were also raising slogans, " Khoon ka badla khoon say laingee". They blamed the security forces for not protecting them. The Sikhs said the authorities were told about the movement of militants in advance, but no action was taken. Even an army camp, half a kilometer from the village, was withdrawn a few months back.

"Army visited our village only once this year and that too on January 25. We told them that some ex-service men and officials of security agencies live here and needed protection. But no heed was paid," said Jagtar Singh. He asked as to why the army reached eight hours after the incident even as their camp is located only three kilometers from here.

The Sikhs refused to cremate the bodies saying that chief minister Dr Farooq Abdullah and Punjab chief minister Prakash Singh Badal should be present.

NEW DELHI (June 22) : Media reports emanating from the United States reveals that a bipartisan group of 20 members of the US Congress wrote to President Clinton about India's involvement in the March massacre of 35 Sikhs in Chatti Singhpora in occupied Kashmir while President Clinton was visiting India. According to the report, the members of Congress in an exclusive letter to President Clinton, called for India to be declared a terrorist state. This was the first time that the US Congress has called for India to be declared a terrorist country. They also called for the US government to "stop aid to India until it observes human rights. And we should put America on record in support of self-determination for all the peoples and nations living under India's brutal rule". They called for strong US action against India, the report said. The letter was sponsored by representative Dan Burton (R-Ind), chairman of the committee on government reform and oversight. Signers include representative Doland Payne (D-MJ), representative Cynthia Kckinney (D-Ga), representative Edolphus Towns (D-NY), representative William Jefferson (D-La), representative James Trafficant (D-Ohio), representative Carlos Romero-Barcelo (D-PR), representative John Doolittle (R-Cal), representative Eni F.M. Faleomavaega (D-American Samoa), representative Richard Pombo (R-Cal), representative Wally Herger (R-Cal), representative Gary Condit (D-Cal), representative John Conyers (D-Mich), representative Nick Lampson (D-Tex), representative Howard (Buck) Mckeon (R-Cal), and representative Eva Clayton (D-NC).--APP

A member of US House of Representatives Adolfus Touns has said an independent report held the Indian government responsible for massacre of 35 Sikhs in Chattisinghpura near Srinagar in Occupied Kashmir. Speaking to the House of Representatives in Washington, the US Congressman said the gruesome incident took place when US President Bill Clinton was on an official visit to India. He said the US must not allow any country to continue such activities. He said the Indian intelligence agency RAW was responsible for the massacre of Sikhs. He called for an internationally-supervised plebiscite in Kashmir and in the Indian state of Punjab. He demanded the US should cut off all aid to India. He observed that dispute the proof of Indian Security Forces involvement in the massacre of Sikhs, Indian Minister Pramod Mahajan admitted that the security forces would not be punished for the killings of civilians as it could demoralise the Indian troops.

Comments:

Dear editor,

In my opinion the Sikhs were massacred by the Indian army because they were drinking, they said "jai hind" which means long live India, the so called "Muslim extremists" would never touch liquor or would say "jai hind". And why did the army came 8hrs late while they camp only 3km from the village. Muslim freedom fighters have nothing to do with Sikhs, in fact some Sikhs are helping Muslim freedom fighters for their struggle. These "Muslim extremists" would never harm innocent civilians, it is against the teachings of Islam to kill civilians. These were barbaric Indian army soldiers or pro Indian militia men, the so called "SOG" who staged it to blame this massacre on freedom fighters. Indian army has killed 36 of their own colleagues this year alone under the influence of alcohol and under extreme stress. This is stated by the Indian officials themselves, only last week, a CRPF personnel killed his two colleagues and then killed himself. This is the mentality of Indian army men who have so for killed more than 65,000 civilians and burnt hundreds of villages and our so called civilized and honest media is blind folded.