Sopore Massacre

An eyewitness of the infamous “Jan 6 Sopore massacre”, Abdul Hamid Bhat, narrates the horrid tale of the slaughter and arson by men in uniform.

On Jan 6, 1993, it was 8:55 in the morning and there was an explosion somewhere nearby. From a young age I have the habit of reading the newspaper every morning on time. As usual I went to the newspaper stall near Degree College, to get my newspaper. Everything appeared to be okay, still there was some unease in the air. People were talking about that explosion which, it was later known, was actually an IED (Improvised Explosive Device) blast in the ‘New Colony’ area of Sopore.

I got my newspaper and went to a nearby shop, Nishat Textiles, in the Main Chowk to get something. It must have been around 9:55 am that a sound of a single bullet shot was heard. Nishat Textiles was visible from the bunkers of a nearby BSF camp housed in the State Bank Building. We ran a few paces towards main Bazar, which we thought was a bit safer. It was just behind the main Chowk where a J&K Bank branch is located now. We took shelter inside a building and went upstairs on the 2nd floor. More gunfire was heard.

There were around 10-12 men and some women in the room. Everybody lay flat. I was youngest among the people marooned in that room. Unmarried and just over 24 then, I tried to peep through the window. Other people wouldn’t move even when we heard heavy footsteps on the roads and the BSF men saying, ‘Jo be samney aayai maar daalo sab ko. (Kill whosoever comes your way!).

At 10.30 a.m. we heard a bus coming and I again peeped through the window. A SRTC bus, JKY 1901 was moving on the Sopore-Bandipora Road. The BSF men stopped the bus and ordered the driver out. Some BSF men boarded the bus and started firing on the passengers indiscriminately. There was a bloodbath but some still escaped bullets. They were bundled in the groups of threes and shot one by one. More than 20 people were killed in that bus alone.

After killing the passengers, the troopers started spraying gun powder, petrol and kerosene on the surrounding buildings and then torched them. They building that we were hiding in was also set on fire. The BSF men were looking like hungry beasts; they were slaughtering anybody coming their way.

We thought we would die any moment. If we left the building, the marauding troopers would kill us and if we stayed there in the room we would be burnt alive. As the ceiling of our room caught fire, we started think that death was now imminent. It was so close. I said to the other people in the room that “if anybody among you survives and my body is found, please tell the people that I was actually a resident of Islamabad and was working here in a finance company.” I also requested them to send my body to my native town for burial only if my face was recognizable. “Otherwise get me buried in Sopore”, I remember telling that to the people in that room. more