Sikh News
14 years on, No Justice for victims of Chittisingpora massacre
March 22, 2014 | By Sikh Siyasat Bureau
Srinagar, Kashmir (March 22, 2014): The All Parties Sikh Coordination Committee (APSCC), an umbrella body of Sikh organisations, has demanded a time-bound inquiry into Chittisinghpora Sikh massacre. It may be recalled that victims of this brutal massacre did get justice even after 14 years.
35 Sikhs were massacred at Chittisinghpora in 2000 – Still no justice
35 Sikhs were gunned down in village Chitti- singh- pora area on 20 March 2000, the eve of the then US President, Bill Clinton’s visit to India. A few days later on March 25, Indian Army claimed of killing five persons in Pathribal area of the district that were involved in the Chittisinghpora massacre. However, the investigations showed that the people killed in Pathribal were local civilians.
The APSCC President, Jagmohan Raina, in a statement issued in Srinagar said that it was surprising that even after the passage of 14 years, the authorities had failed to indict and expose the killers of the innocent Sikhs. He said that: “A time-bound enquiry into the killing of 35 Sikhs at Chittisinghpora is the only way to find out the truth”.
On the other hand, justice continues to elude the families of the victims of the Chittisinghpora massacre. Narender Kaur (55), who lost all three male members of her family including husband in the massacre, in a media interview said, “I can’t forget that fateful evening. The men in Army fatigues asked the male members of our family to come out as they have to carry searches.”
“After some time we heard bullet shots followed by screams. We rushed out only to see dead bodies lying all around in a pool of blood,” she stated. Kaur’s husband, Gurbaksh Singh, her brother in law, Uttam Singh, and his two sons, Ajeet Singh and Gurdeep Singh, were killed in the incident. She deplored that it had been 14 years since the incident but the authorities had not probed the killings, leave apart punishing the culprits.
Nanak Singh (58), a 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 gory incident said though justice continued to elude the Pathribal victims, but at least truth had come to fore that Army and police was responsible for these killings. “In our case, truth has been concealed for unknown reasons and no inquiry was conducted at all into the incident,” he added.
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Related Topics: All Party Sikh Co-ordination Committee, Chittisinghpura Massacre, Sikhs in Jammu and Kashmir
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