-
- Relatives of the victims slaughtered in the Chitisinghpura Massacre cremate the bodies
Srinagar, Kashmir (CHAKRA) – On Wednesday, a local group of Hindus and Sikhs in Kashmir took part in a peaceful protest to demand a new probe be made to investigate the Chitisinghpura massacre that took place on March 20, 2000. Islamic based Kashmiri militants came into Anantnag and killed 35 Sikhs in a matter of just a few seconds. The motive is still unknown. The Sikh community is awaiting an explanation and justice for the brutal act that took place ten years ago.
Jagmohan Singh, Coordinator of All Parties Sikh Coordination Community said “We have been asking for fresh enquiry for several years. Today ten years have passed, a few days back we had gone to Chitisinghpura as well to demand fresh probe.”
On March 20, approximately 17 terrorists entered into the village of Chitisinghpura and requested all Sikh men and boys to gather at a Sikh holy shrine. Once the men and boys had assembled there, all 35 were shot and immediately killed methodically.
On March 24, police and the army claimed to have gunned down five alleged Lashkar-e-Taiba militants in a confrontation near Pathribal who were stated by the police to have been involved in the massacre of March 20th.
However, villages accused the police and army of enacting a confrontation just so the villagers got a false sense of concord for being served justice.
The Chief Minister in power at the time of the murders, Farooq Abdullah, then ordered a high-level investigation into the tragedy.
In 2006, the CBI found five military officers guilty for staging the confrontation.
The Supreme court stayed the criminal trial against the five officers until further orders.